Material Science

Polystyrene persists in the environment for millennia, according to some international governmental agencies. This estimate is based on the amount of time required for microbes to break down the plastic. But now researchers have challenged this common assumption with the finding that sunlight can break down polystyrene over a much shorter time scale, from decades…

By: Dr. Michelle R. Stem Three-dimensional visible light photonic control is accomplished via the newly identified property of coherent poly propagation (CPP). This property is exhibited by a special silicate that is a rare form of a gemstone found in nature – opal. Dr. Michelle R. Stem discovered and examined several specimens of this material.…

A new method of discovering materials using data analytics and electron microscopy has found a new class of extremely hard alloys. Such materials could potentially withstand severe impact from projectiles, thereby providing better protection of soldiers in combat. Researchers from Lehigh University describe the method and findings in an article, “Materials Informatics For the Screening…

The mantis shrimp, one of the ocean’s most ornery creatures, can take on attacks from its own species without getting injured. Its strategy could solve a big manufacturing problem: Creating lighter materials that absorb a lot of energy from a sharp impact within a limited amount of space. Think precious cargo. What if there were…

Antennas made of carbon nanotube films are just as efficient as copper for wireless applications, according to researchers at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering. They’re also tougher, more flexible and can essentially be painted onto devices. The Rice lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Matteo Pasquali tested antennas made of “shear-aligned” nanotube films. The…

In spintronics, the use of organic materials as a “spin transport material” has recently garnered significant attention as they exhibit long spin-relaxation times and long spin-diffusion lengths owing to the weak spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of light elements. Meanwhile, the weak SOI of organic materials become a drawback when they are used as a “spin filter”.…

Since their invention in the late 1700s when French-born British physicist Denis Papin, the inventor of the pressure cooker, proposed the piston principle, pistons have been used to harness the power of fluids to perform work in numerous machines and devices. Conventional pistons are made of a rigid chamber and a piston inside, which can…

“Smart glass,” an energy-efficiency product found in newer windows of cars, buildings and airplanes, slowly changes between transparent and tinted at the flip of a switch. “Slowly” is the operative word; typical smart glass takes several minutes to reach its darkened state, and many cycles between light and dark tend to degrade the tinting quality…

With a wide range of healthcare, energy and military applications, stretchable electronics are revered for their ability to be compressed, twisted and conformed to uneven surfaces without losing functionality. By using the elasticity of polymers such as silicone, these emerging technologies are made to move in ways that mimic skin. This sheds light on why…

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Tsukuba demonstrate that polymers could play a key role in the fabrication of single-molecule electronic devices, allowing us to push the boundaries of the nanoelectronics revolution. One of the most striking aspects of the electronic devices we have today is their size and the size of…

A team of polymer chemists and engineers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new methodology that can be used to create a class of stretchable polymer composites with enhanced electrical and thermal properties. These materials are promising candidates for use in soft robotics, self-healing electronics and medical devices. The results are published in the…

Researchers have used sound waves to precisely manipulate atoms and molecules, accelerating the sustainable production of breakthrough smart materials. Metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, are incredibly versatile and super porous nanomaterials that can be used to store, separate, release or protect almost anything. Predicted to be the defining material of the 21st century, MOFs are ideal…

Recyclable plastics that contain ring-shaped polymers may be a key to developing sustainable synthetic materials. Despite some promising advances, researchers said, a full understanding of how to processes ring polymers into practical materials remains elusive. In a new study, researchers identified a mechanism called “threading” that takes place when a polymer is stretched – a…

A nanocomposite invented at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering promises to be a superior high-temperature dielectric material for flexible electronics, energy storage and electric devices. The nanocomposite combines one-dimensional polymer nanofibers and two-dimensional boron nitride nanosheets. The nanofibers reinforce the self-assembling material while the “white graphene” nanosheets provide a thermally conductive network that allows…

Iron-based superconductors (IBSCs) have attracted sustained research attention over the past decade, partly because new IBSCs were discovered one after another in the earlier years. At the time being, however, exploration of IBSCs becomes more and more challenging. A research team from Zhejiang University developed a structural design strategy for the exploration (H. Jiang et…

Researchers may have found a way to replace one of the scourges of the environment—polystyrene foam or Styrofoam. A team from Washington State University has created an environmentally-friendly alternative foam made from the nanocrystals of cellulose, the most abundant plant material on Earth. The foam is made using a manufacturing process where potentially harmful solvents…

Recently, multi-component materials have become one of the most promising materials in the engineering and biomedical applications. Compared with traditional alloys, the composition design of multi-component materials is more complicated, and lots of alloys with different compositions need to be prepared and tested. In addition, the relationship between the mixing entropy and performance of multi-component…

Research funded in part by the U.S. Army identified properties in materials that could one day lead to applications such as more powerful data storage devices that continue to hold information even after a device has been powered off. A team of researchers led by Cornell University and the University of California Berkeley made a…

Numerous chemical reactions relevant for the energy revolution are highly complex and result in considerable energy losses. This is the reason why energy conversion and storage systems or fuel cells are not yet widely used in commercial applications. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf are now reporting on a new…

Putting hydrogels through a vigorous workout could be as beneficial as hitting the gym is to a bodybuilder. A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found a way to enhance the beneficial features of hydrogels by stretching them out in water, aligning the nanofibers inside of hydrogels to produce a stronger,…