Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have developed a revolutionary microscopy method that enables the direct visualization of nanostructures and their optical properties.

This breakthrough allows researchers to observe nanoscale materials, like metamaterials, in unprecedented detail by manipulating light in innovative ways. The method has taken over five years to develop and leverages the unique capabilities of the Free Electron Laser. The implications of this research are vast, offering the potential to advance flat optics, shrink 3D optics to 2D, and create more efficient optical devices.

Tailoring Light With Nanomaterials

Lithium iron phosphate is one of the most important materials for batteries in electric cars, stationary energy storage systems and tools. It has a long service life, is comparatively inexpensive and does not tend to spontaneously combust. Energy density is also making progress. However, experts are still puzzled as to why lithium iron phosphate batteries undercut their theoretical electricity storage capacity by up to 25% in practice.

In order to utilize this dormant capacity reserve, it would be crucial to know exactly where and how lithium ions are stored in and released from the battery material during the charging and discharging cycles.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have now taken a significant step in this direction. Using transmission electron microscopes, they were able to systematically track the lithium ions as they traveled through the battery material, map their arrangement in the crystal lattice of an iron phosphate cathode with unprecedented resolution and precisely quantify their distribution in the crystal.

“the Cauchy stress tensor completely defines the state of stress at a point inside a material in the deformed state”

The Cauchy Stress Tensor.

Imagine you’re holding a rubber band in your hands and stretching it.

Continue reading “Cauchy stress tensor” »

Chirality in extended 2D structures exhibits fundamental differences from molecular-level chirality. This Perspective discusses how local molecular chirality is transmitted and amplified to form distinctive global chirality within ultrathin, single-crystalline 2D materials; it also explores the future challenges and potential of this field.

Researchers discovered a significant anomalous Hall effect in the magnetic material SrCo6O11 at temperatures above its magnetic transition, where it exhibits a phenomenon known as the “Spin-Fluctuating Devil’s Staircase.” This observation could revolutionize the design of materials for magneto-thermoelectric conversion, impacting the development of new thermoelectric materials.

Here’s a bit of background: When an electric current flows through a metal sample in a magnetic field, it experiences the Lorentz force. This force generates a voltage perpendicular to the magnetic field and current—a phenomenon referred to as the Hall effect.

In magnetic metals, a similar phenomenon—known as the anomalous Hall effect—may occur independently of an external magnetic field, particularly in ferromagnetic materials wherein electron spins are aligned. Generally, this alignment—and thus the anomalous Hall effect—only manifests below a certain temperature, known as the magnetic transition temperature.

The integration of graphene-metal metastructures with laser micropropulsion systems promises significant advancements in space exploration and energy systems.

Could nickel-oxide-based compounds be a new class of high-temperature superconductors?

Experiments on soft granular materials have allowed researchers to derive a rheological description for these materials by extending an established framework valid for hard granular materials.

Imagine knowing your milk has gone bad without having to open your fridge. A technology called printed electronics could one day make innovations like this possible.