Mesoporous materials are a class of nanomaterials characterized by their highly ordered porous structure with pore sizes ranging from 2 to 50 nanometers. These materials possess large surface areas, ...

Researchers used kirigami, the art of Japanese paper cutting and folding, to develop ultrastrong, lightweight materials that have tunable mechanical properties, like stiffness and flexibility. These ...

Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered a surprising mathematical connection between two areas of condensed-matter physics that were long considered separate. The electronic and ...

Making computer chips smaller is not just about better design. It also depends on a critical step in manufacturing called patterning, where nanoscale structures are carved into materials to form the ...

A bizarre "Rule of Four" has been identified in the basic structure of the majority of inorganic materials—and scientists are stumped as to why. The pattern is found in the so-called "unit cell" of ...

Most solid materials we rely on, from steel, to plastics and ceramics, are designed to have specific properties. Whether a material is soft and flexible, or stiff and tough depends on how molecules ...

Researchers engineered “gyromorphs,” a new type of metamaterial that combines liquid-like randomness with large-scale structural patterns to block light from every direction. This innovation solves ...

Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known ...

Concrete is a crucial construction material. Unfortunately, however, producing it requires large amounts of energy—often powered by fossil fuels—and includes chemical reactions that release carbon ...

image: MIT researchers used kirigami, the art of Japanese paper cutting and folding, to develop ultrastrong, lightweight materials that have tunable mechanical properties, like stiffness and ...