[Image above] Credit: NIST
NbSe2, a true 2-D superconductor
Very few 2-D superconductors exist in nature, and single-layer NbSe2 is the first among them that remains a superconductor in its isolated, 2-D form without the need of a special substrate. Furthermore, CDW order—spatial modulation of both the electron density and the atomic lattice—has been revealed to be a genuine 2-D electronic phenomenon in NbSe2.
NIST takes (some of) the stress out of engineering new materials
A team including scientists at NIST has taken a major step toward measuring stress usefully in cutting-edge materials. The work provides the first method for measuring all the varied pushing, pulling, and twisting at tiny scales within a solid object—a longstanding goal. It’s an important step toward the ultimate goal of predicting a material’s capabilities directly from its composition and internal structure.
Watching cement dry could help dental fillings last longer
Scientists led by Queen Mary University of London and Aberystwyth University have looked at the surface between hard glass particles and surrounding polymer in dental cement as it hardens. Guided by computer models, they used intense beams of neutrons to find that dental cement sets in fits and starts rather than hardening continuously.
UTA physicists use beams of antimatter to investigate advanced materials
Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington are developing a next generation positron beam facility that will enable them to analyze the properties of advanced materials for future electronics applications. A $640,608 NSF Major Research Instrumentation Development Grant funded the project to build the enhanced beam and develop the UTA team’s initial projects.
Lasers could rapidly make materials hotter than the Sun
Theoretical physicists from Imperial College London have devised an extremely rapid heating mechanism that they believe could heat certain materials to ten million degrees in much less than a million millionth of a second. The method, proposed here for the first time, could be relevant to new avenues of research in thermonuclear fusion energy, where scientists are seeking to replicate the Sun’s ability to produce clean energy.
New class of materials for organic electronics
Polymeric carbon nitride is an organic material with interesting optoelectronic properties. Joint research by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, the University of Rostock, and Freie Universität Berlin as well as other partners has now investigated for the first time how light creates charge carriers in this class of materials and established details about charge mobility and lifetimes. They discovered surprising characteristics that provide prospects for new applications.
Researchers discover a new form of crystalline matter
A team of researchers from Auburn University, the University of Iowa, and the University of California, San Diego, recently discovered a new form of crystalline-like matter in strongly magnetized dusty plasma. A feature of dusty plasmas is that under the proper conditions, usually at higher gas pressures, the dust particles can form self-organized, hexagonal structures—a configuration known as a “plasma crystal.”
Atomic-resolution microscopy answers debate about lithium-rich cathode material
Using complementary microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, researchers at Berkeley Lab say they have solved the structure of lithium- and manganese-rich transition metal oxides. Researchers have been divided into three schools of thought on the material’s structure, but a team spent nearly four years analyzing the material and concluded that the least popular theory is in fact the correct one.