Feature Channels: Materials Science

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Cyborg technology is bringing us real-life electronic skin, prosthetics and ultra-flexible circuits. Now taking this human-machine concept to an unprecedented level, pioneering scientists are working on the seamless marriage between electronics and brain signaling with the potential to transform our understanding of how the brain works — and how to treat its most devastating diseases. Their presentation is taking place at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Location. Location. Location. The popular real estate mantra also is equally important to the growing of grapes and the storing of the bottles of the beverage, according to researchers. Those are just two of the many scientific subjects that will be covered in a symposium titled, “Advances in Wine Research,” at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. A new video explains these topics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3UujrPLEU. 


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Dusty air blowing across the Pacific from Asia and Africa plays a critical role in precipitation patterns throughout the drought-stricken western U.S. Today, a scientist will present new research suggesting that the exact chemical make-up of that dust, including microbes found in it, is key to making better rain event predictions and explaining how air pollution influences regional climate. She will talk at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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As the oil and gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing proliferates, a new study on the contents of the fluids used raises concerns over several ingredients. The scientists presenting the work today at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society say out of nearly 200 commonly used compounds in “fracking,” there’s very little known about the potential health risks of about one-third, and eight are toxic to mammals.

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Injuries, birth defects or surgery to remove a tumor can create large gaps in bone. And when they occur in the head, face or jaw, these defects can dramatically alter a person’s appearance. Researchers will report at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society that they have developed a “self-fitting” material that expands with warm salt water to precisely fill bone defects, and also acts as a scaffold for bone growth.

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In the future, working up a sweat by exercising may not only be good for your health, but it could also power your small electronic devices. Researchers will report today at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society that they have designed a sensor in the form of a temporary tattoo that can both monitor a person’s progress during exercise and produce power from their perspiration.

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A new technique transforming stinky, air-polluting landfill gas could produce the sweet smell of success as it leads to development of a fuel cell generating clean electricity for homes, offices and hospitals, researchers say. The advance would convert methane gas into hydrogen, an efficient, clean form of energy. Their report was part of the 248th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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A research team in Korea has created flexible metamaterial absorbers designed to suppress electromagnetic radiation from mobile electronics -- work appearing in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing

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Physicists have identified the "quantum glue" that underlies a promising type of superconductivity -- a crucial step towards the creation of energy superhighways that conduct electricity without current loss.

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Some 2,500 scientists and experts from around the world will gather next month in Montreal for the largest international meeting of the year devoted to crystallography -- a discipline that draws researchers from fields as far flung as genomics and geology who help solve problems as diverse as designing new manufacturing processes to creating life-saving drugs. Journalists are invited to attend this meeting, the 23rd Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), which will be held August 5-12, 2014 in Montreal, Canada. To request free press registration, please contact Jason Socrates Bardi at 240-535-4954 or [email protected]

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A combination of microscopy and data processing has given researchers an unprecedented look at the surface of a material known for its unusual physical and electrochemical properties.

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In a landmark paper -- "Designed Synthesis of Large-Pore Crystalline Polyimide Covalent Organic Frameworks” -- published in the July 23 edition of the international scientific journal Nature Communications, University of Delaware researcher Yushan Yan describes a new approach to creating organic zeolites.

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By ‘drawing’ micropatterns on nanomaterials using a focused laser beam, scientists could modify properties of nanomaterials for effective applications in photonic and optoelectric applications

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A new material called CC3 effectively traps xenon, krypton, and radon, gases used for lighting or medical industries and, in the case of radon, can be hazardous to people. Research in Nature Materials shows how CC3 does this, which might lead to cheaper, less energy intensive extraction methods.

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Columbia researchers used Brookhaven Lab supercomputer simulations to discover unexpected transitions in graphene and other promising super materials under strain.

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Thermoelectric devices, which convert heat to electricity and vice versa, can harness that wasted heat, and possibly provide the green tech energy efficiency that's needed for a sustainable future. A new study shows how porous substances can act as thermoelectric materials—pointing the way for engineering the use of such materials in thermoelectric devices of the future.

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Endoxifen, a drug that has proven effective in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer, but with serious side-effects, may be delivered effectively through the skin using a new topical drug-delivery system.

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Journalists registering for the American Chemical Society’s (ACS’) 248th National Meeting & Exposition this summer will have an abundance of material to mine for their news stories. Nearly 12,000 presentations are planned on a broad range of topics from health to the environment. The meeting, one of the largest scientific conferences of the year, will be held August 10-14 in San Francisco.

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Researchers have developed a microfluidic technique for fabricating a new class of metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes inside hollow polymer fibers that are just a few hundred microns in diameter. The new fabrication process, believed to be the first to grow MOF membranes inside hollow fibers, could potentially change the way large-scale energy-intensive chemical separations are done.

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Pick up a pencil. Make a mark on a piece of paper. Congratulations: you are doing cutting-edge condensed matter physics. You might even be making the first mark on the road to quantum computers, according to new Perimeter research.

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The antibacterial properties of silver-coated textiles are popular in the fields of sport and medicine. A team at Empa has now investigated how different silver coatings behave in the washing machine, and they have discovered something important: textiles with nano-coatings release fewer nano-particles into the washing water than those with normal coatings.

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A new technique developed by a Binghamton University physicist and his colleagues will improve the quality of flexible, conductive, transparent glass.

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Researchers at Penn State and Shinshu University in Japan have developed a simple, scalable method of making graphene oxide (GO) fibers that are strong, stretchable and can be easily scrolled into yarns with strengths approaching that of Kevlar.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced an extension of funding totaling $14 million over four years for the Center for Emergent Superconductivity, an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Brookhaven Lab with partners from the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory.

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When the frame of a pair of glasses is bent out of shape, it's not that easy to return it to its original form. If, however, your spectacles are made of a shape memory alloy then you don't have a problem. Just place the frame in hot water and bingo! – they're as good as new again. Empa researchers have now shown that these materials can also find applications in the building industry. For example in the reinforcement of bridges.

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New theoretical physics research reveals rare materials that possess both controllable magnetic and electric polarization properties at near-room temperatures.

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Beginning with the development of smaller products, such as solar lanterns to replace kerosene lighting, the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University is expanding its efforts to produce energy alternatives with a new program to test larger scale renewable energy-powered consumer products.

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Scientists have used DNA-linked nanoparticles to form a single-particle-thick layer on a liquid surface where the properties of the layer can be easily switched. Understanding the assembly of such nanostructured thin films provides a possible pathway to adjustable filters, surfaces with variable mechanical response, or even new ways to deliver genes for biomedical applications.

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A clearer understanding of how mussels stick to surfaces could lead to new classes of adhesives that will work underwater and even inside the body.

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A prototype handheld device to immediately measure and restore electrolytes may benefit runners, soldiers, and ordinary citizens looking to minimize trips to doctors' offices and resultant lab charges.

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A simple, inexpensive spray method that deposits a graphene film can heal manufacturing defects and produce a high quality graphene layer on a range of substrates, report researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Korea University.

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A team of researchers has created a new type of lithium ion conductor for future batteries that could be the basis for a whole new generation of solid-state batteries. It uses rock salt Lithium Borohydride (LiBH4), a well-known agent in organic chemistry laboratories that has been considered for batteries before, but up to now has only worked at high temperatures or pressures.

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A new type of computing architecture that stores information in the frequencies and phases of periodic signals could work more like the human brain to do computing using a fraction of the energy of today’s computers.

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Bags meet requirements of disintegrating to particles less than 2 millimeters in size in 180 days. Since the bags are made of all-natural components, they can be composted just like any other plant-based material.

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Detailed studies of a material as it transforms from an insulator through the “pseudogap" into a full-blown superconductor links two “personality” changes of electrons at a critical point.

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Sandia National Laboratories is working to fill gaps in the fundamental understanding of materials science through an ambitious long-term, multidisciplinary project called Predicting Performance Margins, or PPM. From the atomic level to full-scale components, the research links variability in materials’ atomic configurations and microstructures with how parts perform.

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Scientists studying graphene’s properties are using a new mathematical framework to make extremely accurate characterizations of the two-dimensional material’s shape.

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For the first time, scientists have a clearer understanding of how to control the appearance of a superconducting phase in a material, adding crucial fundamental knowledge and perhaps setting the stage for advances in the field of superconductivity.

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1) Reducing soot. 2) Hydropower. 3) Understanding driver behavior. 4) A performance record in high-temperature superconducting wires.

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Transparent conductive films are now an integral part of our everyday lives. Whether in smartphones, tablets, laptops, flat screens or (on a larger scale) in solar cells. Yet they are expensive and complex to manufacture. Now, researchers at Empa have succeeded in developing a method of producing such TCO films, as they are known, that is not only cheaper, but also simpler and more environmentally friendly.

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Labs at Rice University and Georgia Tech have tested the fracture toughness of graphene for the first time by making and measuring "pre-cracks" under stress. The results show the material to be somewhat brittle.

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An international team of scientists, led by physicists at the University of Arkansas, has tracked the dynamic movement of ripples in freestanding graphene at the atomic level.

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Fiber optics increased the speed and quantity of information that can be transmitted through the Internet by transforming electrical signals into pulsating light. The same can be done within laptops and other devices by using organic materials containing chromophore as an active compound, according to South Dakota State University materials chemist Cheng Zhang. Components made from this organic material can provide a larger bandwidth and draw less power.

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By looking at a piece of material in cross section, Washington University in St. Louis engineer Parag Banerjee, PhD, and his team discovered how copper sprouts grass-like nanowires that could one day be made into solar cells.

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A team of researchers in Japan has developed a solid-state lamp that emits high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light at the shortest wavelengths ever recorded for such a device, from 140 to 220 nanometers. This is within the range of vacuum-UV light -- so named because while light of that energy can propagate in a vacuum, it is quickly absorbed by oxygen in the air.

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Researchers at the University of Arkansas have achieved 14-percent efficiency in a 9-millimeter-square solar cell made of gallium arsenide. It is the highest efficiency rating for a solar cell that size and made with that material.

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There was a time when no one thought about light bulbs—one blew, you screwed another one in. Nowadays, it’s more complicated, as energy efficiency concerns have given rise to a slew of options, including incandescent, compact fluorescent lights, and light emitting diodes.

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A unique and low cost method to coat materials is the subject of a pending international patent. Ranga Pitchumani of Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering Department and Atieh Haghdoost, a recent doctoral graduate from Pitchumani’s Advanced Materials and Technologies Laboratory developed the process.

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Researchers at Penn State’s Center for 2-Dimensional and Layered Materials and the University of Texas at Dallas have shown the ability to grow high quality, single-layer materials one on top of the other using chemical vapor deposition.

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A team of scientists, led by Assistant Professor Andrivo Rusydi from the Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Science, has successfully developed a technique to study the interface between materials, shedding light on the new properties that arise when two materials are put together.