Ultra-thin two-dimensional materials observed for the first time in a state between solid and liquid

New insights into phase transitions at the atomic level in real materials

11-Dec-2025 - When ice melts into water, this happens quickly, the transition from solid to liquid is immediate. However, very thin materials do not adhere to these rules. This is where an unusual state between solid and liquid arises: the hexatic phase. Researchers at the University of Vienna have now ...

TU Wien develops a microscope for ultra-sensitive samples

How can you produce the best possible image in a microscope without destroying the sample? A new trick enables gentle imaging with maximum image quality.

21-Aug-2025 - Everyone who ever took a photo knows the problem: if you want a detailed image, you need a lot of light. In microscopy, however, too much light is often harmful to the sample – for example, when imaging sensitive biological structures or investigating quantum particles. The aim is therefore to ...

The insulator unraveled

Scientists have uncovered the detailed structure of the aluminum oxide surface, a challenge that has baffled researchers for decades

18-Sep-2024 - Aluminum oxide (Al2O3), also known as alumina, corundum, sapphire, or ruby, is one of the best insulators used in a wide range of applications: in electronic components, as a support material for catalysts, or as a chemically resistant ceramic, to name a few. Knowledge of the precise arrangement ...

Shining potential of missing atoms

Single-atom vacancies in atomically thin insulators created in ultra-high vacuum

15-Jun-2023 - Single photons have applications in quantum computation, information networks, and sensors, and these can be emitted by defects in the atomically thin insulator hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Missing nitrogen atoms have been suggested to be the atomic structure responsible for this activity, but ...

New light for shaping electron beams

Adaptive imaging technique for materials science and structural biology

03-Oct-2022 - A new technique that combines electron microscopy and laser technology enables programmable, arbitrary shaping of electron beams. It can potentially be used for optimizing electron optics and for adaptive electron microscopy, maximizing sensitivity while minimizing beam-induced damage. This ...

Atomic-scale tailoring of graphene approaches macroscopic world

"We are excited of the prospect of creating new materials that are designed starting at the atomic level, based on this method"

22-Jun-2021 - Properties of materials are often defined by imperfections in their atomic structure, especially when the material itself is just one atom thick, such as graphene. Researchers at the University of Vienna have now developed a method for controlled creation of such imperfections into graphene at ...

Atomic images reveal unusually many neighbors for some oxygen atoms

22-Oct-2019 - The identification of new chemical bonds is crucial for the design of new material structures. A team led by Jani Kotakoski at the University of Vienna and Jannik Meyer at the University of Tübingen has found unexpected new configurations of oxygen and nitrogen in graphene. Direct images of the ...

How do atoms vibrate in graphene nanostructures?

Innovative new electron spectroscopy technique pushes the limits of Nanospectroscopy for materials design

14-Aug-2019 - In order to understand advanced materials like graphene nanostructures and optimize them for devices in nano-, opto- and quantum-technology it is crucial to understand how phonons – the vibration of atoms in solids – influence the materials’ properties. Researchers from the University of Vienna, ...

Playfully discover atom manipulation

Online simulation game makes graphene research available to the public

10-Jul-2019 - The team of Toma Susi at the University of Vienna uses a state-of-the-art electron microscope, the UltraSTEM, to manipulate strongly bound materials with atomic precision. Since the instruments used are fully computerized, it is possible to show in a simulation how researchers actually use them. ...

Unprecedented view of the diffusion and rotation of fullerene molecules by graphene encapsulation

13-Jun-2017 - Carbon is one of the most versatile elements: it forms the basis for an enormous number of chemical compounds, it has several allotropes of different dimensionality, and it exhibits many different bonding geometries. For this reason, carbon materials have had a special place in materials research ...