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.
Honeycombs are famous for their elegant design, but now they may have found a new application: quantum computing. To collect knowledge from subatomic particles, quantum computers require carefully designed materials capable ...
Condensed Matter
May 28, 2026
0
37
In the race to develop safer, faster-charging solid-state batteries and more efficient thermoelectric conversion technologies, engineers and scientists have long faced a fundamental challenge: how to ensure ions move through ...
Condensed Matter
May 26, 2026
0
16
A research team in China has reported a significant piezoelectric effect in ultrathin and ultra-flexible polycrystalline diamond membranes. This pioneering discovery challenges a century-long scientific dogma that diamonds ...
Condensed Matter
May 21, 2026
0
23
Like so much else in nature, the human visual system has both a complex structure and functional efficiency that is difficult for scientists to replicate. The system is both a sensor and a processor, with the eyes and the ...
Condensed Matter
May 20, 2026
0
32
When inorganic nanoparticles come together, their optical, electronic, and magnetic properties depend strongly on how they are arranged. Being able to reorganize these arrangements in a controlled way could therefore provide ...
Nanophysics
May 13, 2026
0
41
In new research published in Nature Materials, a team of researchers led by Columbia University chemist Xiaoyang Zhu, in collaboration with fellow Columbians Xavier Roy, Milan Delor, Dmitri Basov, and James McIver, has observed ...
Condensed Matter
May 11, 2026
0
22
Imagine a sea of glowing blue lights pulsing to the beat of the music. But instead of glow sticks filled with toxic chemicals, the luminescence comes from living algae, shimmering on demand. In a new study published in Science ...
Biotechnology
May 6, 2026
0
30
Photodetectors remain a critical component in the development of advanced electronics and photonics, particularly in the role of signal readout through the conversion of photons into electrons. These digital imaging components ...
Eucalyptus bark, usually stripped from logs and treated as waste, could be repurposed to help clean polluted water, filter dirty air and capture carbon dioxide, according to new research from RMIT University. Researchers ...
Environment
May 4, 2026
0
14
Fallen leaves, which are discarded every year, have been transformed into a resource that can replace waste plastics, a major nuisance in rural areas. A research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ...
Biotechnology
Apr 30, 2026
0
8
