2015

A scanning probe microscope (SPM) can detect two similar signals, which could lead to ambiguous identification of ferroelectric materials.

Ferroelectricity – Ambiguity Clarified, and Resolved

Novel technique accurately distinguishes rare material property linked to improving sensors and computers.

The width of a graphene nanoribbon determines its electronic properties, but controlling that width at the atomic scale is a challenge.

Legos for the Fabrication of Atomically Precise Electronic Circuits

Pre-designed molecular building blocks provide atomic-level control of the width of graphene nanoribbons.

Secretion in droplet-embedded gel permits self-repairing behavior.

Damaged Material, Heal Thyself

Internal storage compartments release droplets of “healing” liquid to repair damaged materials.

Short laser pulses (the wide red arrow) on the order of femtoseconds (one quadrillionth of a second) changed the electronic properties of a material (the brown hexagonal shape) by triggering phase transitions.

Lasers Leave a Mark on Materials - At the Atomic Level

Ultrafast laser shots act like dopants to create new electronic properties in materials.

Artist conception highlights electron behavior in a single layer of iron-selenium atoms (red and purple) on a strontium titanate layer (blue pyramid shapes).

Vibrations Raise the Critical Temperature for Superconductivity

Scientists reveal that coupling between electrons and atomic vibrations play a key role in this vexing phenomenon.

Aluminum-ion batteries could rapidly charge - in less than one minute.

A Step Towards New, Faster-Charging, and Safer Batteries

First prototypes of aluminum-ion batteries charge quickly and have the potential for long lifetimes, low cost, and safe operation.

Defects (red and blue markings) surprisingly self-organize in active liquid crystal film of protein filaments and such dynamic reorganization could lead to new approaches for designing self-healing materials.

Defects Lead to Order

Surprising order found in bundles of protein filaments that move chaotically and form liquid crystals that could led to novel self-healing.

In an iron-based superconductor, model patterns of electron spins show two competing liquid-like magnetic phases. (Positive spins correspond with yellow and red, while negative spins are green and black.)

Magnetic Dance at the Threshold of Superconductivity

Near the onset of superconductivity, continuous exchange of electrons occurs between distinct, liquid-like magnetic phases in an iron-based superconductor.

X-rays can characterize the motion of atomic-scale defects (for example, dislocations) relative to the morphology of a nanoparticle in the electrode of an operating lithium-ion battery. The dislocations are extra planes of atoms inserted into the atomic lattice.

Tracking Hidden Imperfections Inside Operating Lithium-ion Batteries

Penetrating x-rays can image defects and phase changes during battery charging and discharging.

Simulation of stretching of a silver nanowire accurately shows the entire process from “necking” (thinner regions in the wire) to the formation of a new phase (red portion in the last image).

When Small Things Become a Big Deal

Computer-simulated atomic motion answers real-world questions like “How do things break?”

Whether a solid or liquid forms from charged polymers depends on the “handedness” of the oppositely charged polymer chains.

Will It Be a Solid or a Liquid? The Molecular Structure Has the Answer

Oppositely charged polymer chains can be “right-handed,” “left-handed,” or have no “handedness” at all, which controls whether a solid or liquid forms.