Materials Science

  1. Materials Science

    Nanotech Goes to New Lengths: Scientists create ultralong carbon nanotubes

    In an advance toward making superstrong fibers, chemists have synthesized a 4-centimeter-long carbon nanotube, the longest nanotube reported to date.

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  2. Materials Science

    Falling into Place: Atom mist yields nanobricks and mortar

    Researchers have induced tiny particles of nickel to spontaneously assemble into exceptionally uniform, three-dimensional arrays of macroscopic size.

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  3. Materials Science

    Model Growth: Simulations expose branching nature of polymer crystals

    Using computer models, scientists have uncovered previously unknown facets of the physics underlying polymer crystal growth.

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  4. 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.

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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.

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  8. 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.

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  9. 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.

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  10. 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.

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  11. Materials Science

    Diatom Menagerie

    Materials scientists are trying to coerce diatoms into making silicon-based microdevices with specific features.

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  12. Materials Science

    DNA coordinates assembly of glassy nanoscale structures

    Chemists use DNA as a scaffold to construct miniature rings and rods out of silica.

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