Researchers examine 'living' nanomaterials for first time

New technology gives insight into how nanomaterials form and grow

01-Jul-2019 - A new form of electron microscopy allows researchers to examine nanoscale tubular materials while they are "alive" and forming liquids -- a first in the field. Developed by a multidisciplinary team at Northwestern University and the University of Tennessee, the new technique, called variable ...

Unmasking corrosion to design better protective thin films for metals

Analyzing oxide films at atomic level

08-Oct-2018 - Corrosion is an age-old problem that is estimated to cost about $1 trillion a year, or about 5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Corrosion of metals can be particularly bad, but fortunately they are normally protected from catastrophic damage by naturally forming, super-thin oxide ...

Unprecedented control of polymer grids achieved

Applications in water purification, solar energy storage, body armor possible

25-Jun-2018 - Synthetic polymers are ubiquitous -- nylon, polyester, Teflon and epoxy, to name just a few -- and these polymers are all long, linear structures that tangle into imprecise structures. Chemists have long dreamed of making polymers with two-dimensional, grid-like structures, but this goal has ...

Making carbon nanotubes as usable as common plastics

17-May-2018 - Northwestern University's Jiaxing Huang is ready to reignite carbon nanotube research. And he's doing so with a common chemical that was once used in household cleaners. By using an inexpensive, already mass produced, simple solvent called cresol, Huang has discovered a way to make disperse ...

Artificial intelligence accelerates discovery of metallic glass

17-Apr-2018 - If you combine two or three metals together, you will get an alloy that usually looks and acts like a metal, with its atoms arranged in rigid geometric patterns. But once in a while, under just the right conditions, you get something entirely new: a futuristic alloy called metallic glass. The ...

Scientists capture colliding organic nanoparticles on video for first time

20-Nov-2017 - A Northwestern University research team is the first to capture on video organic nanoparticles colliding and fusing together. This unprecedented view of "chemistry in motion" will aid Northwestern nanoscientists developing new drug delivery methods as well as demonstrate to researchers around the ...

Mystery of colloidal chains solved

17-May-2017 - When Northwestern Engineering's Erik Luijten met Zbigniew Rozynek, they immediately became united by a mystery. Presenting at a conference in Norway, Rozynek, a researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, demonstrated something that looked almost like magic. When he poked a ...

New method for 3-D printing extraterrestrial materials

18-Apr-2017 - When humans begin to colonize the moon and Mars, they will need to be able to make everything from small tools to large buildings using the limited surrounding resources. Northwestern University's Ramille Shah and her Tissue Engineering and Additive Manufacturing (TEAM) Laboratory have ...

Serendipity uncovers borophene's potential

24-Feb-2017 - Almost one year ago, borophene didn't even exist. Now, just months after a Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory team discovered the material, another team led by Mark Hersam is already making strides toward understanding its complicated chemistry and realizing its electronic ...

Designing new materials from 'small' data

21-Feb-2017 - Finding new functional materials is always tricky. But searching for very specific properties among a relatively small family of known materials is even more difficult. But a team from Northwestern Engineering and Los Alamos National Laboratory found a workaround. The group developed a novel ...