Researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a pioneering method to assemble silicon nanowires into ordered, macroscopic networks: a key step toward expanding their industrial applications.
Category: materials – Page 12
Achieving low resistance and high performance in magnetic tunnel junctions using high-entropy oxides
A NIMS research team has developed a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) featuring a tunnel barrier made of a high-entropy oxide composed of multiple metallic elements. This MTJ simultaneously demonstrated stronger perpendicular magnetization, a higher tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio (i.e., the relative change in electrical resistance when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers switch between parallel and antiparallel alignments) and lower electrical resistance.
These properties may contribute to the development of smaller, higher-capacity and higher-performance hard disk drives (HDDs) and magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM).
This research is published in Materials Today.
Butterfly wings inspire solution to impossible optics problem
The iridescent blue of butterfly wings has inspired researchers to find a solution to a challenge previously considered insurmountable—dynamically tuning advanced optical processes at visible wavelengths.
The result is a patterned layer of material a fraction of the thickness of a hair, that could underpin radical new optical technology: applications of the technology are diverse, ranging from adaptive camouflage, through biosensing to quantum light engines for on-chip computing and secure communications.
The research is published in Science Advances. The first author is Dr. Mudassar Nauman, from the ARC Center of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) and BluGlass Ltd.
Squishy ‘smart cartilage’ could target arthritis pain as soon as flareups begin
Researchers have developed a material that can sense tiny changes within the body, such as during an arthritis flareup, and release drugs exactly where and when they are needed.
The squishy material can be loaded with anti-inflammatory drugs that are released in response to small changes in pH in the body. During an arthritis flareup, a joint becomes inflamed and slightly more acidic than the surrounding tissue.
The material, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, has been designed to respond to this natural change in pH. As acidity increases, the material becomes softer and more jelly-like, triggering the release of drug molecules that can be encapsulated within its structure. Since the material is designed to respond only within a narrow pH range, the team says that drugs could be released precisely where and when they are needed, potentially reducing side effects.
Decades-Old Quantum Puzzle Solved: Graphene Electrons Violate Fundamental Law of Physics
Electrons in graphene can act like a perfect fluid, defying established physical laws. This finding advances both fundamental science and potential quantum technologies.
For decades, quantum physicists have wrestled with a fundamental question: can electrons flow like a flawless, resistance-free liquid governed by a universal quantum constant? Detecting this unusual state has proven nearly impossible in most materials, since atomic defects, impurities, and structural imperfections disrupt the effect.
Detecting quantum fluids in graphene.
World First: Physicists Created a Time Crystal That We Can Actually See
Physicists have just made a new breakthrough in the enigmatic realm of time crystals.
For the first time, a time crystal has been built that can be directly seen by human eyes, rippling in an array of neon-hued stripes. The material’s construction could open up a whole new world of technological possibilities, including new anti-counterfeiting measures, random number generators, two-dimensional barcodes, and optical devices.
“They can be observed directly under a microscope and even, under special conditions, by the naked eye,” says physicist Hanqing Zhao of the University of Colorado Boulder.
Roll-to-roll method streamlines DNA sequencing with faster, more efficient fluidics
Researchers at Beijing Genomics and IMDEA Nanociencia institutes have introduced a novel method that could significantly accelerate efficiency and reduce the cost of handling fluidics in DNA sequencing.
Traditional DNA sequencing relies on flow cells, where liquid reagents are repeatedly pumped in and out for each of the sequencing reactions. For large-scale sequencing, this process involves immersing silicon wafers into reagents—a method that works well at industrial scale but is impractical for smaller labs or clinical settings, where sample sizes are limited and drying effects become a problem.
The new approach turns that process on its head. Instead of pumping fluids through a chamber, the researchers use a roll-to-roll technique that gently shears the liquid across the surface. This dramatically improves efficiency, allowing reagents to be replaced more quickly and uses up to 85 times less material. As a result, DNA sequencing that once took days can now be completed in under 12 hours, with significantly lower reagent costs.
Crystalline material conducts heat even worse than glass and water—and that’s promising
A research team from Aarhus University, Denmark, has measured and explained the exceptionally low thermal conductivity of the crystalline material AgGaGe3Se8. Despite its ordered structure, the material behaves like a glass in terms of heat transport—making it one of the least heat-conductive crystalline solids known to date.
At room temperature, AgGaGe3Se8 exhibits a thermal conductivity of just 0.2 watts per meter-Kelvin—which is three times lower than water and five times lower than typical silica glass. The material is composed of silver (Ag), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), and selenium (Se), and has previously been studied for its optical properties.
Now, for the first time, researchers from iMAT—the Aarhus University Center for Integrated Materials Research—have measured its thermal transport properties and identified the structural origin of its unusually low thermal conductivity.
Soft materials hold onto ‘memories’ of their past for longer than previously thought
If your hand lotion is a bit runnier than usual coming out of the bottle, it might have something to do with the goop’s “mechanical memory.”
Soft gels and lotions are made by mixing ingredients until they form a stable and uniform substance. But even after a gel has set, it can hold onto “memories,” or residual stress, from the mixing process. Over time, the material can give in to these embedded stresses and slide back into its former, premixed state. Mechanical memory is, in part, why hand lotion separates and gets runny over time.
Now, an MIT engineer has devised a simple way to measure the degree of residual stress in soft materials after they have been mixed, and found that common products like hair gel and shaving cream have longer mechanical memories, holding onto residual stresses for longer periods of time than manufacturers might have assumed.