(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 U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Rice University; and Penn State University have revealed an adaptive response with a ferroelectric device, which responds to light pulses in a way that resembles the plasticity of neural networks. This behavior could find application in energy-efficient microelectronics. The material is laden with networked islands or domains that are nanometers in size and can rearrange themselves in response to light pulses.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense)
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed and demonstrated a technique that allows them to engineer a class of materials called layered hybrid perovskites down to the atomic level, which dictates precisely how the materials convert electrical charge into light. Layered hybrid perovskites can be laid down as thin films consisting of multiple sheets of perovskite and organic spacer layers. These materials are desirable because they can efficiently convert electrical charge into light. The researchers discovered that individual sheets of the perovskite material, called nanoplatelets, form on the surface of the solution that is used to create the layered hybrid perovskites, and these nanoplatelets serve as templates for layered materials that form under them.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Institutes of Health)
Using peptides and a snippet of the large molecules in plastics, scientists at Northwestern University have developed materials made of tiny, flexible nano-sized ribbons that can be charged just like a battery to store energy or record digital information. Highly energy efficient, biocompatible and made from sustainable materials, the systems could give rise to new types of ultralight electronic devices while reducing the environmental impact of electronic manufacturing and disposal. “This is a wholly new concept in materials science and soft materials research,” said Samuel I. Stupp, the scientist who led the study. “We imagine a future where you could wear a shirt with air conditioning built into it or rely on soft bioactive implants that feel like tissues and are activated wirelessly to improve heart or brain function.”

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania have developed a technique that enhances the optical absorptivity of metal powders used in 3D printing. The approach, which involves creating nanoscale surface features on metal powders, promises to improve the efficiency and quality of printed metal parts. “Our method combines the effects of traditional surface treatments [that increase absorptivity] but doesn’t compromise the purity or material properties of copper that make it desirable – namely its high thermal and electrical conductivity,” said Philip DePond, one of the scientists involved in this study.