Materials Sciences

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have combined the world’s hardest known material – diamond – with the world’s strongest structural form – carbon nanotubes. This new process for “growing” diamond and carbon nanotubes together opens the way for its use in a number of energy-related applications.

The technique is the first successful synthesis of a diamond-nanotube nanocomposite, which means for the first time this specialized

Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide used; melt properties provide monitor

There is a lot of excitement about incorporating nano particles into polymers because of the ability to improve various properties with only a small percent of the particles. “You can improve the barrier to gases, such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. You can increase material strength with little increase in weight,” said Don Baird, professor of chemical engineering at Virginia Tech.

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Performing quantum calculations on a supercomputer, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have characterized a material that might allow on-board refueling of hydrogen powered vehicles.

Researchers, led by Maciej Gutowski, looked at different crystalline structures of a compound made up of nitrogen, boron and hydrogen – NBH6 – and found one that might be more stable compared to ammonia borane, a molecular crystal built of NH3BH3 molecules. Ammonia borane can hold

Foggy windows and lenses are a nuisance, and in the case of automobile windows, can pose a driving hazard. Now, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a permanent solution to the problem. The team has developed a unique polymer coating — made of silica nanoparticles — that they say can create surfaces that never fog.

The transparent coating can be applied to eyeglasses, camera lenses, ski goggles … even bathroom mirrors, they say.

Automobile bumpers that deform and recover rather than crack and splinter, computer cases that withstand the occasional rough encounter, and resilient coatings that can withstand the ravages of the sun, may all be possible if tiny functionalized rubbery particles are imbedded in their plastic matrices, according to Penn State materials scientists.

“Plastics such as polypropylene, nylon, polycarbonate, epoxy resins and other compounds are brittle and fracture easily,” says Dr. T.C.

Renowned for their ability to walk up walls like miniature Spider-Men–or even to hang from the ceiling by one toe–the colorful lizards of the gecko family owe their wall-crawling prowess to their remarkable footpads. Each five-toed foot is covered with microscopic elastic hairs called setae, which are themselves split at the ends to form a forest of nanoscale fibers known as spatulas. So when a gecko steps on almost anything, these nano-hairs make such extremely close contact with the surface th