Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Jumping nanoparticles

Transitions occurring in nanoscale systems, such as a chemical reaction or the folding of a protein, are strongly affected by friction and thermal noise. Such transitions occur most frequently at intermediate friction, an effect known as Kramers turnover.

Bending the laws of thermodynamics for enhanced material design

Wide metastable composition ranges are possible in alloys of semiconductors with different crystal structures.

Sscientists invent a new mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM)

This new AFM mode enhances this microscopy technique as a standard characterization technique available for material research specifically for the case of piezoelectricity and ferroelectricity.

Turning a pinch of salt into an electrical switch

A team of scientists has discovered a way to induce and control a fundamental electrical switching behaviour on the nanoscale.

Self-assembly of highly-porous crystalline particles into novel photonic materials for sensing

Researchers have formed highly-porous metal-organic framework particles that spontaneously assemble into well-ordered 3D superstructures that present photonic crystal properties.

Scientists break new ground in memory technology

An international research team pioneered the development of a novel thin, organic film that supports a million more times read-write cycles and consumes 1,000 times less power than commercial flash memories.

A quantum spin liquid

Honeycomb lattice meets elusive standards of the Kitaev model.