Carbon nanotubes and the environment

Carbon nanotubes have made a meteoric career in the past 15 years, even if their applications are still limited. Recent research results show that - apart from their favorable mechanical and electrical properties - they also ...

Scientists reveal structure of a supercooled liquid

If a liquid metal alloy is cooled slowly it will eventually form a solid phase. Before it solidifies, however, the liquid undergoes a liquid-liquid transition to a phase in which it has the same concentration but a more ...

Tiny wires change behavior at nanoscale

Thin gold wires often used in high-end electronic applications are wonderfully flexible as well as conductive. But those qualities don't necessarily apply to the same wires at the nanoscale.

Creating electricity with caged atoms

Clathrates are crystals consisting of tiny cages in which single atoms can be enclosed. These atoms significantly alter the material properties of the crystal. By trapping cerium atoms in a clathrate, scientists at the Vienna ...

Study reveals ordinary glass's extraordinary properties

Researchers at the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin-Madison raise the possibility of designing ultrastable glasses at the molecular level via a vapor-deposition process. Ultrastable glasses could find potential applications ...

Cracking a controversial solid state mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists can easily explain the structural order that makes steel and aluminium out of molten metal. And they have discovered the molecular changes that take place as water turns to ice. But, despite the ...

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