Nanostructures with a unique property

For the first time, researchers have managed to create and identify antiferromagnetic skyrmions with a unique property

25-Sep-2020 - Nanoscale vortices known as skyrmions can be created in many magnetic materials. For the first time, researchers at PSI have managed to create and identify antiferromagnetic skyrmions with a unique property: critical elements inside them are arranged in opposing directions. Scientists have ...

Magnetic nanoparticles change their magnetic structure in a magnetic field

International research team studies the effects of magnetic fields on magnetic nanoparticles

28-Jul-2020 - When ultrafine magnetic particles are exposed to an external magnetic field, their magnetic core grows in a previously unexpected way. This was observed by a team of scientists from the University of Cologne (UoC), Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, by ...

Relax, just break it

24-Jul-2018 - The properties of a solid depend on the arrangement of its atoms, which form a periodic crystal structure. At the nanoscale, arrangements that break this periodic structure can drastically alter the behavior of the material, but this is difficult to measure. Recent advances by scientists at the ...

MOF material offers selective, reversible and repeatable capture of toxic atmospheric gas

13-Jun-2018 - Led by the University of Manchester, an international team of scientists has developed a metal-organic framework material (MOF) that exhibits a selective, fully reversible and repeatable capability to remove nitrogen dioxide gas from the atmosphere in ambient conditions. This discovery, confirmed ...

Breaking bad metals with neutrons

15-Jan-2018 - By exploiting the properties of neutrons to probe electrons in a metal, a team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has gained new insight into the behavior of correlated electron systems, which are materials that have useful properties such as ...

Insight into a hidden order

23-Oct-2017 - A specific uranium compound has puzzled researchers for thirty years. Although the crystal structure is simple, no one understands exactly what is happening once it is cooled below a certain temperature. Apparently, a “hidden order” emerges, whose nature is completely unknown.Now physicists have ...

Zeroing in on the true nature of fluids within nanocapillaries

12-Jan-2017 - Shrinking the investigation of objects down to the nanometer scale often reveals new properties of matter that have no equivalent for their bulk analysis. This phenomenon is motivating many current studies of nanomaterials which can reveal fascinating new phenomena. It inspired a group of ...

'Spooky' sightings in crystal point to extremely rare quantum spin liquid

07-Dec-2016 - Inside a new exotic crystal, physicist Martin Mourigal has observed strong indications of "spooky" action, and lots of it. The results of his experiments, if corroborated over time, would mean that the type of crystal is a rare new material that can house a quantum spin liquid. Currently, only a ...

Researchers discover ways to expand temperature stability range of solar cells

25-Oct-2016 - Despite the potential for powering the world with energy from the sun - the most abundant source of renewable energy - only about 1 percent of the world's energy production currently comes through solar cell technology. That's because solar cells are expensive to produce and are susceptible to ...

New model predicts once-mysterious chemical reactions

30-Jun-2016 - A team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Curtin University in Australia developed a theoretical model to forecast the fundamental chemical reactions involving molecular hydrogen (H2), which after many decades and attempts by scientists had remained largely unpredicted and ...