Latest Crystal structure Stories
Rice University theory predicts formation of conductive sub-nano ‘wires’ in two-dimensional materials A new material structure predicted at Rice University offers the tantalizing possibility of a signal path smaller than the nanowires for advanced electronics now under development at Rice and elsewhere. Theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and postdoctoral fellow Xiaolong Zou were investigating the atomic-scale properties of two-dimensional materials when they found to their...
Design rules will enable scientists to use DNA to build nanomaterials with desired properties Nature is a master builder. Using a bottom-up approach, nature takes tiny atoms and, through chemical bonding, makes crystalline materials, like diamonds, silicon and even table salt. In all of them, the properties of the crystals depend upon the type and arrangement of atoms within the crystalline lattice. Now, a team of Northwestern University scientists has learned how to top nature by...
On May 13th 2011, the journal Science publishes a paper where scientists from Risø DTU in collaboration with scientists from China and USA, report a new method for revealing a 3D picture of the structure inside a material.Most solid materials are composed of millions of small crystals, packed together to form a fully dense solid. The orientations, shapes, sizes and relative arrangement of these crystals are important in determining many material properties.Traditionally, it has only been...
New insights into why and how nanowires take the form they do will have profound implications for the development of future electronic components. PhD student Peter Krogstrup from the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen is behind the sensational new theoretical model, which is developed in collaboration with researchers from CINAM-CNRS in Marseille.One of the most important components in future electronic devices will likely be based on nanocrystals, which are smaller than the...
By Lynn Yarris, Berkeley LabMöbius symmetry, the topological phenomenon that yields a half-twisted strip with two surfaces but only one side, has been a source of fascination since its discovery in 1858 by German mathematician August Möbius. As artist M.C. Escher so vividly demonstrated in his "parade of ants," it is possible to traverse the "inside" and "outside" surfaces of a Möbius strip without crossing over an edge. For years, scientists have been searching for an example of...
The change-over to lead-free products is in full progress. The problem is however that the environmentally friendly alternatives have to be as effi cient as the lead-containing variants. One example is the injection system of diesel engines. Lead-free functional materials can be found faster by means of computer simulation methods.Technical progress in the automobile industry is unbroken. But, the sector has still some hard nuts to crack: "Lead-free materials" is one of the challenges "“...
Using a neutron beam as a probe, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have begun to reveal the crystal structure of a compound essential to technologies ranging from sonar to computer memory. Their recent work* provides long-sought insight into just how a widely used material of modern technology actually works.The compound is a "piezoelectric," a material capable of changing one kind of energy into another"”mechanical to electrical, or...
Researchers discover why atoms in solids show a preference for certain structures Nature likes some symmetries, but dislikes others. Ordered solids often display a so-called 6-fold rotation symmetry. To achieve this kind of symmetry, the atoms in a plane surround themselves with six neighbors in an arrangement similar to that found in honeycombs. As opposed to this, ordered materials with 7-fold, 9-fold or 11-fold symmetries are never observed in nature. Researchers from the Max Planck...
There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. A lead-free alternative to the current crop of piezoelectric materials has been identified by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley.The key to this success is the use of bismuth ferrite, a compound with a...
The sonar on submarines may get far more sensitive ears in the near future thanks to a mysterious compound developed by the military. Developed over a decade ago, it took a collaboration of scientists from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to determine why the material works. Surprisingly, the critical factor is a sprinkling of useful imperfections within an otherwise regular crystal.The scientific team solved...
