[Images above] Credit: NIST


NANOMATERIALS

Graphene-like 2D material leverages quantum effects to achieve ultralow friction

Researchers from the University of Toronto reported the first measurements of the ultralow-friction behavior of magnetene, a single layer of iron oxide molecules.

‘Magic wand’ reveals a colorful nanoworld

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside describe a revolutionary imaging technology that compresses lamp light into a nanometer-sized spot. The light is held at the end of a silver nanowire and can reveal previously invisible details, including colors.

Nanofabrication using thermomechanical nanomolding

Researchers at Yale University and University of Connecticut described the size and temperature-dependent underlying mechanisms of thermomechanical nanomolding to reveal a highly versatile nanofabrication approach.


MANUFACTURING

New concrete mold system uses the right amount of concrete and no more

Researchers from the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, and Dundee are collaborating on a UKRI-funded research project “Automating Concrete Construction (ACORN),” which looks at how digital design and automated production methods can be used to create concrete floor systems with drastically reduced CO2 emissions.

Researchers shrink camera to the size of a salt grain

Researchers at Princeton University and University of Washington developed an ultracompact camera the size of a coarse grain of salt. The new optical system relies on a metasurface based on silicon nitride.


OTHER STORIES

Plumbing the depths: Defect distribution in ion-implanted SiC diodes

Researchers from Japan investigated the depth distribution of defects in silicon carbide bipolar diodes that were formed by aluminum doping. They found that p-type layer deposition by epitaxial growth did not cause damage in the adjacent n-type layers, but that the growth showed slight instability that led to the formation of deep level defects.

Breakthrough research vacates single oxygen atoms

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology researchers succeeded in changing barium titanate’s electrical properties by vacating a single oxygen atom from the original structure.

New ultrahard diamond glass synthesized

An international research team synthesized a new ultrahard form of carbon glass using a large-volume multi-anvil press. It is the hardest known glass with the highest thermal conductivity among all glass materials.

Can defects turn inert materials into useful, active ones?

Researchers demonstrated that hexagonal boron nitride, a material thought to be always chemically inert, can be turned chemically active by introducing tiny holes in the material’s structure via a process called cryomilling.

Author

Lisa McDonald

CTT Categories

  • Weekly Column: “Other materials”