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 ...

Inside most of the Earth, olivine is a hot mineral whose creepy behavior drives plate tectonics. In the upper mantle — the top of the planetary layer between the crust and core — olivine's unusual ...

Researchers developed a method that gradually adds and removes atoms in simulations, enabling realistic modeling of crystal defects that affect material strength.

Point defects (e.g. missing, extra or swapped atoms) in crystalline materials often determine the actual electronic and optical response of a given material. For example, controlled substitutions in ...

Researchers discovered that crystal dislocations in antiferroelectric PbZrO3 thin films generate ordered polar antihedgehog lattices, creating a new defect-engineering approach for polar topologies.

The study of curvature effects on crystal structures and defect dynamics offers pivotal insights into how geometric constraints influence material properties at the micro‐ and nanoscale. Curved ...

If we are to prevent the impending environmental crisis, it is imperative that we find efficient and sustainable ways to avoid being wasteful. One area with much room for improvement is the recycling ...

MADISON – Scientists have no problem making a menagerie of nanometer-sized objects -- wires, tubes, belts, and even tree-like structures. What they sometimes have been unable to do is explain ...

Dr. Mitsutaka Haruta (presently, in NIMS) and Assoc. Prof. Horoki Kurata (Institute for Chemical Research) demonstrated the direct observation of molecular column in organic crystals using a scanning ...

A new hybrid layered perovskite featuring elusive spontaneous defect ordering has been found, report scientists. By introducing specific concentrations of thiocyanate ions into FAPbI3 (FA = ...

Half-Heusler Ni-based alloys are thermoelectric materials with the potential for converting waste heat into electricity. However, the origin of their impressive conversion efficiency is not entirely ...