Phys.org June 29, 2021 Nanolattices exhibit attractive mechanical, energy conversion and optical properties, but it is challenging to fabricate large nanolattices while maintaining the dense regular nanometre features that enable their properties. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania developed a crack-free self-assembly approach for fabricating centimetre-scale nickel nanolattices with much larger crack-free areas. The nanolattices have a feature size of 100 nm, a grain size of 30 nm and a tensile strength of 260 MPa, which approaches the theoretical strength limit for porous nickel. The work may advance the fabrication and applications of high-strength multifunctional porous materials…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Category Archives: Advanced materials
Scientists design 3D-grown material that could speed up production of new technologies for smart buildings and robotics
Phys.org June 29, 2021 An international team of researchers (UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UK) has developed a nanoparticle composite that grows into 3-D crystals. They discovered that a tiny trace of polyolefin molecules from the centrifuge tube lining had somehow entered the mix. Subsequent experiments revealed that as the toluene solvent quickly evaporates at room temperature, the polyolefin additive helps the Au-PS nanoparticles form into 3D PGNP crystals, and to grow into crystal structure and the size and shape of the 3D PGNP crystals are driven by the kinetic energy of olyolefins as they precipitate in the solution. […]
Meringue-like material could make aircraft as quiet as a hairdryer
Pys.org June 18, 2021 Researchers in the UK have developed an ultralight graphene oxide (GO)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aerogel (GPA) with hierarchical and tunable porosity embedded in a honeycomb scaffold. The aerogels have an enhanced ability to dissipate sound energy, with an extremely low density of 2.10 kg m−3. They experimentally evaluated and optimised the effects of composition and thickness on sound absorption, and sound transmission losses. Then employed a semi-analytical approach to evaluate the effect of different processing times on acoustic properties and assessed the relationships between the acoustic and non-acoustic properties of the materials. Over the 400–2500 Hz range, […]
Creating nanomaterials with new laser driven method
Nanowerk May 31, 2021 For successful implementation of photoelectrocatalytic synthesis of fuels and value-added chemicals hybrid photoelectrodes with low energy consumption and high photocurrent densities are essential. Researchers in Japan have developed a laser-driven technology to print sensitizers with desired morphologies and layer thickness onto different substrates, such as glass, carbon, or carbon nitride (CN). The process uses a thin polymer reactor impregnated with transition metal salts, confining the growth of TMO nanostructures on the interface in milliseconds, while their morphology can be tuned by the laser. Multiple nano-p-n junctions at the interface increase the electron/hole lifetime by efficient charge […]
One material, two functionalities
Nanowerk May 25, 2021 Flexible metamaterials often harness zero-energy deformation modes. To date they have a single property, such as a single shape change, or are pluripotent. An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Switzerland) has introduced a class of oligomodal metamaterials that encode a few distinct properties that can be selectively controlled under uniaxial compression. They demonstrated this concept by introducing a combinatorial design space containing various families of metamaterials. They included monomodal (with a single zero-energy deformation mode); oligomodal (with a constant number of zero-energy deformation modes); and plurimodal (with many zero-energy deformation modes), whose number increases with system […]
Harvesting light like nature does
Nanowerk May 15, 2021 Inspired by the formation of hierarchically structured natural biominerals (e.g., bone and tooth), various sequence-defined polymers have been synthesized and exploited for design and synthesis of functional hybrid materials. A team of researchers in the US (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington State University) created an altered protein-like structure, called a peptoid, and attached a precise silicate-based cage-like structure to one end of it. They found that, under the right conditions, they could induce these molecules to self-assemble into perfectly shaped crystals of 2D nanosheets. It has the programmability of a protein-like synthetic molecule with the complexity […]
Nanoscale defects could boost energy storage materials
Phys.org May 11, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (Cornell University, Virginia Tech, Argonne National Laboratory) synthesized a garnet crystal structure, lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide (LLZO), with various concentrations adding aluminum as a dopant. Through Bragg Coherent Diffractive Imaging they found the material’s morphology and atomic displacements. The researchers now plan to conduct a study that measures how the defects impact the performance of solid-state electrolytes in an actual battery. The study opens the possibility to design defects to make better energy storage materials…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Nature provides inspiration for breakthrough in self-regulating materials
Phys.org April 27, 2021 To make a series of oscillators to work in unison with each other, a team of researchers (UMass Amherst, Boston University, Harvard University, University of Colorado) has developed a versatile platform of light-driven active particles with interaction geometries that can be reconfigured on demand, enabling the construction of oscillator and spinner networks. The platform relies on the Marangoni effect, which is a phenomenon that describes the movement of solids along the interface between two fluids driven by changes in surface tension. They used hydrogel nanocomposite disks made up of polymer gels and nanoparticles of gold, which […]
New two-dimensional material
Science Daily April 27, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – Carnegie Institution for Science, Howard University, University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Germany, France, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, China) used the laser-heated diamond anvil cell technique with pressures of up to 100 gigapascals, to synthesize a Dirac material beryllonitrene (BeN4). These are beryllium polynitrides, some of which conform to the monoclinic, others to the triclinic crystal system. The triclinic beryllium polynitrides exhibit an unusual characteristic when the pressure drops. They take on a crystal structure made up of layers. Each layer contains zigzag nitrogen chains connected by beryllium […]
Electrifying cement with nanocarbon black
Nanowerk April 21, 2021 Researchers at MIT performed an experimental-theoretical investigation of the electrical conductivity and resistive heating of highly heterogeneous nanocarbon–cement-based composites (pastes and mortars). Even a small voltage — as low as 5 volts — could increase the surface temperatures of their samples (approximately 5 cm3 in size) up to 41 degrees Celsius (around 100 degrees Fahrenheit). They found that electrical conductivity is determined by the electric tortuosity of a “volumetric wiring” permeating a highly heterogeneous matrix from percolation to saturation. They showed that the electric energy dissipation at the origin of the Joule heating originates from spatial […]