Crystalline ‘nanobrush’ clears way to advanced energy and information tech

A team of researchers led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has synthesized a tiny structure with high surface area and discovered how its unique architecture drives ions across interfaces to transport energy or information. The structure, called a nanobrush, contains bristles made of alternating crystal sheets with vertically aligned interfaces and many pores. The nanoscale bristles were made with a novel precision synthesis approach that controls atom diffusion and aggregation during the growth of thin-film materials.