Crystalline materials news, March 2020

Five degrees of freedom

Five degrees of freedom in polycrystalline materials

Boron takes the strain out of Li-ion battery electrodes

Ni-rich cathodes used in EV Li-ion batteries show improved performance stability when doped with boron

More active sites for better hydrogen evolution

flakes of material decorated with tiny particles could prove useful for catalyzing hydrogen generation reactions

Making two-dimensional metals the easy way

easy way to make large, freestanding, thin sheets of metallic materials could open up novel applications in catalysis, flexible electronics, soft robotics

Counting gamma rays with perovskites

Scientists take steps to grow large-scale sheets of 2D insulator

Using copper as a substrate, scientists have successfully grown atom-thick sheets of hexagonal boron nitride as two-inch diameter crystals.

New study shows melt front begins at grain boundaries

Using an X-ray free-electron laser, scientists have shown that melting of a gold film starts at grain boundaries and then moves inside the grain.

Professor’s work gave her a window into gender inequity, so she took action

Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser is using an Agents of Change grant to empower women in academia

New crystalline material displays both ferroelectricity and chirality

Researchers have synthesized a crystalline material with two properties previously unseen in a single material: ferroelectricity and chirality.

Gold tape proves invaluable at extracting 2D sheets from bulk crystals

Researchers have shown that ultraflat gold films can be used to extract large, high quality 2D sheets from van der Waals crystals.

Between the sheets

Gold tape exfoliates vdW structures to make 2D sheets