[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
National Nanotechnology Day 2019
National Nanotechnology Day is an annual celebration featuring a series of community-led events and activities on or around October 9 to help raise awareness of nanotechnology. Check out a list of events and activities underway at https://www.nano.gov.
Physicists find weak spots in ceramic/graphene composites
Physicists and materials scientists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University analyzed the structures in nanomaterials made of ceramic and graphene plates to develop a model for creation of crack-resistant materials.
Borophene on silver grows freely into an atomic ‘skin’
By using a silver substrate and through careful manipulation of temperature and deposition rate, researchers at Rice and Northwestern universities, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Argonne National Laboratory grew elongated hexagon-shaped flakes of borophene.
ENERGY
Physicists score double hit in LED research
City College of New York graduate researchers reported the successful demonstration of an LED based on half-light half-matter quasiparticles in atomically thin materials. While such LEDs have been realized in other materials at low temps, this device operates at room temp and is fabricated using the now well known “scotch tape” based technique.
MANUFACTURING
Modified bamboo a steel rebar alternative
Researchers at Lethbridge College showed bamboo injected with an elastomeric polymer performed well against steel as reinforcement in concrete in low-load scenarios. One of the advantages of the injected bamboo is that it is up to 20% lighter than steel, which could translate to less concrete required to build structures.
OTHER STORIES
New technique to improve ductility of ceramic materials for missiles, engines
Purdue University researchers developed a new process to help overcome the brittle nature of ceramics and make it more ductile and durable. They call the process “flash sintering,” which adds an electric field to the conventional sintering process used to form bulk components from ceramics.
Process for making ductile glass
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found through molecular simulations that silica glass, made by compressing silica nanoparticles together, can be stretched up to 100% without breaking. They also discovered the enhanced ductility emerges when silicon bonds with five oxygen atoms instead of four.
Researchers confirm ferroelectric switches can be controlled with light
Researchers at University of Arkansas showed light can be used to make fundamental changes in ferroelectric materials, which could lead to a new generation of optically driven computer memory, switches, actuators, and sensors.