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.
Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a new nanomaterial that triggers a pair of chemical reactions inside cancer cells, killing the cells via oxidative stress while leaving healthy tissues alone. The study ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 27, 2026
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153
Deep-ultraviolet (DUV, λ < 200 nm) all-solid-state lasers, essential to modern scientific research and industrial manufacturing, are widely applied in fields from material analysis to lithography. Their commercialization ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 25, 2026
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76
Researchers from the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new class of high-performance materials for micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) switch chips, achieving an ultra-long ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 20, 2026
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20
Researchers from Skoltech have uncovered physical principles governing the remote "tuning" of nanocatalysts, where the ultra-thin platinum layer's properties can be controlled exclusively by modifying its metallic core's ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 19, 2026
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18
A research team from the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Lanzhou University has obtained important experimental evidence for revealing brain memory mechanisms and developing a new type of ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 7, 2026
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23
Stanford researchers have developed a flexible material that can quickly change its surface texture and colors, offering potential applications in camouflage, art, robotics, and even nanoscale bioengineering.
Nanophysics
Jan 7, 2026
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61
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used specialized tools to study materials at the atomic scale and analyze defects at the surface of ferroelectric materials. Results of their research help to better understand ...
Nanophysics
Jan 6, 2026
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24
For more than 50 years, scientists have sought alternatives to silicon for building molecular electronics. The vision was elegant; the reality proved far more complex. Within a device, molecules behave not as orderly textbook ...
Nanomaterials
Dec 30, 2025
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146
Graphene is often described as a wonder material. It is strong, electrically conductive, thermally efficient, and remarkably versatile. Yet despite more than a decade of excitement, many graphene-based technologies still ...
A new computational approach developed at the University of Chicago promises to shed light on some of the world's most puzzling materials—from high-temperature superconductors to solar cell semiconductors—by uniting two long-divided ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 15, 2025
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