Everyone reacts differently under stress—even the relatively orderly atoms in a crystal. If scientists could get a clear picture of how planes of atoms shift and squeeze under stress, they could make use of those properties to provide emerging technologies, like nanoelectronics and next-generation semiconductor components, with extra speed or functionalities. However, creating this picture requires new techniques for imaging atoms in materi...

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling pipe blew out seven years ago, beginning the worst oil spill in U.S. history, those in charge of the recovery discovered a new wrinkle: the millions of gallons of oil bubbling from the sea floor weren't all collecting on the surface where it could be skimmed or burned. Some of it was forming a plume and drifting through the ocean under the surface.

Until recently, "flexible ferroelectrics" could have been thought of as the same type of oxymoronic phrase. However, thanks to a discovery by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with researchers at Northwestern University, scientists have pioneered a class of materials with advanced functionalities that moves the idea from the realm of irony into reality.

Machine learning, a field focused on training computers to recognise patterns in data and make new predictions, is helping doctors more accurately diagnose diseases and stock analysts forecast the rise and fall of financial markets. And now materials scientists have pioneered another important application for machine learning—helping to accelerate the discovery and development of new materials.

Isotopes are essential to nuclear medicine. In an effort to return to a stable mass, isotopes known as radioisotopes emit radiation that can damage diseased tissue and can be traced in certain environments, making them useful for medical imaging and cancer therapy, as well as tracking environmental change in oceans and soil, studying the fundamental science of nuclei and safeguarding national security.

A team led by Materials Scientist Anirudha Sumant with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) and Materials Science Division, along with collaborators at the University of California-Riverside, has developed a method to grow graphene that contains relatively few impurities and costs less to make, in a shorter time and at lower temperatures compared to the processes widely used to m...

When it comes to water, some materials have a split personality - and some of these materials could hold the key to new ways of harnessing solar energy. These small assemblies of organic molecules have parts that are hydrophobic, or water-fearing, while other parts are hydrophilic, or water-loving. Because of their schizoid nature, micelles organise themselves into spheres that have their hydrophilic parts turned out while their hydrophobic ...

Energy storage is crucial for taking full advantage of solar power, which otherwise suffers interruptions from cloudy skies and nightfall. In the past few years, concentrating solar power plants have begun producing additional electricity at night and during peak demand periods by using stored heat energy to propel a steam turbine. Current thermal energy storage systems rely on materials that store less energy per kilogram, requiring more ma...

As scientists and policymakers around the world try to combat the increasing rate of climate change, they have focused on the chief culprit: carbon dioxide. Produced by the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and car engines, carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, warming the planet. But trees and other plants do slowly capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it to sugars that store energy.

High-temperature superconducting materials hold enormous promise for a variety of different applications because of their ability to transmit a current without any dissipation at relatively high temperatures—up to around 90 K (about -300°F), which permits cooling with liquid nitrogen. However, this special ability decreases rapidly in the presence of a magnetic field, prohibiting their widespread use in superconducting motors and turbin...

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory found they could use a small electric current to introduce oxygen voids, or vacancies, that dramatically change the conductivity of thin oxide films. The results are published in Nature Communications. The discovery improves our understanding of how these materials work and could be useful for new electronics, catalysts or more.

The modern internal combustion engine is a complex and finely tuned system where small changes in one area can have important ramifications on the whole. Decades of dedicated work to maximise efficiency have refined engines to the point where major improvements require innovative approaches that look at the entire system.

Researchers at UCLA and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have announced a new method for creating magnetic skyrmion bubbles at room temperature. The bubbles, a physics phenomenon thought to be an option for more energy-efficient and compact electronics, can be created with easy-to-use equipment and common materials.