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 ...

Different X-ray techniques combined

Sophisticated mix of methods offers improved structure analysis

09-Feb-2023 - Sometimes scientists have to accept that a method they have used for years fails under certain conditions. Such a failure calls for a careful analysis of the shortcomings and their subsequent elimination. An international team from the University of Regensburg, the University of Durham and the ...

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 ...

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 ...