Materials Science
- Materials Science
Face to Face: Crystal-growth method bodes electric payoff
A new method for growing silicon carbide eliminates crystal defects that have long prevented the compound's wider use in electric devices.
- Materials Science
Warm Reflections: Window tint kicks in when it’s hot
A novel window coating automatically transforms into a heat mirror only when warmed above room temperature.
- Materials Science
Bacterial glue: The stuff that binds?
A sticky slime secreted by bacteria could soon find its way into a host of wood products, including plywood and particleboard.
- Materials Science
Sea urchin shell lights the way for optical material
Using the porous skeleton of a sea urchin as a template, materials scientists have fabricated a photonic crystal.
- Materials Science
Savvy Sieve: Carbon nanotubes filter petroleum, polluted water
A filter made out of carbon nanotubes has potential for such applications as processing crude oil and decontaminating drinking water.
- Materials Science
To make bronze, tin flakes do a wild dance
Upsetting some prevailing ideas about how alloys form, rafts of tin atoms jitterbug madly around on a pure copper surface and leave spots of bronze in their wakes.
- Materials Science
Charging gold with a single electron
Dropping a single electron onto a gold atom with a scanning tunneling microscope converts gold from its neutral state to an ionic state.
- Materials Science
Diatom Menagerie
Materials scientists are trying to coerce diatoms into making silicon-based microdevices with specific features.
- Materials Science
DNA coordinates assembly of glassy nanoscale structures
Chemists use DNA as a scaffold to construct miniature rings and rods out of silica.
- Materials Science
Cool Magnet: A little bit of iron gives magnetic refrigeration a boost
An improved material moves magnetic refrigeration one step closer to commercial reality.
- Materials Science
Nice Threads
Once researchers figure out how to spin strong fibers out of carbon nanotubes, real-world applications such as long-distance power-transmission cables, lightweight aircraft materials, and electronic textiles become feasible.
- Materials Science
Branching Out: Semiconducting nanotrees could boost electronics
Forests of semiconducting nanotrees could form the basis of future solar cells, low-energy lighting, and other optical or microelectronic devices.
