To design and improve energy storage materials, smart devices, and many more technologies, researchers need to understand their hidden structure and chemistry. Advanced research techniques, such as ultra-fast electron diffraction imaging can reveal that information. Now, a group of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new and…
Sweeping Lasers Snap Together Nanoscale Geometric Grids
Down at the nanoscale, where objects span just billionths of a meter, the size and shape of a material can often have surprising and powerful electronic and optical effects. Building larger materials that retain subtle nanoscale features is an ongoing challenge that shapes countless emerging technologies. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven…
Engineering Phase Changes in Nanoparticle Arrays
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have just taken a big step toward the goal of engineering dynamic nanomaterials whose structure and associated properties can be switched on demand. In a paper appearing inNature Materials, they describe a way to selectively rearrange the nanoparticles in three-dimensional arrays to produce different configurations,…
Visualizing How Radiation Bombardment Boosts Superconductivity
Sometimes a little damage can do a lot of good — at least in the case of iron-based high-temperature superconductors. Bombarding these materials with high-energy heavy ions introduces nanometer-scale damage tracks that can enhance the materials’ ability to carry high current with no energy loss — and without lowering the critical operating temperature. Such high-current,…