Feature Channels: Materials Science

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Argonne scientists give the lay of the land in the quest for electrolytes that could enable revolutionary battery chemistries.

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The Donnan electric potential arises from an imbalance of charges at the interface of a charged membrane and a liquid, and for more than a century it has stubbornly eluded direct measurement. Many researchers have even written off such a measurement as impossible. But that era, at last, has ended. With a tool that’s conventionally used to probe the chemical composition of materials, scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) recently led the first direct measurement of the Donnan potential.

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Scientists from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University found out that gold nanoparticles, covered by thin layer of silica, disperse light better than those that have thick “coat”

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The nature and properties of materials depend strongly on dimension.

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In a recent study, Argonne National Laboratory researchers showed how artificial intelligence could help pinpoint the right types of molten salts for nuclear reactors.

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All the operations of computers and smartphones are based on circuits.

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory seeks undergraduate and graduate students for a summer 2023 internship in robotics and instrumentation. Students will explore using robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

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On their way to market, technologies often reach what is called the “valley of death,” the point where a researcher or institution has developed a promising idea, has received funding through grants, and then runs out of cash to move the idea beyond the laboratory.

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To cool quantum computing components, researchers use machines called dilution refrigerators. Researchers and engineers from the SQMS Center are building Colossus, the largest, most powerful refrigerator at millikelvin temperatures ever made. The new machine will enable new physics and quantum computing experiments.

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Scientists at the University of Missouri used Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to identify the structure of a perovskite material grown using chemical vapor deposition, potentially representing a breakthrough for solar cells.

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Scientists have developed a qubit platform formed by freezing neon gas into a solid, spraying electrons from a light bulb’s filament onto it, and trapping a single electron there. This system shows great promise as an ideal building block for quantum computers.

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Adaptable and versatile, molecular qubits hold promise for numerous quantum applications. By altering the qubit's host environment, a team supported by the Q-NEXT quantum center has extended the length of time these qubits can maintain information.

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The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense teamed up to create a series of weld filler materials that could dramatically improve high-strength steel repair in vehicles, bridges and pipelines. This novel weld wire could help revitalize America’s aging infrastructures, which in 2021 received a C- grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Manufacturers using plasma processes in semiconductor production and materials processing will have a new tool to avoid undesirable plasma stratifications using a computer striations model developed by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and CFD Research Corp (CFDRC).

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A world-first project to create 'self healing concrete' using treated sludge, will not only automatically repair cracked sewer pipelines, but also help the environment by reusing waste that normally ends up in landfill.

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Two-dimensional materials, like transition metal dichalcogenide, have applications in public health because of their large surface area and high surface sensitivities, along with their unique electrical, optical, and electrochemical properties.

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A team of University at Buffalo researchers has developed a new strontium-loaded scaffold that can be personalized to fit any size dental implant and could help improve healing and tissue attachment in patients.

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A new type of active pixel sensors that use a novel two-dimensional material may both enable ultra-sharp cellphone photos and create a new class of extremely energy-efficient Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, according to a team of Penn State researchers. 

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Professor Xun-Li Wang, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) and Chair Professor of the Department of Physics of City University of Hong Kong was elected International Councilor of the American Physical Society (APS).

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The biochemical process by which cyanobacteria acquire nutrients from rocks in Chile’s Atacama Desert has inspired engineers at the University of California, Irvine to think of new ways microbes might help humans build colonies on the moon and Mars.

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Picture a tall stately grandfather clock, its long pendulum swinging back and forth, over and again, keeping rhythm with the time.

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Scientists have measured the highest toughness ever recorded, of any material, while investigating a metallic alloy made of chromium, cobalt, and nickel. Not only is the metal exceptionally strong and ductile, its properties become enhanced as it gets colder. This runs counter to most other materials in existence.

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Using a new analytical method, Empa researchers have tracked viruses as they pass through face masks and compared their failure on the filter layers of different types of masks. The new method should now accelerate the development of surfaces that can kill viruses, the team writes in the journal Scientific Reports.

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The University of Texas at El Paso in partnership with the University of New Mexico and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will prepare the next generation of nuclear security enterprise talent to develop electronics for extreme environments through a five-year, $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Cornell University engineers have created a soft robot capable of detecting when and where it was damaged – and heal itself on the spot.

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Low-intensity ultrasound therapies may one day rebuild stronger knees following injury or surgery, thanks to research by Dr. Anu Subramanian at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) that’s being supported by the National institutes of Health.

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A polymer-based electrolyte makes for batteries that keep working – and don’t catch fire – when heated to over 140 degrees F.

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KIMS succeeded in developing the world's first technology to consecutively manufacture epsilon iron oxide that can absorb millimeter wave with a high coercive force equivalent to that of neodymium (Nd) magnets.

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The ISU Startup Factory was instrumental in helping Shan Jiang find a market for the technology his team developed in laboratory. The semester-long incubator program is designed to help faculty entrepreneurs apply their research, solve problems and move from “tech-speak” to “business-speak.”

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A new study involving researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago achieved a milestone in the synthesis of multifunctional photonic nanomaterials.

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AIP Publishing is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 APL Materials Excellence in Research Award, a distinction for young researchers who publish exceptional research in the journal.

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Argonne, along with five other national laboratories and 15 companies, has signed a pledge to double the energy efficiency of microelectronics every two years for 10 generations.

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Things are looking brighter than ever at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator Center. A recently completed upgrade will expand the center’s capabilities into new areas, including studies of particle acceleration, extremely hot plasmas, cancer treatment techniques, and materials for quantum science.

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BGSU photochemical scientists used three different forms of chemistry to develop a hybrid coating that could extend the life of multiple surfaces, including national monuments, historical structures, statues, cemetery stones and buildings

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Microscopic materials analysis is essential to achieve desirable performance in next-generation nanoelectronic devices, such as low power consumption and high speeds.

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When neurons are damaged by degenerative disease or injury, they have little, if any, ability to heal on their own. Restoring neural networks and their normal function is therefore a significant challenge in the field of tissue engineering. Prof. Orit Shefi and doctoral student Reut Plen from the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University have developed a novel technique to overcome this challenge using nanotechnology and magnetic manipulations, one of the most innovative approaches to creating neural networks.

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Next week the UN intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on plastic pollution will meet in Uruguay to develop an international legally binding instrument against plastic pollution. There is concern among scientists that the negotiations will overlook the diversity and complexity of chemicals present in plastics. This would severely undermine the treaty’s effectiveness, according to a new study published in the recent issue of the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

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From pangolin scales that can stand up to hard hits to colorful but sturdy peacock feathers, nature can do a lot with a few simple molecules.

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The system regulates its own temperature in response to environmental disturbances

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Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering have developed an AI algorithm that predicts the structure and dynamic properties of any material—whether existing or new—almost instantaneously. Known as M3GNet, the algorithm was used to develop matterverse.ai, a database of more than 31 million yet-to-be-synthesized materials with properties predicted by machine learning algorithms. Matterverse.ai facilitates the discovery of new technological materials with exceptional properties.

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Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory created a novel testbed to explore the behavior of electrons in a special class of materials called topological insulators, which could see applications in quantum computing.

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AIP Publishing is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Bo Wang of the Beijing Institute of Technology as the new Editor-in-Chief of APL Materials. Wang will lead the journal as it expands to represent material science, materials chemistry, and materials physics more holistically.

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PNNL researchers created rugged, adaptable, mass-manufacturable luminescent particle tracers for use in harsh environments.

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Globally recognized research and development leader Chris Heckle has been appointed as the first director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Centerat the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

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Seven Penn State materials researchers have received the 2022 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award.

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Researchers have discovered new properties of tiny magnetic whirlpools called skyrmions. Their pivotal discovery could lead to a new generation of microelectronics for memory storage with vastly improved energy efficiency.