materialsscienceandengineering

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Need a new 3D material? Build it with DNA

When the Empire State Building was constructed, its 102 stories rose above midtown one piece at a time, with each individual element combining to become, for 40 years, the world's tallest building. Uptown at Columbia, Oleg Gang and his chemical engineering lab aren't building Art Deco architecture; their landmarks are incredibly small devices built from nanoscopic building blocks that arrange themselves. "We can now build the complexly prescribed 3D organizations from self-assembled nanocomponents, a kind of nanoscale version of the Empire State Building," said Gang, professor of chemical engineering and of applied physics and materials science at Columbia Engineering and leader of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials' Soft and Bio Nanomaterials Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory. "The capabilities to manufacture 3D nanoscale materials by design are critical for many emerging applications, ranging from light manipulation to neuromorphic computing, and from catalytic materials to biomolecular scaffolds and reactors," said Gang.

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Stoichiometric crystal shows promise in quantum memory

For over two decades, physicists have been working toward implementing quantum light storage—also known as quantum memory—in various matter systems. These techniques allow for the controlled and reversible mapping of light particles called photons onto long-lived states of matter. But storing light for long periods without compromising its retrieval efficiency is a difficult task. In recent years, rare earth atoms in solid materials at cryogenic temperatures have shown to be promising for quantum memory. As part of this inquiry, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have identified favorable properties in a stoichiometric europium material with a layered structure. Their observations, published in Physical Review Letters, report the growth and characterization of NaEu(IO3)4, a rare earth material that may have future implications in quantum memory.

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Visualization of atomic-scale magnetism achieved with new imaging method

An international research team led by Forschungszentrum Jülich has succeeded in visualizing magnetism inside solids with unprecedented precision. Using a newly developed method, the scientists were able to image the finest building blocks of magnetism directly at the atomic level. They have published their findings in the journal Nature Materials. Magnetism is an integral part of our everyday lives—it is found in electric motors, loudspeakers, and the storage media of modern computers. It is generated by the movement and spin of electrons. Previous techniques could only measure these properties to a limited extent and often only on the surface of materials. The team led by Dr. Hasan Ali and Prof. Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski has now developed a new method using a state-of-the-art electron microscope to measure magnetic properties at a previously unattainable resolution.

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[materialsscienceandengineering]

Nickel in Steel

A well known alloying agent in steel, the addition of nickel can increase the strength, hardenability, and toughness of the resulting material. Nickel is added to steel as either pure metallic nickel (with minute traces of cobalt or other elements often found with nickel) or as other forms such as less pure forms of nickel, nickel oxide, or ferronickel.

Within steel, nickel acts as a solid solution strengthener in ferrite. Nickel does increase hardenability but it is not considered as powerful of a hardenability agent as other elements. Steels containing nickel also gain an increase in toughness, especially at lower temperatures or when paired with other elements such as chromium, vanadium, or molybdenum. At up to about 9% nickel content, cryogenic steels take advantage of the low temperature properties nickel improves, specifically the fact that nickel lowers the ductile to brittle transition temperature.

As an austenite stabilizing element, the addition of at least 8% nickel to stainless steels allows for the austenite structure to remain at room temperature, such as in the 300 series of austenitic stainless steels. Even at high strengths, nickel stainless steels manage to maintain good ductility. When less than 8% nickel is added to stainless steels, duplex stainless steels can be formed, containing a mixture of austenite and ferrite. While austenitic stainless steels are not magnetic, duplex stainless steels are.

Certain steels can contain as low as 0.5% to as high as 30% nickel. Structural alloy steels containing nickel usually have around 0.5-2% to utilize increased toughness and the slight corrosion resistance granted by nickel. With the cryogenic steels mentioned earlier, the more nickel added the better the low temperature properties - around 3.5% nickel lowers the usable temperature to -100C (-150F) while at 9% the usable temperature gets as low as -196C (-320F).

Carbon steels usually have around 0.5-3% nickel and stainless steels can contain anywhere from 2.5-30%. Other steel alloys include high strength alloys such as 9Ni-4Co, maraging steels (containing from 15-25% nickel), and the rare tool steel. Nickel is not often used in tool steels, however, as it promotes graphitization in high carbon alloys.

Sources/Further Reading: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 - images 2 and 3 )

Image 1.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Molecular simulations uncover how graphite emerges where diamond should form, challenging old assumptions

The graphite found in your favorite pencil could have instead been the diamond your mother always wears. What made the difference? Researchers are finding out. How molten carbon crystallizes into either graphite or diamond is relevant to planetary science, materials manufacturing and nuclear fusion research. However, this moment of crystallization is difficult to study experimentally because it happens very rapidly and under extreme conditions. In a new study published July 9 in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of California, Davis and George Washington University use computer simulations to study how molten carbon crystallizes into either graphite or diamond at temperatures and pressures similar to Earth's interior. The team's findings challenge conventional understanding of diamond formation and reveal why experimental results studying carbon's phase behavior have been so inconsistent.

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Novel nanostructures in blue sharks reveal their remarkable potential for dynamic color-change

New research into the anatomy of blue sharks (Prionace glauca) reveals a unique nanostructure in their skin that produces their iconic blue coloration, but intriguingly, also suggests a potential capacity for color change. The research was presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Antwerp, Belgium on July 9, 2025. "Blue is one of the rarest colors in the animal kingdom, and animals have developed a variety of unique strategies through evolution to produce it, making these processes especially fascinating," says Dr. Viktoriia Kamska, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Mason Dean at City University of Hong Kong. The team revealed that the secret to the shark's color lies in the pulp cavities of the tooth-like scales—known as dermal denticles— that armor the shark's skin.

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Method used in water simulations can cause errors, study confirms

More than a year ago, computational scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory published a study in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation that raised a serious question about a long-standing methodology used by researchers who conduct molecular dynamics simulations involving water. What if using the standard 2 femtosecond (2 quadrillionths of a second) time step—the time interval at which computer simulations are analyzed—leads to inaccurate results? Now, the same ORNL team has published a new study in the journal Chemical Science that reaffirms their original observations by showing how using these "standard" time steps can affect simulations of liquid water. The team's calculations reveal that the potential for errors caused by using a 2 (or more) femtosecond time step is even greater than they had anticipated. "I was a little bit surprised. I was hoping for much more subdued effects, but the errors can be big," said co-author Dilip Asthagiri, a senior computational biomedical scientist in ORNL's Advanced Computing for Life Sciences and Engineering group.

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Half a billion years ago nature evolved a remarkable trick: generating vibrant, shimmering colours via intricate, microscopic structures in feathers, wings and shells that reflect light in precise ways. Now, researchers from Trinity have taken a major step forward in harnessing it for advanced materials science. A team, led by Professor Colm Delaney from Trinity’s School of Chemistry and AMBER, the Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, has developed a pioneering method, inspired by nature, to create and programme structural colours using a cutting-edge microfabrication technique. The work, which has been funded by a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, could have major implications for environmental sensing, biomedical diagnostics, and photonic materials. At the heart of the breakthrough is the precise control of nanosphere self-assembly—a notoriously difficult challenge in materials science. Teodora Faraone, a PhD Candidate at Trinity, used a specialised high-resolution 3D-printing technique to control the order and arrangement of nanospheres, allowing them to interact with light in ways that produce all the colours of the rainbow in a controlled manner.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Microrobots shaped and steered by metal patches could aid drug delivery and pollution cleanup

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research. The study, published in Nature Communications, describes a new method of fabrication that combines high-precision 3D printing, called two-photon lithography, with a microstenciling technique. The team prints both the particle and its stencil together, then deposits a thin layer of metal—such as gold, platinum or cobalt—through the stencil's openings. When the stencil is removed, a metal patch remains on the particle. The particles, invisible to the naked eye, can be made in almost any shape and patterned with surface patches as small as 0.2 microns—more than 500 times thinner than a human hair. The metal patches guide how the particles move when exposed to electric or magnetic fields, or chemical gradients.

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Spin as an input parameter: Machine learning predicts magnetic properties of materials

Magnetic materials are in high demand. They're essential to the energy storage innovations on which electrification depends and to the robotics systems powering automation. They're also inside more familiar products, from consumer electronics to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. Current sources and supply chains won't be able to keep up as demand continues to grow. We need to design new magnetic materials, and quickly. A collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft is broadening capabilities to screen potential new materials with machine learning models.

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Semiconductors: Thallium (I) bromide

A compound of thallium and bromine, thallium bromide (TlBr) has the cubic CsCl crystal structure at room temperature (shown above), switching to an orthorombic structure after cooling. Thin films of the material typically grow in the rocksalt structure. 

TlBr is a room-temperature semiconductor, with a wide bandgap, and a higher effective atomic number and density compared to other materials used in the same applications. Single crystals of the material are yellow and slightly transparent. 

One promising application of TlBr is as a direct gamma-ray detector, as its properties are more favorable for this usage than other semiconductors. Gamma ray detectors are used in nuclear medicine applications, among others, such as positron emission tomography (or PET imaging). The material is also used in room-temperature detection of x-rays and blue light, and in near-infrared optics as well. 

Care must be taken when working with this material. Thallium by itself is extremely toxic, and compounds of the element can be very dangerous when ingested. 

Sources: ( 1 - image 1 ) ( 2 - image 2 ) ( 3 - image 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 )

[materialsscienceandengineering]

A possible replacement for plastic: Spinning bacteria create improved cellulose

In a world overrun with plastic garbage, causing untold environmental woes, University of Houston assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Maksud Rahman, has developed a way to turn bacterial cellulose—a biodegradable material—into a multifunctional material with the potential to replace plastic. It has the potential to become your next disposable water bottle, and so much more, like packaging material or even wound dressings—all made from one of Earth's abundant and biodegradable biopolymers: bacterial cellulose. The paper is published in the journal Nature Communications. "We envision these strong, multifunctional and eco-friendly bacterial cellulose sheets becoming ubiquitous, replacing plastics in various industries and helping mitigate environmental damage," said Rahman.

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[materialsscienceandengineering]

What if a complex material could reshape itself in response to a simple chemical signal? A team of physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Edinburgh has shown that even small changes in pH value and thus in electric charge can shift the spatial arrangement of closed ring-shaped polymers (molecular chains) – by altering the balance between twist and writhe, two distinct modes of spatial deformation. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrate how electric charge can be used to reshape polymers in a reversible and controllable way – opening up new possibilities for programmable, responsive materials. With such materials, permeability and mechanical properties such as elasticity, yield stress and viscosity could be better controlled and precisely 'programmed'. Imagine taking a ribbon and twisting it by half before connecting its ends: you create the famous Möbius band – a loop with a single twist and a continuous surface. Add more twists before closing the ribbon, and the structure becomes so called supercoiled. Such shapes are common in biology and materials science, especially in circular DNA and synthetic (artificially produced) ring polymers. Whether and how the balance between twist– the local rotation of the ribbon around its axis – and writhe – the large-scale coiling of the ribbon in space could be tuned in a controlled and reversible way is still unclear. The research team set out to investigate this question using a model system of ring-shaped polymers, where electric charge – introduced via pH-dependent ionization – serves as an external tuning parameter.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Cobalt in Steel

Though not as common or well known as other alloying elements, cobalt plays a crucial role in certain steels, such as high speed steels. Relatively similar to nickel in size and behavior, cobalt forms solid solutions with iron at elevated temperatures and is very soluble in ferrite. Cobalt therefore functions as a solid-solution strengthener, even at high temperatures, which is why it can be found in steels with high temperature applications (i.e. the high speed steels mentioned above). As with nickel, cobalt is a ferromagnetic element.

Unlike nickel, however, cobalt is the only alloying element added to steel that actually decreases hardenability. Because of this, cobalt is never used in standard heat treatable carbon steels, though the disadvantage can be overcome with the addition of other alloying elements such as in some high strength steels like 9Ni-4Co. 

An important consideration to take into account when adding cobalt to steel is the fact that cobalt absorbs neutrons, becoming radioactive. Any steel to be used in nuclear applications has very strict limits on the amount of cobalt allowed in the material - 0.2% is a common maximum. Steelmakers must also take into account cobalt’s relatively scarcity (in that it is only mined in specific areas) and unrest in the regions where it is mined, which can lead to shortages.

Cobalt is used in high speed tool steels such as M35 or T15, improving hot or red hardness, or in high strength alloys steels, such as maraging steels, known for strength and toughness. Type 348 stainless steel is an example of a steel often used in nuclear applications, with a limit of 0.2% maximum for cobalt content.

Sources/Further Reading: ( 1 ) ( 2 - image 1 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 )

Image sources: ( 2 ) ( 3 )

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Individual defects in superconducting quantum circuits imaged for the first time

Individual defects in superconducting quantum circuits have been imaged for the first time, thanks to research by scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and Royal Holloway University of London. In a paper published in Science Advances, scientists at NPL achieved a pivotal step in understanding tiny material defects known as two-level system (TLS) defects in superconducting quantum circuits for the first time. The significant advancement makes it possible to locate, image and eventually mitigate these defects and can lead to stable and reliable quantum computers capable of revolutionizing the different fields of cybersecurity, optimization, drug discovery, and clean energy.

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Targeting MXenes for sustainable ammonia production

In a hunt for more sustainable technologies, researchers are looking further into enabling two-dimensional materials in renewable energy that could lead to sustainable production of chemicals such as ammonia, which is used in fertilizer. This next generation of low-dimensional materials, called MXenes, catalyzes the production of air into ammonia for foods and transportation for high-efficiency energy fertilizers. MXenes has a wide range of possibilities that allow for highly flexible chemical compositions, offering significant control over their properties. This research is addressed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in an article by chemical engineering professors Drs. Abdoulaye Djire, Perla Balbuena and Ph.D. candidate Ray Yoo.

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Amorphous Ice Is Partly Crystalline

Evidence builds against the long-held notion that water ice can be truly glassy. [...] When water freezes rapidly well below 0 °C, you get a disordered glass-like solid called low-density amorphous (LDA) ice. Abundant in the cores of comets and on icy moons, LDA ice can be prepared via vapor deposition in the lab. But since its discovery 90 years ago, its atomic-scale structure has remained contested. Michael Davies of University College London and Cambridge University, UK, and his colleagues now show that the structure is not a true glass but instead is partly crystalline [1]. The finding, which was derived from numerical simulations and lab experiments, highlights the need for caution when identifying glassy materials and raises questions about our theories on the fundamental nature of liquid water.

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