Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have 3D-printed an all-liquid device that, with the click of a button, can be repeatedly reconfigured on demand to serve a wide range of applications – from making battery materials to screening drug candidates.

“What we demonstrated is remarkable...

A biologist invented an inexpensive and environmentally friendly method for making artificial nacre using an innovative component: bacteria. The artificial nacre is made of biologically produced materials and has the toughness of natural nacre, while also being stiff and, surprisingly, bendable. The method used to create the novel material could lead to new applications in medicine, engineering – and even constructing buildings on the moon.

The impressive mechanical properties of...

Researchers report on the observation of supersolid behavior in dipolar quantum gases of erbium and dysprosium. In the dysprosium gas these properties are unprecedentedly long-lived. This sets the stage for future investigations into the nature of this exotic phase of matter.

Supersolidity is a paradoxical state where the matter is both crystallized and superfluid. Predicted 50 years ago, such a counter-intuitive phase, featuring rather antithetic properties, has been long searched in superfluid helium...

3D printing of chalcogenide glass could enable low-cost manufacturing of complex optical components for telecom and sensing applications. For the first time, researchers have successfully 3D printed chalcogenide glass, a unique material used to make optical components that operate at mid-infrared wavelengths. The ability to 3D print this glass could make it possible to manufacture complex glass components and optical fibers for new types of low-cost sensors, telecommunications components and biomedical devices.

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal ...