Functional materials are physical systems engineered so that their intrinsic properties—such as electrical conductivity, magnetization, optical response, ionic mobility, or mechanical deformation—can be deliberately modulated by external stimuli (e.g., electric or magnetic fields, light, temperature, stress, or chemical environment) to perform specific tasks. They encompass classes such as ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, magnetoresistive and thermoelectric materials, shape-memory alloys, solid electrolytes, and stimuli-responsive polymers. In research and device design, functional materials serve as active components enabling sensing, actuation, energy conversion, information storage, and signal processing, with performance governed by their structure–property relationships across atomic, mesoscale, and macroscopic length scales.
Strontium titanate was once used as a diamond substitute in jewelry before less fragile alternatives emerged in the 1970s. Now, researchers have explored some of its more unusual properties, which might someday be useful ...
Condensed Matter
May 29, 2025
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Rutgers University–New Brunswick researchers have discovered a new class of materials—called intercrystals—with unique electronic properties that could power future technologies.
Nanophysics
May 21, 2025
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A serendipitous observation in a Chemical Engineering lab at Penn Engineering has led to a surprising discovery: a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, collect it in pores and release it ...
Nanophysics
May 21, 2025
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290
In our study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, our team from The University of Hong Kong and Northwestern University, led by the late Nobel Laureate Professor Fraser Stoddart, developed RP-H200, a ...
In a recent study that merges supramolecular chemistry and molecular electronics, a research team has demonstrated how supramolecular porphyrin-based cages can enable tunable photoresponsive charge transport (CT) behaviors ...
Nanophysics
May 13, 2025
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As demand for energy-intensive computing grows, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new technique that lets scientists see—in unprecedented detail—how interfaces move in ...
Nanophysics
May 12, 2025
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Infrared optoelectronic functional materials are essential for applications in lasers, photodetectors, and infrared imaging, forming the technological backbone of modern optoelectronics. Traditionally, the development of ...
Condensed Matter
May 9, 2025
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Scientists from the Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics at the University of Lodz have published an article on friction in the journal Small. Their research on "bismuth islands" moving on the surface of graphite confirmed ...
Nanophysics
May 7, 2025
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129
A research team has developed an innovative membrane that mimics biological ion channels to achieve highly selective lithium ion separation from complex brines. Their study is published in Nature Communications, and the researchers ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 30, 2025
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32
The first case of an electric circuit created using a simple marker and a laser beam shows that simple and sustainable materials can generate innovative applications on any surface, such as a coffee cup.
Nanophysics
Apr 30, 2025
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