Materials Science News

Xenon nanoclusters between two graphene layers, with sizes between two and ten atoms. Image credit: Manuel Längle.

Physicists Capture Direct Images of Noble Gas Nanoclusters at Room Temperature

Jan 11, 2024 by News Staff

Physicists have, for the first time, directly imaged small clusters of noble gas atoms at room temperature. This achievement opens up exciting possibilities...

Harper et al. demonstrate that the addition of external water simultaneously suppresses surface charging and clumping of ground coffee and results in notably different flow dynamics in espresso formats, likely yielding markedly different taste profiles and more concentrated extracts. Image credit: Harper et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.11.005.

Grinding Coffee with Addition of Water Reduces Static Electricity, Researchers Say

Dec 6, 2023 by News Staff

Coffee grinding produces large quantities of static charge due to both fracturing and rubbing. Charge causes particle aggregation and discharge, a familiar...

Spatial wavefront of a narrowband laser beam is shaped by a spatial light modulator and excites many modes in a multimode fiber. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42806-1.

Physicists Find New Way to Increase Power of Fiber Lasers

Nov 21, 2023 by News Staff

An international team of physicists has demonstrated the potential use of multimode optical fiber to scale up power in fiber lasers by three-to-nine times...

An artist’s depiction of the liquid-like layer of molecules repelling water droplets. Image credit: Ekaterina Osmekhina / Aalto University

Materials Scientists Create Most Water-Repellent Surface Ever

Oct 23, 2023 by News Staff

Omniphobic liquid-like surfaces are a new type of liquid-repellent surface that offer many technical benefits over traditional approaches. They have molecular...

Datta et al. developed a ‘living material’ that could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water. Image credit: David Baillot / UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

‘Engineered Living Material’ Offers New Way to Clean Contaminated Water

Sep 5, 2023 by News Staff

The novel photosynthetic biocomposite material is a 3D-printed structure made of a seaweed-based polymer combined with genetically engineered cyanobacteria...

Roychand et al. show that the leaching of organic compounds from waste coffee grounds hinders the hydration reaction of cement particles, thereby significantly hampering the compressive strength of waste coffee ground-blended concrete; however, pyrolyzing waste coffee grounds at 350 degrees Celsius led to a significant improvement in its material properties, which resulted in a 29.3% enhancement in the compressive strength of the composite concrete blended with coffee biochar. Image credit: Roychand et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138205.

Researchers Turn Waste Coffee Grounds into Valuable Resource for Enhancement of Concrete Strength

Aug 22, 2023 by News Staff

A new study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production is the first to prove that waste coffee grounds can be used to improve concrete. Roychand et...

Xing et al. report printable metallic gels (pendular suspensions) consisting of an aqueous suspension of copper particles connected by bridges of liquid eutectic gallium indium alloy (EGaIn). Pendular suspensions rely on capillary forces to form networks between solid particles with a composition-dependent rheology, but prior studies have focused on insulating suspensions. Here, the rheology of a conductive solid-liquid-liquid suspension is tuned for 3D printing by varying the composition and the pH; the latter promotes metallic wetting. The dry printed parts have metallic electrical conductivity without requiring a sintering step. Drying at elevated temperatures can accelerate the removal of water while creating stress that drives shape change (i.e., 4D printing). As a demonstration, the authors print a conductive spider that lifts and assembles its own body from an initially flat shape. Such conductive inks are promising for printing metallic structures under ambient conditions. Image credit: Xing et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.06.015.

Scientists Develop Metallic Gel for Conductive 3D and 4D Printing

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

Materials scientists at the North Carolina State University have connected copper particles with gallium indium alloy bridges to form a conductive printing...

Polyacrylamide hydrogel disks. Image credit: Gustav Graeber / Carlos D. Díaz-Marín.

Salty Hygroscopic Hydrogel Could Absorb Water from Desert Air

Jun 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Hygroscopic hydrogels are emerging as scalable and low-cost sorbents for atmospheric water harvesting, dehumidification, passive cooling, and thermal energy...

The new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. Image credit: Xu et al., doi: 10.1002/smll.202207900.

Scientists Develop Multi-Stimuli-Responsive Smart Fabric

Apr 25, 2023 by News Staff

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a new smart material with a dual-response feature, that is, shape-memory and color-changing. The...

Overview of nanowire network device and setup for supervised learning, physical reinforcement learning, and the N-Back task protocol. Image credit: Loeffler et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3289.

Nanowire Networks Can Exhibit Both Short- and Long-Term Memory Like Human Brain

Apr 24, 2023 by News Staff

The brain’s powerful information processing capacity can be largely attributed to neuronal microcircuits established by synaptic connectivity patterns....

GRX-810. Image credit: NASA / Jordan Salkin.

NASA Researchers Create 3D-Printable Superalloy for Extreme Environments: GRX-810

Apr 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, materials scientists at NASA have developed a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened...

Visualization of the glazed wall made with translucent aerogel bricks. Image credit: Ganobjak et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105600.

Materials Scientists Create Translucent Aerogel Bricks

Apr 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of materials scientists from Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratory for Science and Technology) and the Slovak University of Technology has developed a...

The carbon-negative, environmentally friendly concrete that is nearly as strong as regular concrete. Image credit: Washington State University.

Environmentally Friendly, Carbon-Negative Concrete Created

Apr 18, 2023 by News Staff

Researchers at Washington State University have demonstrated a new synergistic carbon-capture strategy, i.e., using concrete washout water and biochar...

Faisal et al. demonstrated three-dimensional micropatterned sensors based on a subnanometer-thick epitaxial graphene for detecting the electroencephalography signal from the challenging occipital region of the head. Image credit: Faisal et al., doi: 10.1021/acsanm.2c05546.

Researchers Develop Non-Invasive Graphene Sensors for Brain-Machine Interfaces

Mar 21, 2023 by News Staff

Using their non-invasive sensors, Professor Francesca Iacopi from the University of Technology Sydney and her colleagues have demonstrated hands-free communication...

Aled Roberts and Nigel Scrutton used simulated Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch of salt to create the material that is twice as strong as ordinary concrete and is perfectly suited for construction work in extraterrestrial environments. Image credit: Aled Roberts & Nigel Scrutton, doi: 10.1515/eng-2022-0390.

StarCrete: Materials Scientists Create Starch-Based Concrete for Extraterrestrial Construction

Mar 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The StarCrete is twice as strong as regular concrete and is made from extraterrestrial dust, potato starch, and a pinch of salt. Aled Roberts and Nigel...

Chauhan et al. designed a smart supercapacitor using a novel stack of metal oxides that can efficiently harvest energy from sunlight and simultaneously store it. Image credit: Chauhan et al., doi: 10.1039/D2TA06790K.

Newly-Developed Supercapacitor Harvests and Stores Solar Energy

Mar 9, 2023 by News Staff

Like batteries, supercapacitors store and release electricity. But unlike batteries, supercapacitors don’t need a chemical reaction to store energy....

The demonstration of the metalens telescope proves the exciting potential lying in the metasurfaces and could bring new possibilities for areas involving large optical systems, including geosciences, planetary observation, and astrophysical science. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c03561.

Scientists Create First Ultrathin, Compact Metalens Telescope Capable of Imaging Far-Away Objects

Mar 7, 2023 by News Staff

Metalenses promise potential for a paradigm shift of conventional optical devices. They comprise tiny, antenna-like surface patterns that can focus light...

The climbing capabilities of living creatures such as geckos, tree frogs, and inchworms provide a promising platform for exploiting biomimetic soft climbing robots. Image credit: Sun et al., doi: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.101241.

GeiwBot: Gecko- and Inchworm-Inspired Robot Can Climb Walls and Ceilings

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

GeiwBot can climb on walls and ceilings of different textures including glass, polyimide, and aluminum; its climbing behavior is based on dynamic attachment...

Differences between 3D, 2D, and 1D corrosion: (a) schematic drawing of a typical bulk bicontinuous dealloying corrosion morphology; (b) schematic drawing of a typical pitting corrosion morphology with the volume set as transparent; the grain boundaries (GBs) were not displayed because both intergranular and intragranular pitting can occur; (c) schematic drawing of a typical intergranular corrosion morphology with the volume set as opaque; the sides of the cube display the cross-sectional views; (d) schematic drawing of 1D wormhole corrosion in a polycrystalline material; the upper half is a cross-sectional view showing discontinuous dots (i.e., voids filled by molten salt) along the GBs; the bottom half is a volumetric cutaway along the GBs where the 1D percolating network of tunnels on the grain surfaces is clearly shown in red; the dark blue color in (a) to (c) indicates free space such as cracks, voids, crevices etc., while the red color in (d) indicates wormholes filled with molten salt; (e) a representative false-colored SEM image showing the cross-section of Ni-20Cr after corrosion; (f) FIB-SEM 3D reconstruction of the volume shown in (e). Image credit: Yang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36588-9.

New Form of Corrosion Discovered: One Dimensional Wormhole Corrosion

Feb 24, 2023 by News Staff

Corrosion is a ubiquitous failure mode of materials. Often, the progression of localized corrosion is accompanied by the evolution of porosity in materials...