Machine learning boosts search for new materials

Scientists have developed deep-learning models that can sift through the massive amounts of data generated by X-ray diffraction techniques

29-Dec-2023 - Scientists from theUniversity of Rochestersay deep learning can supercharge a technique that is already the gold standard for characterizing new materials. In annpj Computational Materialspaper, the interdisciplinary team describes models they developed to better leverage the massive amounts ...

Competitor for diamonds: Scientists produce superhard multifunctional carbon nitrides

19-Dec-2023 - In a groundbreaking piece of research, scientists have synthesised long-sought carbon nitrogen compounds and unlocked the potential of carbon nitrides as a new class of superhard multifunctional materials that could rival diamond. The work has now been published in the journal Advanced ...

Advanced X-ray technique unveils fast solid-gas chemical reaction pathways

08-May-2023 - For the rational design of new material compounds, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their synthesis. Analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and spectroscopy are usually employed to study such mechanisms in molecular reactions. However, reaction pathways ...

On the road to the super-battery

Research neutron source provides insights into lithium storage batteries

10-Jun-2022 - A research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has taken an in-depth look at the internal workings of batteries during charging and discharging. Their findings may help optimize charging processes. When an electric car is being charged, the charge indicator moves quickly at ...

AI agent helps identify material properties faster

High-throughput X-ray diffraction measurements generate huge amounts of data - The agent renders them usable more quickly

21-Apr-2021 - Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyse large amounts of data, such as those generated when analysing the properties of potential new materials, faster than humans. However, such systems often tend to make definitive decisions even in the face of uncertainty; they overestimate themselves. An ...

Uncommon mineral discovered in Rembrandt painting

Maestro's Techniques

01-Feb-2019 - Rembrandt van Rijn’s paintings are renowned for their masterful representations of light and shadow and a characteristic plasticity generated by a technique called impasto. Now, scientists have analyzed impasto layers in some of Rembrandt’s paintings, and the study, which is published in the ...

Intense tests reveal elusive, complex form of common element

12-Nov-2018 - An unusually complex form of one of the most abundant chemical elements on Earth has been revealed in the lab for the first time. Researchers created a crystallised version of nitrogen - which at normal conditions is the main constituent of air - by subjecting it to extreme pressures and ...

Electric polarization in the macroscopic world and electrons moving at atomic scales

New route for understanding and tailoring the properties of ferroelectric materials

30-Aug-2018 - Femtosecond x-ray experiments in combination with a new theoretical approach establish a direct connection between electric properties in the macroscopic world and electron motions on the time and length scale of atoms. The results open a new route for understanding and tailoring the properties ...

Wiggling atoms switch the electric polarization of crystals

16-Apr-2018 - Ferroelectric crystals display a macroscopic electric polarization, a superposition of many dipoles at the atomic scale which originate from spatially separated electrons and atomic nuclei. The macroscopic polarization is expected to change when the atoms are set in motion but the connection ...

X-rays reveal electron puddles in ceramic superconductors

Study advances understanding of high-temperature superconductivity

21-Sep-2015 - Using high-energy X-rays, an international team of scientists has discovered a surprising inner structure of a special class of superconductors: Within these so-called high-temperature superconductors, the electrons form puddles of varying sizes throughout the material. This finding helps to ...