Feature Channels: Materials Science

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Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology successfully fabricate a metamaterial using a lotus leaf as a template.

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Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have shown they can make flexible, transparent electrical conductors with record-high performance for use in solar cells, displays and other devices by spreading polymers on a clear surface with a tiny blade, like a knife spreading butter on toast.

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An international team of researchers, led by Penn State, has developed ultrasensitive gas sensors based on the infusion of boron atoms into the tightly bound matrix of carbon atoms known as graphene.

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In The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Jose L. Mendoza-Cortes details how this new material efficiently captures sunlight and then, how the energy can be used to break down water into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2). This process is known as oxidation, and it is also what happens during photosynthesis when a plant uses light to break down water and carbohydrates, which are the main energy sources for the plant.

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The first-ever images of the protein complex that unwinds, splits, and copies double-stranded DNA reveal something rather different from the standard textbook view. The electron microscope images, created by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory with partners from Stony Brook University and Rockefeller University, offer new insight into how this molecular machinery functions.

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Inspired by mammals’ eyes, University of Wisconsin–Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made.

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Researchers in an Energy Frontier Research Center led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are investigating ways to design structural materials that develop fewer, smaller flaws under irradiation.

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Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new hybrid magnetic sensor that is more sensitive than most commercially available sensors.

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Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first direct images showing that electrical currents can flow along the boundaries between tiny magnetic regions of a material that normally doesn’t conduct electricity. The results could have major implications for magnetic memory storage.

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Catalysts that power chemical reactions to produce the nylon used in clothing, cookware, machinery and electronics could get a lift with a new formulation that saves time, energy and natural resources.

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Researchers have discovered a new welding technique that welds alloys once thought un-weldable—alloys that automakers would like to use in the next generation of cars. Compared to a typical welding technique of today, the new technique uses 80 percent less energy, and creates bonds that are 50 percent stronger.

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Using complementary microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) say they have solved the structure of lithium- and manganese-rich transition metal oxides, a potentially game-changing battery material and the subject of intense debate in the decade since it was discovered.

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The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK, led by a team of researchers from Cardiff University, is being undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys.

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Scientists have demonstrated that microwaves can help create nanostructured molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) catalysts with an improved ability to produce hydrogen. The microwave-assisted strategy accomplishes this by increasing the space, and therefore decreasing the interaction, between individual layers of MoS₂ nanosheets.

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Researchers found that the webs of sun-soaked spiders were far more resistant to UVB rays than the webs of those that hunt in the dark or shade, perhaps indicating an important adaptive trait.

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Two new significant findings may move scientists closer to understanding the origins of tungsten-ditelluride's (WTe₂) extremely large magnetoresistance, a key characteristic in modern electronic devices like magnetic hard drives and sensors. Scientists in Illinois recently discovered that tungsten-ditelluride (WTe₂) is electronically three-dimensional with a low anisotropy.

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A shed skin of the California King Snake, examined in molecular detail by a team of researchers in Oregon and Germany, may have just yielded one of the reptile's slippery secrets. Using a combination of techniques that allowed the team to explore how molecules are arranged on the surface of the scaly skin, the team discovered a never-before-seen evolutionary adaptation that allows the animal to reduce friction on its underbelly and slither smoothly over surfaces.

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Engines, laptops and power plants generate waste heat. Thermoelectric materials can recover heat and improve energy efficiency. Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored the fundamental physics of the world’s best thermoelectric material.

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Boeing has invented microlattice, the lightest metal ever. The material that is 99% air, will be used for aerospace-engineering, such space as rockets.

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Researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison are the first to grow self-directed graphene nanoribbons on the surface of the semiconducting material germanium. This allows the semiconducting industry to tailor specific paths for nanocircuitry in their technologies. Confirmation of the findings was done at Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials.

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A team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and Stanford University took an important step toward safer and faster charging of lithium-ion batteries by advancing the capability for dynamic, noninvasive internal temperature measurement.

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Researchers at The University of Alabama designed and made a material that manipulates the speed of light in a new, more effective way than previous methods, according to findings recently published in Scientific Reports by the Nature Publishing Group.

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Dramatic increases in ionization efficiencies for uranium, thorium, and palladium, which were made possible with RILIS, enable new studies relevant to nuclear fuels cycles, neutrino detection, and isotope production.

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Pools of fatty molecules self-assemble around treated water droplets to create a cell-like bioreactor that could offer substantial advantages for carrying out complex synthesis processes.

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Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a “greener” way to control the assembly of photovoltaic polymers in water using a surfactant—a detergent-like molecule—as a template.

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has developed a near ultra-violet and all-organic light emitting diode (OLED) that can be used as an on-chip photosensor.

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Over time, the electrodes inside a rechargeable battery cell can grow tiny, branch-like filaments called dendrites, causing short circuits that kill the battery or even ignite it in flames. But thanks to new experiments and computer simulations, researchers from the California Institute of Technology have explored in detail how higher temperatures can break down these dendrites — and possibly extend battery lifetimes. They discuss their findings in this week’s Journal of Chemical Physics.

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A UW medical resident and bioengineering student have used 3-D printing techniques to create lifelike models to help aspiring surgeons - who currently practice on soap, apples, and vegetables - learn to perform ear reconstruction surgeries.

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Scientists report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a new hydrogel coating that neutralizes both mustard gas and nerve agent VX. It could someday be applied to materials such as clothing and paint.

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Electron microscopy is pointing researchers closer to the development of ultra-thin materials that transfer electrons with no resistance at relatively high temperatures.

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Using carbon atoms deposited on graphene, researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating dynamic patterns on graphene surfaces. The patterns could be used to make reconfigurable electronic circuits, which evolve over a period of hours before ultimately disappearing.

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Berkeley Lab researchers have produced the first atomically thin 2D sheets of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites. These ionic materials exhibit optical properties not found in 2D covalent semiconductors such as graphene, making them promising alternatives to silicon for future electronic devices.

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A detailed nano-mechanical study of mechanical degradation processes in silicon structures containing varying levels of lithium ions offers good news for researchers attempting to develop reliable next-generation rechargeable batteries using silicon-based electrodes.

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Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering are putting liquid crystals to work as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

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Researchers at Korea University and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology have now developed a new type of thin film transistor that's significantly faster than its predecessors -- an important step toward speeding up image display on devices like TVs and smartphone screens. The scientists made the transistor from zinc oxynitride, or ZnON, which they then plasma treated with argon gas. They present their work this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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Light, sound, and now, heat -- just as optical invisibility cloaks can bend and diffract light to shield an object from sight, and specially fabricated acoustic metamaterials can hide an object from sound waves, a recently developed thermal cloak can render an object thermally invisible by actively redirecting incident heat. The system, designed by scientists in Singapore and described in this week’s Applied Physics Letters, has the potential to fine-tune temperature distribution and heat flow in electronic and semiconductor systems.

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A national team of researchers has developed a first-of-its-kind, 3D-printed guide that helps regrow both the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves after injury.

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Berkeley researchers have devised an ultra-thin invisibility “skin” cloak that can conform to the shape of an object and conceal it from detection with visible light. Although this cloak is only microscopic in size, the principles behind the technology should enable it to be scaled-up to conceal macroscopic items as well.

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Researchers at Penn State have developed a new lab-on-a-chip cell sorting device based on acoustic waves.

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Scientists used high-power laser beams at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to simulate the shock effects of a meteorite impact in silica, one of the most abundant materials in the Earth’s crust. They observed, for the first time, its shockingly fast transformation into the mineral stishovite – a rare, extremely hard and dense form of silica.

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"In the hydrogen evolution reaction, the whole game is coming up with inexpensive alternatives to platinum and the other noble metals," says Song Jin, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the online edition of Nature Materials that appears today, Jin's research team reports a hydrogen-making catalyst containing phosphorus and sulfur — both common elements — and cobalt, a metal that is 1,000 times cheaper than platinum.

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Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have developed a relatively inexpensive and simple way to split water into hydrogen and oxygen through a new electrodeposition method.

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An international team of researchers announced today in Science the observation of a dynamic Mott transition in a superconductor. The discovery experimentally connects the worlds of classical and quantum mechanics and illuminates the mysterious nature of the Mott transition. It also could shed light on non-equilibrium physics, which is poorly understood but governs most of what occurs in our world. The finding may also represent a step towards more efficient electronics based on the Mott transition.

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Using metallic osmium (Os) in experimentation, an international group of researchers have demonstrated that ultra-high pressures cause core electrons to interplay, which results in experimentally observed anomalies in the compression behavior of the material.

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New research led by scientists from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University shows how individual atoms move in trillionths of a second to form wrinkles on a three-atom-thick material. Revealed by a brand new “electron camera,” one of the world’s speediest, this unprecedented level of detail could guide researchers in the development of efficient solar cells, fast and flexible electronics and high-performance chemical catalysts.

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Researchers combine diamond and cubic boron nitride with a novel alloying process for a superhard material

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Materials scientists want to squeeze every bit of performance out of materials, particularly in the aerospace industry, where small advantages in weight or extreme temperature tolerance translate into tremendous performance benefits. In Review of Scientific Instruments, a group of researchers, motivated by potential pay-offs, describes how they created a system to squeeze and stretch a material while rotating and bombarding it with high-energy synchrotron X-rays, which capture information about how it responds to mechanical stress.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have for the first time seen a spin current – an inherent magnetic property common to all electrons – as it travels across materials. The result, which revealed a surprising loss of current along the way, is an important step toward realizing a next-generation breed of electronics known as “spintronics.”

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When Juan de Pablo and his collaborators set about to explain unusual peaks in what should have been featureless optical data, they thought there was a problem in their calculations. In fact, what they were seeing was real. Their experiments had produced a new kind of glass.

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Scientists discovered a material that exhibits an unprecedented mechanism for carbon dioxide capture-and-release with only small shifts in temperature. The material’s structure closely resembles an enzyme found in plants that captures carbon dioxide for conversion into nutrients.