(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from the University of Virginia, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of Michigan, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories and Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies have developed an innovative technique to better determine the nanoscale effects of radiation on materials. Using advanced time-series imaging techniques with a transmission electron microscope, the team compiled more than 1,000 images capturing more than 250,000 defects formed during ion irradiation. The study revealed that defects in copper and gold exhibit different behaviors compared to those in palladium. This distinction underscores the need for specialized analytical models to accurately study these materials under radiation.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from New York University, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, have pioneered a new technique to identify and characterize atomic-scale defects in a two-dimensional (2D) material called hexagonal boron nitride. The team was able to detect the presence of individual carbon atoms replacing boron atoms in this material. “In this project, we essentially created a stethoscope for 2D materials,” said Davood Shahrjerdi, one of the researchers involved in this study. “By analyzing the tiny and rhythmic fluctuations in electrical current, we can ‘perceive’ the behavior of single atomic defects.”

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)
A difficult-to-describe nanoscale object called a magnetic skyrmion – which can be thought of as spinning circles of magnetism – might one day yield new microelectronic devices that can do more while consuming less power. Researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland, and Western Digital Corporation (San Jose, CA) have now made three-dimensional (3D) X-ray images of magnetic skyrmions. “Our results provide a foundation for nanoscale metrology for spintronics devices,” said Peter Fischer, the scientist who led this study. The research was conducted in part at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Berkeley Lab.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)
A nanocrystalline material is made up of many tiny crystals, but as they grow, the nanocrystalline material can weaken. Researchers from Lehigh University, Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories have discovered that the key to maintaining the stability of nanocrystalline materials at high temperatures lies in triple junctions – corners where three of these nanocrystals meet. What the scientists found is that when certain atoms are added to form an alloy, they prefer to occupy sites at these triple junctions, which prevents the nanocrystalline material from losing its strength over time.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a new blood test that diagnoses heart attacks in minutes rather than hours. The heart of the invention is a tiny chip with a groundbreaking nanostructured surface on which blood is tested. The chip’s “metasurface” enhances electric and magnetic signals during Raman spectroscopy analysis, making heart attack biomarkers visible in seconds. The tool is sensitive enough to flag heart attack biomarkers that might not be detected with current tests. “We’re talking about speed, we’re talking about accuracy, and we’re talking of the ability to perform measurements outside of a hospital,” said Ishan Barman, one of the scientists involved in this study.