Feature Channels: Materials Science

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New method can make films of atomically thin carbon that are over a foot long.

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Argonne physicists are taking coherent X-rays to the next level, with funding from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program.

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Argonne researchers are using nanoparticles to make photodetectors better able to handle the ultraviolet radiation produced in high-energy physics experiments.

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The conventional paradigm for understanding SCC is the simultaneous presence of a sufficient level of tensile stress, a corrosive environment and a susceptible material. New research illustrates that SCC can occur if the corrosion happens first and the material is subsequently subjected to stress.

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A team of energy researchers from the University of Minnesota and University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered that molecular motion can be predicted with high accuracy when confining molecules in small nanocages. The discovery could improve production of fuels and chemicals.

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U.S. buildings leak an estimated 30 percent of their energy through inefficient windows, costing consumers an estimated $42 billion annually. But that could begin to change if efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are successful in commercializing a patented new process for synthesizing vanadium dioxide nanoparticles that makes manufacturing energy-efficient “smart windows” economical.

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A new approach to atom probe tomography promises more precise and accurate measurements vital to semiconductors used in computers, lasers, detectors, and more.

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Scientists can now measure 3-D structures of tiny particles with properties that hold promise for advanced sensors and diagnostics.

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Using synthesis techniques, an ORNL team transformed waste sugar from biorefineries into spherical carbon materials that could be used to form improved supercapacitors, which are energy storage devices that help power technologies including smartphones, hybrid vehicles, and security alarm systems.

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Argonne senior scientist Nestor Zaluzec has been inducted into the inaugural “legends” class of fellows of the Microanalysis Society.

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A national online energy data management system is transforming how energy retrofit projects implemented by a wide variety of users – including local, state, and federal governments – develop projects and track performance.

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As much as 100 times more heat than predicted by the standard radiation theory can flow between two nanoscale objects, even at bigger-than-nanoscale distances, researchers at the University of Michigan and the College of William and Mary have reported in the journal Nature.

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Argonne announces the availability of a new manufacturing technology that simplifies the manufacture of nanomaterials in high volumes. Known as Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP), the technology offers benefits over traditional methods used to manufacture the particle-based substances that are critical to producing a wide range of industrial materials.

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Titanium-based materials are widely used in medical implant technology, and coating the surface of titanium materials with biologically active molecules has recently shown promise to improve how cells adhere to implants and promote tissue regeneration. The mechanisms behind how peptides stick to titanium, however, are not fully understood. Researchers have now found how calcium ions present at the interface between titanium oxide and tissues affect how well peptides bind to the metal. The team reports their findings in Biointerphases.

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ORNL story tips: Lab, field tests show improved building insulation performance; ORNL-developed software runs quantum programs on multiple quantum computers; ORNL moved single atoms below a crystal’s surface; certain bacteria turns mercury into methylmercury at varying rates across species; ORNL hosts Molten Salt Reactor Workshop in Oct.

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Michigan Technological University and Aalto University researchers have found that using dry etched black silicon for passive emitter rear cell (PERC) solar cells increases the cost of individual cell production by 15.8 percent to 25.1 percent, but reduces the cost per unit power by 10.8 percent over those for industrial Czochralski silicon.

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A team of researchers, contractors, and state materials engineers concluded that the simple process of casting large diameter drilled shafts with a central void completely eliminated mass concrete conditions that can accompany large concrete structures .

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The University of Minnesota announced today an award of $8 million over the next four years from the Simons Foundation to an international collaboration that will study the fundamental science of waves.

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Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory induced a two-dimensional material to cannibalize itself for atomic “building blocks” from which stable structures formed. The findings provide insights that may improve design of 2D materials for fast-charging energy-storage and electronic devices.

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A collaboration between scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main has computationally predicted a number of unique properties in a group of iron-based superconductors, including room-temperature super-elasticity.