News articles tagged with 'crystalline'
Scientists unravel the mysterious mechanics of spider silk
— 2 Mar 2011 12:01 | BiologyScientists now have a better understanding of why spider silk fibres are so incredibly strong. Recent research, published by Cell Press on February 15th in Biophysical Journal, describes…
Supercomputer unravels structures in DVD materials
— 9 Jan 2011 19:12 | TechnologyAlthough the storage of films and music on a DVD is part of our digital world, the physical basis of the storage mechanism is not understood in detail. In the current issue of the leading…
Magical BEANs: New nano-sized particles could provide mega-sized data storage
— 18 Sep 2010 08:46 | TechnologyThe ability of phase-change materials to readily and swiftly transition between different phases has made them valuable as a low-power source of non-volatile or 'flash' memory and data…
Engineers make artificial skin out of nanowires
— 13 Sep 2010 10:46 | TechnologyEngineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic material from semiconductor nanowires that could one day give new meaning to the…
'Nanocoax' solves solar cell 'thick and thin' dilemma
— 8 Jun 2010 15:00 | PhysicsA nano-scale solar cell inspired by the coaxial cable offers greater efficiency than any previously designed nanotech thin film solar cell by resolving the 'thick and thin' challenge…
Giant 'microscope' trained on glass transition
— 23 Mar 2010 13:09 | TechnologyThe National Science Foundation has awarded $1.65 million to a project led by Washington University in St. Louis physicist Ken Kelton to build an electrostatic levitation chamber that…
Watching crystals grow provides clues to making smoother, defect-free thin films
— 22 Jan 2010 13:59 | TechnologyTo make thin films for semiconductors in electronic devices, layers of atoms must be grown in neat, crystalline sheets. But while some materials grow smooth crystals, others tend to…
Absorbing hydrogen fluoride gas to enhance crystal growth
— 12 Dec 2009 11:53 | TechnologyTwo scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a method to control the buildup of hydrogen fluoride gas during the growth of precision…
Cement's basic molecular structure finally decoded
— 10 Sep 2009 11:21 | TechnologyIn the 2,000 or so years since the Roman Empire employed a naturally occurring form of cement to build a vast system of concrete aqueducts and other large edifices, researchers have…
Scientists unlock optical secrets of jewel beetles
— 23 Jul 2009 18:00 | BiologyA small green beetle may have some interesting lessons to teach scientists about optics and liquid crystals - complex mechanisms the insect uses to create a shell so strikingly beautiful…