Science Highlights

Aluminum-ion batteries could rapidly charge - in less than one minute.

A Step Towards New, Faster-Charging, and Safer Batteries

First prototypes of aluminum-ion batteries charge quickly and have the potential for long lifetimes, low cost, and safe operation.

Defects (red and blue markings) surprisingly self-organize in active liquid crystal film of protein filaments and such dynamic reorganization could lead to new approaches for designing self-healing materials.

Defects Lead to Order

Surprising order found in bundles of protein filaments that move chaotically and form liquid crystals that could led to novel self-healing.

In an iron-based superconductor, model patterns of electron spins show two competing liquid-like magnetic phases. (Positive spins correspond with yellow and red, while negative spins are green and black.)

Magnetic Dance at the Threshold of Superconductivity

Near the onset of superconductivity, continuous exchange of electrons occurs between distinct, liquid-like magnetic phases in an iron-based superconductor.

X-rays can characterize the motion of atomic-scale defects (for example, dislocations) relative to the morphology of a nanoparticle in the electrode of an operating lithium-ion battery. The dislocations are extra planes of atoms inserted into the atomic lattice.

Tracking Hidden Imperfections Inside Operating Lithium-ion Batteries

Penetrating x-rays can image defects and phase changes during battery charging and discharging.

Simulation of stretching of a silver nanowire accurately shows the entire process from “necking” (thinner regions in the wire) to the formation of a new phase (red portion in the last image).

When Small Things Become a Big Deal

Computer-simulated atomic motion answers real-world questions like “How do things break?”

Whether a solid or liquid forms from charged polymers depends on the “handedness” of the oppositely charged polymer chains.

Will It Be a Solid or a Liquid? The Molecular Structure Has the Answer

Oppositely charged polymer chains can be “right-handed,” “left-handed,” or have no “handedness” at all, which controls whether a solid or liquid forms.

Ultrafast pump-probe microscopy on individual vanadium dioxide microcrystals measures the spatial and temporal variability of ultrafast dynamics of the insulator-to-metal transition.

Small Variations Mean Big Changes in Oxide’s Transformation from Insulator to Conductor

Study reveals surprising non-uniformity in vanadium dioxide that could one day enable more energy-efficient technologies.

The microtubules (green) pull polymer nanotube networks (red) from polymer reservoirs (fluorescence image).

Build a Network, Cellular Style

Bio-based molecular machines mechanically extrude tiny tubes and form networks, aiding in the design of self-repairing materials.

Match-Heads Boost Photovoltaic Efficiency

Tiny “match-head” wires act as built-in light concentrators, enhancing solar cell efficiency.

Working with Molecular Foundry staff, an international team of users utilized the TEAM 1 microscope to plot the exact coordinates of nine layers of atoms with a precision of 19 trillionths of a meter.

Unprecedented Precise Determination of Three-Dimensional Atomic Positions

For the first time, electron tomography reveals the 3D coordinates of individual atoms and defects in a material.

Schematic drawing shows an electron (gold sphere) moving in the direction of the green arrow on the surface of a topological crystalline insulator. In this material, the electron’s quantum-mechanical spin (up) (blue arrow) is coupled with the direction of its motion in such a way that reversing its direction of motion would reverse the direction of the spin (down).

You Can Have Your Conductor and Insulator, Too

Scientists synthesized a theoretically-predicted material with unusual current-carrying properties that could open the door for next-generation electronics.