[Image above] Credit: ACerS
NANOMATERIALS
Harnessing atomic structure to advance semiconductor technology
Researchers led by Washington University in St. Louis showed that instead of struggling to force hafnia into a conventional ferroelectric phase, engineers might stabilize it more favorably with antiferroelectric structure in thin films and then control the transition electrically.
Atom-scale model could help improve material growth for advanced electronics
Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University refined an atom-scale model of how silicon carbide changes from a solid into vapor during crystal growth, work that could help manufacturers produce higher-quality material for advanced electronics. The study is the first publication from Penn State’s Silicon Carbide Innovation Alliance.
Glass does surprising things when stretched 1 atom wide
University of Colorado Boulder researchers discovered that at extremely small atomic scales, heat easily flows through glass. In fact, the heat flowed in discrete steps, each equal to 40% of the maximum amount a single channel can carry under the laws of quantum physics—the first time such “quantized” heat flow carried by atomic vibrations has been observed.
ENVIRONMENT
Retired wind turbine blades find second life at UND
Great River Energy donated three turbine blades to the University of North Dakota’s College of Engineering & Mines, where students and researchers will use them to study how wind turbine blades deteriorate over time and explore methods for recycling their materials.
Reinforced masonry can cut expected hurricane-wind damage by more than half
The latest study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub finds that reinforced concrete masonry homes sustained roughly half the wind damage of wood-frame homes in Florida during Hurricane Irma. Reinforced concrete masonry homes also outperformed wood-framed construction in all hurricanes examined.
Buckling under pressure? Structures in new lab do it by design
Cornell University researchers are designing structures that can bend and buckle in ways that work with natural forces rather than simply resist them. These designs will allow for more resilient infrastructure.
MANUFACTURING
A clever molecular trick unlocks previously impossible properties in glass
Researchers from TU Dortmund University, Paderborn University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the University of Oxford discovered how to reprogram the internal structure of glass using an organic molecule called 1,10-phenanthroline that rearranges chemical bonds while lowering the melting temperature.
Fabric molds could bring material-saving concrete beams within reach
Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers cast a concrete beam using a sewn fabric mold with one-third the amount of concrete and half as much steel as a conventional beam.
Making metal–organic frameworks easier to shape for electronic devices
Researchers from Tokyo University of Science developed a method to reduce damage from dry etching by filling metal–organic framework pores with an ionic liquid. The ionic liquid increases the material’s hardness and helps preserve its structure during etching, enabling the creation of precise patterns at the scale of hundreds of nanometers.
Architected fillers redefine composite design
Tampere University researchers challenged conventional composite filler shapes by introducing a different approach where each particle’s 3D geometry is designed first and then printed to specification. The research enables decisions to be made on the shape of the filler, not only its material.
OTHER STORIES
Shedding light on a key requirement to achieve room-temperature superconductivity
Researchers from Utrecht, Leiden, and Munich showed that electrons can form Cooper pairs at temperatures well above the point at which superconductivity sets in. This finding suggests that the ability of these pairs to move synchronously is the bottleneck to room-temperature superconductivity.
A 60-year search is over: Chemists isolate long-elusive molecules
Chemists at the University of Würzburg, supported by computational work from Tezpur University, detail their discovery of a method for preparing and isolating a range of surprisingly stable oxoboranes, a challenge that has stood for more than 60 years.
World-record intensity in short, energetic X-ray pulses
Researchers used the European XFEL to create X-ray flashes that were not only extremely short but also reached record intensity for this type of pulses. The pulses used in the experiment lasted an estimated 300 attoseconds. Each X-ray flash reflected four times in total, resulting in a focal spot of just 180 × 330 nm.
Microscopy at the space–time limit
Researchers at the Regensburg Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy used ultrafast scanning tunneling microscopy to directly determine the relationship between the spatial and temporal spread of electron wave packets. They showed that the location and time evolution of an electron cannot be measured with arbitrary precision simultaneously.