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.
Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Technical University of Darmstadt have developed a novel sensor for gas molecules by combining a graphene transistor with a customized metal-organic coating. The ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 5, 2021
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139
Hydrogen energy has the potential to be a key measure to meet the United Nations net zero emissions target, but its industrial use has been hindered by the difficulty in its storage and handling. Hydrogen becomes a gas at ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 27, 2021
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196
A new method designs nanomaterials with less than 10-nanometer precision. It could pave the way for faster, more energy-efficient electronics.
Nanomaterials
Sep 13, 2021
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100
University of Houston researchers are reporting a breakthrough in the field of materials science and engineering with the development of an electrochemical actuator that uses specialized organic semiconductor nanotubes (OSNTs).
Nanomaterials
Sep 3, 2021
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1641
Circulatory disorders, diabetes or lying in the same position for extended periods can all lead to chronic wounds that do not heal. There are hardly any effective treatment options. A materials science research team from ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 27, 2021
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258
MIT engineers and colleagues report important new advances on a tunable metasurface, or flat optical device patterned with nanoscale structures, that they compare to a Swiss army knife while its passive predecessor can be ...
Nanophysics
Aug 11, 2021
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783
Catalysts are ubiquitous, whether in the form of an enzyme in the body that digests food or the catalytic converter in the car that breaks down pollutants. Catalysts play an important role in making chemical reactions more ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 11, 2021
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325
Curtin University researchers have found applying a thin invisible layer of graphene oxide to silicon forms an impermeable barrier, which could be used to protect artwork, prevent corrosion of metals, and produce higher efficiency ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 10, 2021
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423
A new method for manufacturing electronics which prints high-performance silicon directly onto flexible materials could lead to breakthroughs in technologies including prosthetics, high-end electronics and fully bendable ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 10, 2021
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292
A new approach to producing metamaterials draws on kirigami techniques to make three-dimensional, reconfigurable building blocks that can be used to create complex, dynamic structures. Because the design approach is modular, ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 9, 2021
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555
