Structural properties as a research area focuses on the characterization, quantification, and modeling of how the arrangement and connectivity of components within a system determine its behavior and performance. This includes investigating geometric, topological, and symmetry-related attributes in materials, molecules, biological assemblies, or engineered structures, and relating these features to mechanical, electronic, optical, or functional responses. Research typically integrates experimental probing (e.g., diffraction, microscopy, spectroscopy) with theoretical and computational methods (e.g., continuum mechanics, graph theory, atomistic simulations) to establish structure–property relationships that enable prediction, optimization, and rational design of systems with targeted structural performance.
In recent years, a group of leading electron microscopy and catalysis researchers have been working to determine the three-dimensional arrangements of atoms in nanoparticle catalysts in chemical processes. Their work has ...
Nanophysics
Aug 19, 2021
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178
Graphite, as an important material for Li battery anode and graphene preparation, can exist in two phases: the Bernal (2H) phase and the rhombohedral (3R) phase. The 2H phase has relatively low energy and high proportion ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 12, 2021
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615
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
Two-dimensional materials are essential for developing new ultra-compact electronic devices, but producing defect-free 2D materials is a challenge. However, discovery of new types of defects in these 2D materials may give ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 2, 2021
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196
A novel method of characterizing the structural and chemical evolution of silicon and a thin layer that governs battery stability may help resolve issues that prevent using silicon for high-capacity batteries, according to ...
Nanophysics
Jul 29, 2021
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269
Sometimes, a material's property, such as magnetism and catalysis, can change drastically owing to nothing more than minute changes in the separation between its atoms, commonly referred to as 'local strains' in the parlance ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 13, 2021
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139
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have found a way to simultaneously increase the strength and ductility of an alloy by introducing tiny precipitates ...
Nanophysics
Jul 8, 2021
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115
An exploratory investigation into the behavior of materials with desirable electric properties has resulted in the discovery of a structural phase of two-dimensional (2D) materials. The new family of materials are electrides, ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 10, 2021
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143
