Switching Nanolight On and Off: A New Way to Program Light on an Ultra-Small Scale
A team of researchers led by Columbia University has developed a unique platform to program a layered crystal, producing imaging capabilities beyond common limits on…
Materials Science
Silicon Anode Nanostructure Generates New Potential for Lithium-Ion Batteries
Scientists reveal a new nanostructure that could revolutionize technology in batteries and beyond. New research has identified a nanostructure that improves the anode in lithium-ion…
Sandwich Structure: New Method for Generating and Directing X-rays
Physicists from Göttingen University develop method in which beams are simultaneously generated and guided by ‘sandwich structure’. X-rays are usually difficult to direct and guide….
Discovery Could Lead to Self-Propelled Robots – Using Only Energy Flow From Their Environment
Army-funded researchers discovered how to make materials capable of self-propulsion, allowing materials to move without motors or hands. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst…
“The Biggest Bang” – Physicists Create Tunable Superconductivity in Twisted Graphene “Nanosandwich”
Structure may reveal conditions needed for high-temperature superconductivity. When two sheets of graphene are stacked atop each other at just the right angle, the layered…
New Strategies for Designing Efficient Electroluminescent Materials
A collaborative team of materials scientists and theoretical chemists provide hybrid perovskite nanoparticles that are high-efficiency light emitters by using a comprehensive defect-suppression strategy. New…
High-Entropy Alloys: Islands Without Structure Inside Metal Alloys for Tougher Materials
These high-entropy allows have applications in transportation, energy and defense. An international team of researchers produced islands of amorphous, non-crystalline material inside a class of…
High Efficiency at Low Cost: New Catalyst Moves Seawater Desalination, Hydrogen Production Closer to Commercialization
Fast, one-step assembly at room temperature yields high efficiency at low cost. Seawater makes up about 96% of all water on earth, making it a…
Researchers Watch Solid-State Batteries Charge and Discharge Using X-ray Tomography
Using X-ray tomography, a research team has observed the internal evolution of the materials inside solid-state lithium batteries as they were charged and discharged. Detailed…
Efficiently Converting Light Energy Into Surface Waves on Graphene
Dotty graphene and doping: Whatever it takes for Russia’s record plasmonics to shine. Physicists from MIPT and Vladimir State University, Russia, have achieved a nearly…
Kevlar-Inspired Molecular Nanofibers Constructed That Are Stronger Than Steel
Self-assembly of Kevlar-inspired molecules leads to structures with robust properties, offering new materials for solid-state applications. Self-assembly is ubiquitous in the natural world, serving as…
New Ceramic Phosphors for High Power LED Lights Could Save 20–30% More Energy
Materials scientists at Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), in collaboration with an international research team, have advanced the design of composite ceramic materials (Ce3+:YAG-Al2O3), i.e….
Mighty Morphing 3D Printing: New Shape-Changing Nozzle That Could Revolutionize “4D Printing”
Engineers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have created a new shape-changing or “morphing” 3D printing nozzle that was featured as a Frontispiece in the…
New Technique Builds Super-Hard Metals by Smashing Tiny Nanoparticles Together
Brown University researchers have shown a way to make bulk metals by smashing tiny metal nanoparticles together, which allows for customized grain structures and improved…
Sustainable Plastics: Scientists Make Versatile Polymer From Sugars in Wood
Scientists from Bath’s Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies have made a sustainable polymer using the second most abundant sugar in nature, xylose. Not only…
Do Simulations Actually Represent the Real World at the Atomic Scale?
Multidisciplinary research team develops new strategy for validating computer simulations. Computer simulations hold tremendous promise to accelerate the molecular engineering of green energy technologies, such…
New Metamaterial Features Mechanical Properties That Can Be Reprogrammed
Over the past 20 years, scientists have been developing metamaterials, or materials that don’t occur naturally and whose mechanical properties result from their designed structure…
Chemists Invent Shape-Shifting Nanomaterial With Intriguing Biomedical Potential
Chemists have developed a nanomaterial that they can trigger to shape shift – from flat sheets to tubes and back to sheets again – in…