Materials Science News

Xu et al achieved a breakthrough, inventing a stretchy new material modeled after both squid skin and Hollywood dinosaurs with remarkable properties. Image credit: Xu et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aar5191.

Scientists Create Infrared Camouflage Material

Apr 2, 2018 by News Staff

Thermal vision cameras detect differences in temperature by sensing infrared wavelengths. If a coating could be developed that showed dynamic tuning of...

An aqueous spiral, 6.8 cm long, thread thickness 100 μm, in silicone oil. Scale bar - 2 mm. Image credit: Forth et al, doi: 10.1002/adma.201707603.

Researchers 3D Print All-Liquid Objects

Mar 30, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States and China has found a way to print 3D structures composed entirely of liquids. The team’s all-liquid material...

Millimeter-scale transient-electroluminescent device. Top row, from left to right: schematic of a millimeter-scale device, showing the grid source electrode structure to increase active emission area; photographs of a packaged, 3 mm x 2 mm, device in the off and on state. Bottom row: photograph of a millimeter-scale transparent device; photograph of a large area (3 mm x 2 mm) transparent device in the off and on state. Image credit: Lien et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03218-8.

New Electroluminescent Device Opens Possibility for ‘Invisible’ Displays, Light-Emitting Tattoos

Mar 28, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a bright-light emitting...

A new 4D printing technique could one day allow manufacturers to produce electronic devices and their wiring in a single process. Image credit: Lutz Peter.

Pioneering 4D Printer Developed

Mar 21, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and the Singapore University of Technology and Design has developed a powerful new 4D printer...

The new e-skin can be conformally mounted onto a human arm; it can be rehealed when it is damaged and can be fully recycled at room temperature. Image credit: Jianliang Xiao, University of Colorado Boulder.

Scientists Develop Rehealable, Fully Recyclable, and Malleable E-skin

Feb 13, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from Yunnan University and the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a new type of malleable, self-healing and...

New technique 3D prints genetically programmed bacterial cells into living devices. Image credit: Liu et al / Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT Researchers 3D Print Living Tattoo

Dec 6, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has devised a 3D printing technique that uses a novel kind of hydrogel ink made...

Dr. Wheeler (front) developed a switchable photovoltaic window along with (from left) Nathan Neale, Robert Tenent, Jeffrey Blackburn, Elisa Miller, and David Moore. Image credit: Dennis Schroeder, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Researchers Develop Switchable Photovoltaic Window

Nov 29, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the U.S. DoE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed a thermochromic window capable of converting sunlight into...

A metasurface uses circularly polarized light to generate and control new and complex states of light, such swirling vortices of light. Image credit: Second Bay Studio / Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Newly Developed Metasurface Generates Structured Light Beams

Nov 9, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers has developed a new tool that can produce complex states of light. The research appears in the journal Science. A metasurface uses...

$Gallium indium forms fractal patterns with the application of low voltage. Image credit: North Carolina State University.$

Voltage-Driven Liquid Metal Forms Snowflake-Like Fractals

Oct 31, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists at North Carolina State University has demonstrated that a gallium-based liquid metal alloy forms snowflake-like fractal patterns...

Tokuda et al apply electrical charges to morph liquid metal into 2D shapes. How the electric field creates deformation: (a) a liquid metal blob far from the electrodes and in absence of field is subject to no force; (b) deformation occurs when the blob is in contact with one of the electrodes and an electric voltage is applied across it; (c) deformation in this work as a 2D process. Image credit: INTERACT Lab, University of Sussex.

Programmable Liquid Matter: Researchers Find Way to Morph Liquid Metal into Physical Shapes

Oct 18, 2017 by News Staff

University of Sussex researcher Yutaka Tokuda and co-authors have applied electrical charges to manipulate liquid metal into 2D shapes such as letters...

Portus Cosanus pier, Orbetello, Italy. Image credit: J.P. Oleson.

New Research Shows How Natural Chemistry Strengthened Ancient Roman Marine Concrete

Jul 4, 2017 by News Staff

While modern marine concrete structures crumble within years, ancient Roman piers and breakwaters endure to this day, and are stronger now than when they...

A crystal of the trilayer nickelate compound Pr4Ni3O8. Image credit: Argonne National Laboratory.

New Nickelate Material Shows Potential for High-Temperature Superconductivity

Jun 19, 2017 by News Staff

Materials scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have identified the trilayer nickelate compound Pr4Ni3O8 as a promising...

Schematic illustration depicting synthesis of the 3D-hm LSMO catalysts. Image credit: Wang et al.

Step Forward in Engineering High-Efficiency Nanohybrid Catalysts

Jun 1, 2017 by News Staff

Versatile superstructures composed of nanoparticles have recently been prepared using various disassembly methods. However, little information is known...

Sound-shaping metamaterial bricks and the grid to contain them. Image credit: Gianluca Memoli et al, doi: 10.1038/ncomms14608.

Researchers Invent Sound-Shaping Metamaterial

Feb 28, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Universities of Sussex and Bristol, UK, has invented the first metamaterial that easily bends, shapes and focuses sound...

A layered ruthenate Ca2RuO4-y exhibits NTE; the sintered-body structure shows colossal NTE when extremely anisotropic thermal expansion of the crystal grains produces deformation, consuming open spaces (voids) on heating; the total volume change related to NTE reaches 6.7% at most, the largest reported so far. Image credit: Koshi Takenaka et al.

Record-Breaking Material Shrinks When Heated

Feb 10, 2017 by News Staff

Most materials expand when heated, but a few materials do the opposite and contract. Researchers at Nagoya University are now adding to this curious class...

Heat-driven transistor. Image credit: Linköping University.

Researchers Create World’s First Heat-Driven Transistor

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have created what they say is a heat-gated organic transistor. Heat-driven transistor. Image credit: Linköping...

World’s Thinnest Electrical Wires Developed: Just Three Atoms Wide

Dec 27, 2016 by News Staff

Researchers are reporting development of the world’s thinnest electrical wires, made of chalcogenide and diamondoids (the smallest possible bits of diamond)....

Schematic of a transistor with a molybdenum disulfide channel and 1-nm carbon nanotube gate. Image credit: Sujay Desai / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Researchers Create World’s Smallest Transistor

Oct 6, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists headed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researcher Prof. Ali Javey has used carbon nanotubes and a compound called molybdenum...

Crystal structure of beta-Ti3Au (blue – titanium, red – gold). Image credit: Rice University.

New Biocompatible Alloy is Four Times Harder than Pure Titanium

Jul 25, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new biocompatible alloy has been developed, and it’s about 3-4 times harder than most steels and pure titanium. Crystal structure of beta-Ti3Au (blue...