The approach has potential applications in improving optical communications and making currency harder to counterfeit. By shining white light on a glass slide stippled with millions of tiny titanium dioxide pillars, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their collaborators have reproduced with astonishing fidelity the luminous hues and subtle shadings of “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece. The approach has potential applications in improving optical communications and making currency harder to…
Material could be used in smart textiles, medical devices and more As anyone who has ever straightened their hair knows, water is the enemy. Hair painstakingly straightened by heat will bounce back into curls the minute it touches water. Why? Because hair has shape memory. Its material properties allow it to change shape in response to certain stimuli and return to its original shape in response to others. What if other materials, especially textiles, had this type of shape memory?…
Rice researchers find effect that could aid 3D displays, virtual reality, self-driving vehicles Microscopic crystals in tantalum disulfide have a starring role in what could become a hit for 3D displays, virtual reality and even self-driving vehicles. A two-dimensional array of the material has unique optical characteristics that can be controlled in ambient conditions and under general illumination, according to engineer Gururaj Naik and graduate student Weijian Li of Rice’s Brown School of Engineering. When they pull a two-dimensional sliver…
Florida State University researchers have developed a new material that could be used to make flexible X-ray detectors that are less harmful to the environment and cost less than existing technologies. The team led by Biwu Ma, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, created X-ray scintillators that use an environmentally friendly material. Their research was published in the journal Nature Communications . “Developing low-cost scintillation materials that can be easily manufactured and that perform well remains a…
Additive manufacturing is currently one of the most significant trends in industry. Now a team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS has developed a Multi Material Jetting system that allows different materials to be combined into a single additively manufactured part. This makes it possible to create products with combined properties or functions. The new system can be used with particularly high-performance materials such as ceramics and metal. Additive manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing involve…
Novel devices can be folded, cut, attached to surfaces University of Texas at Dallas researchers and their international colleagues have developed a method to create micro LEDs that can be folded, twisted, cut and stuck to different surfaces. The research, published online in June in the journal Science Advances, helps pave the way for the next generation of flexible, wearable technology. Used in products ranging from brake lights to billboards, LEDs are ideal components for backlighting and displays in electronic…
New spectroscopic technique for studying nanostructures demonstrates that stibnite nanodots can act as high-optical-quality waveguides and are promising candidates as photoswitchable materials for future applications. Antimony sulfide, or stibnite (Sb2S3), has been investigated intensively in recent years as a promising material for nontoxic, environmentally friendly solar cells. It is now possible to fabricate thin photovoltaic films from an ink containing nanoparticles of stibnite, and to nanopattern those films for 2D and 3D structures of pretty much any shape. Such simple,…
During experiments on high-performance wire arc additive manufacturing researchers produced a metal with unique ductility. During experiments on high-performance Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) researchers from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) produced a metal with unique ductility. The ductility is three times higher than specified in the standard. The research results were published in a prestigious journal – “Materials & Design“. Increase of WAAM productivity led to discovery of unique properties of aluminum. Elongation of specimens during tensile…
The sample was first obtained by quenching Cathode materials based on sodium and d-metals fluorophosphates are in great demand in the production of metal-ion batteries, because they have a rich chemical composition that allows to regulate their electrochemical properties. The research team of the scientists of Samara Center for Theoretical Materials Science of Samara Polytech, Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and…
Atomically thin diamond, also called diamane, is a two-dimensional carbon allotrope and has attracted considerable scientific interest due to its potential physical properties. However, previous studies suggest that atomically thin diamond films are not achievable in a pristine state because diamonds possess a three-dimensional crystalline structure and would lack chemical stability when thinned down to the thickness of diamond’s unit cell due to the dangling sp3 bonds. Chemical functionalization of the surface carbons with specific chemical groups was considered necessary…
By introducing defects to a common material, Berkeley Lab researchers create a highly efficient capacitor with dramatically increased energy density Capacitors that rapidly store and release electric energy are key components in modern electronics and power systems. However, the most commonly used ones have low energy densities compared to other storage systems like batteries or fuel cells, which in turn cannot discharge and recharge rapidly without sustaining damage. Now, as reported in the journal Science, researchers have found the best…
Case Western Reserve scientists, collaborators at Harvard and Italian university Unical, aim to ‘revolutionize optics’ by combining nanostructured metasurfaces with liquid crystal technology For more than 500 years, humans have mastered the art of refracting light by shaping glass into lenses, then bending or combining those lenses to amplify and clarify images either close-up and far-off. But in the last decade or so, a group led by scientist Federico Capasso at Harvard University has begun to transform the field of optics…
Forest scientists develop innovative wood-based materials for 3D printing A viscous biopaste that is easy to process, solidifies quickly and is suitable for producing even complex structures using the 3D printing process has been developed by a research team headed by Prof. Dr. Marie-Pierre Laborie from the Chair of Forest Biomaterials at the University of Freiburg. The wood-based biodegradable synthetic could potentially be used in lightweight construction, amongst other things. The scientists have published their initial results in the journals…
A touch of gold – or another noble metal – can change the structure of a crystal and its intrinsic properties, physicists at the University of Warwick have demonstrated in a display of modern-day alchemy Applying a noble metal, such as gold, to the surface of a crystal induces an electrical field that ‘excites’ the structure of the crystal Physicists at University of Warwick demonstrate that by exciting its structure, the crystal is capable of new electrical effects Effects include…
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed a light-activated coating for filtration membranes — the kind used in water treatment facilities, at semiconductor manufacturing sites and within the food and beverage industry — to make them self-cleaning, eliminating the need to shut systems down in order to repair them. Cheap and effective, water filtration membranes have been around for years but have always been vulnerable to clogging from organic and inorganic materials that stop up…
Aerogel is an excellent thermal insulator. So far, however, it has mainly been used on a large scale, for example in environmental technology, in physical experiments or in industrial catalysis. Empa researchers have now succeeded in making aerogels accessible to microelectronics and precision engineering: An article in the latest issue of the scientific journal “Nature” shows how 3D-printed parts made of silica aerogels and silica composite materials can be manufactured with high precision. This opens up numerous new application possibilities…
Feedback
