Materials – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Scientists Have Created a Long-Fabled Triangle-Shaped Molecule in the Lab

Posted by Shane Hinshaw in materials, particle physics

Feb 14
2017

For the first time, researchers have synthesised a strange and unstable triangle-shaped molecule called triangulene, which physicists have been chasing for nearly 70 years.

Triangulene is similar to the ‘wonder material’ graphene in that it’s only one-atom-thick. But instead of sheet of carbon atoms, triangulene is made up of six hexagonal carbon molecules joined along their edges to form a triangle — an unusual arrangement that leaves two unpaired electrons unable form a stable bond. No one has ever been able to synthesise the molecule until now.

The elusive molecule was created by a team of researchers from IBM, using a needle-like microscope tip to manipulate individual atoms into the desired format.

Harvard scientists finally create metallic hydrogen

Posted by Shane Hinshaw in materials

Feb 11
2017

Harvard scientists have created the rarest material on earth.

3D Printing Will Change The Way We Make Things And Design Them In 2017

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in 3D printing, materials

Feb 11
2017

3D printing is profoundly changing not just how we make things, but how we design them as well. As well as saving materials, time, water and waste, it is also opening up possibilities for new products and is set to unleash a wave of innovation in the industrial sector.

Novel quantum state in strange insulating materials

Posted by Karen Hurst in materials, quantum physics

Feb 9
2017

Experiments show how electrons in Mott insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling arrange themselves to make the materials magnetic at low temperatures. The work helps bring us closer to a more complete quantum theory of magnetism.

Determining the nature of the gap in semiconducting graphene

Posted by Karen Hurst in materials

Feb 9
2017

Making small graphene devices more of a reality.

Since its discovery, graphene has held great promise as a two-dimensional (2D) metal with massless carriers and, thus, extremely high-mobility that is due to the character of the band structure that results in the so-called Dirac cone for the ideal, perfectly ordered crystal structure.

CP Symmetry Between Material and Anti Material Copy Universes Combined with Local-and Multi-Universal Cycle Time

Posted by Karen Hurst in materials

Feb 9
2017

Excellent write up on matter–antimatter differences.

Official Full-Text Publication: CP Symmetry Between Material and Anti Material Copy Universes Combined with Local-and Multi-Universal Cycle Time on ResearchGate, the professional network for scientists.

World’s First 3D Printed Concrete Pedestrian Bridge Opens in Spain

Posted by Karen Hurst in 3D printing, materials

Feb 8
2017

3D printed bridge in Spain. Could this some day be our answer to reducing costs around US state and county infrastructure costs related to bridges and other structural repairs related to infrastructure?

The pedestrian crossing 3D-printed bridge installed in the urban park of Castilla La Mancha in Madrid, Spain, back in December is now ready to be used.

The 39-foot-long bridge was printed in micro-reinforced concrete at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

In addition to the 3D printing, the production process was also environmentally friendly allowing the team to optimize the distribution of materials, minimize the amount of water, and recycle the raw material during manufacture.

MIT Researchers Develop a Tough Hydrogel Hybrid That Never Dries Out

Posted by Karen Hurst in futurism, materials

Feb 4
2017

Constantly changing contact lenses is annoying and tedious. MIT developed a new hydrogel that could be the future of longer lasting contacts.

Water-based and biocompatible 2D inks for printed electronics

Posted by Karen Hurst in electronics, materials

Feb 3
2017

Luv this.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a method of producing water-based and inkjet printable 2D material inks, which could bring 2D crystal heterostructures from the lab into real-world products.

Examples include efficient light detectors, and devices that are able to store information encoded in binary form which have been demonstrated, in collaboration with the University of Pisa.

Graphene is the world’s first 2D material: 200 times stronger than steel, lightweight, flexible and more conductive of copper. Since graphene’s isolation in 2004 the family of 2D materials has expanded.

This graphene dress lights up when you breathe

Posted by Karen Hurst in 3D printing, materials

Feb 3
2017

Wonder which 3D printer she used?

Together with scientists, fashion designers have used graphene — a Nobel-Prize winning material that’s tougher than diamonds — to give their LBD a high-tech cut.

“We are trying to showcase the amazing properties of graphene,” Francesca Rosella, the co-founder of fashion company CuteCircuit, told CNN.