Researchers at Rice produced graphene by replicating Edison’s 1879 lightbulb experiments.
Category: materials – Page 25
‘Smart’ crystals self-repair at —320°F, could unlock new space tech
The team, led by NUY Abu Dhabi’s Panče Naumov, developed a material they dubbed smart molecular crystals. In a paper published in the journal Nature Materials, they outlined the observation process that allowed them to identify the material’s impressive properties.
During experiments, they observed that the material could be mechanically damaged in extreme cold and then repair itself. Importantly, it also recovered its ability to transmit light after being damaged. This is essential for low-temperature flexible optical and electronic devices.
According to a press statement, the material can restore its structure even at temperatures as low as −196°C (−320°F), the boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen. The material also remains functional throughout a wide temperature range, going up to 150°C (302°F).
Metamaterial Performs Computations in a New Way
A research team has developed a triangular mechanical network that can squeeze and wiggle in a multitude of preprogrammed ways [1]. The metamaterial design—realized in experiments with various materials, including Legos—may have applications from shock absorption to protein modeling. But the researchers also demonstrated that their structures can solve problems in matrix algebra. Performing computations in materials without converting information to electrical signals could be useful when durability and energy efficiency are more important than computing power, for example, in components of some soft robots.
Recent work showed that a mechanical system can perform similar computations [2]. However, this previous demonstration was limited in the number of inputs and outputs that it could accommodate, says Yair Shokef of Tel Aviv University in Israel. It also had rather large components that made it difficult to adapt to different applications.
Shokef and his colleagues, who produced the latest demonstration, built their 2D networks from equilateral triangles. Each triangle consisted of rigid beams with hinge points at each vertex and at the center of each side, for a total of three so-called corner nodes and three edge nodes per triangle. Importantly, each triangle had one or two “bonds”—beams that connected edge nodes and that determined the ways in which the triangle could be distorted or flexed.
Transforming hydrogen energy by flattening granular catalysts into paper-thin sheets
Catalysts are the invisible engines of hydrogen energy, governing both hydrogen production and electricity generation. Conventional catalysts are typically fabricated in granular particle form, which is easy to synthesize but suffers from inefficient use of precious metals and limited durability.
KAIST researchers have introduced a paper-thin sheet architecture in place of granules, demonstrating that a structural innovation—rather than new materials—can simultaneously reduce precious-metal usage while enhancing both hydrogen production and fuel-cell performance.
Professor EunAe Cho of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has developed a new catalyst architecture that dramatically reduces the amount of expensive precious metals required while simultaneously improving hydrogen production and fuel-cell performance.
Using magnetic frustration to probe new quantum possibilities
Research in the lab of UC Santa Barbara materials professor Stephen Wilson is focused on understanding the fundamental physics behind unusual states of matter and developing materials that can host the kinds of properties needed for quantum functionalities.
In a paper published in Nature Materials, Wilson’s lab group has reported on an innovative way to use a phenomenon referred to as frustration of long-range order in a material system to engineer unconventional magnetic states with potential relevance for quantum technologies.
At the same time, Wilson emphasized, “This is fundamental science aimed at addressing a basic question. It’s meant to probe what physics may be possible for future devices.”
Newly discovered metallic material with record thermal conductivity upends assumptions about heat transport limits
A UCLA-led, multi-institution research team has discovered a metallic material with the highest thermal conductivity measured among metals, challenging long-standing assumptions about the limits of heat transport in metallic materials.
Published in Science, the study was led by Yongjie Hu, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. The team reported that metallic theta-phase tantalum nitride conducts heat nearly three times more efficiently than copper or silver, the best conventional heat-conducting metals.
World’s smallest capacitor paves way for next-generation quantum metrology
Nanomechanical systems developed at TU Wien have now reached a level of precision and miniaturization that will allow them to be used in ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes in the future. Their new findings are published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies.
A major leap in measurement technology begins with a tiny gap of just 32 nanometers. This is the distance between a movable aluminum membrane and a fixed electrode, together forming an extremely compact parallel-plate capacitor—a new world record. This structure is intended for use in highly precise sensors, such as those required for atomic force microscopy.
But this world record is more than just an impressive feat of miniaturization—it is part of a broader strategy. TU Wien is developing various hardware platforms to make quantum sensing easier to use, more robust, and more versatile. In conventional optomechanical experiments, the motion of tiny mechanical structures is read out using light. However, optical setups are delicate, complex, and difficult to integrate into compact, portable systems. TU Wien therefore relies on other types of oscillations that are better suited for compact sensors.
