Graphene becomes a powerful ferromagnet

11-Jan-2022

When two sheets of the carbon nanomaterial graphene are stacked together at a particular angle with respect to each other, it gives rise to some fascinating physics. For instance, when this so-called “magic-angle graphene” is cooled to near absolute zero, it suddenly becomes a superconductor, ...

more

26-Jan-2021

Metallurgists have all kinds of ways to make a chunk of metal harder. They can bend it, twist it, run it between two rollers or pound it with a hammer. These methods work by breaking up the metal's grain structure -- the microscopic crystalline domains that form a bulk piece of metal. Smaller ...

more

By efficiently converting CO2 into complex hydrocarbon products, a new catalyst could potentially aid in large-scale efforts to recycle excess carbon dioxide

17-Aug-2020

As levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide continue to climb, scientists are looking for new ways of breaking down CO2 molecules to make useful carbon-based fuels, chemicals and other products. Now, a team of Brown University researchers has found a way to fine-tune a copper catalyst to produce ...

more

A newly discovered nanocluster has a geometry that “has not been observed in chemistry heretofore,” the researchers say

01-Jul-2020

The discovery of carbon nanostructures like two-dimensional graphene and soccer ball-shaped buckyballs helped to launch a nanotechnology revolution. In recent years, researchers from Brown University and elsewhere have shown that boron, carbon's neighbor on the periodic table, can make ...

more

By combining a ceramic material with graphene, Brown University engineers have made what they say is the toughest solid electrolyte built to date

24-Jun-2020

A team of Brown University researchers has found a way to double the toughness of a ceramic material used to make solid-state lithium ion batteries. The strategy, described in the journal Matter, could be useful in bringing solid-state batteries to the mass market. "There's huge interest in ...

more

20-Dec-2019

Scientists have long known that platinum is by far the best catalyst for splitting water molecules to produce hydrogen gas. A new study by Brown University researchers shows why platinum works so well -- and it's not the reason that's been assumed. The research, published in ACS Catalysis, helps ...

more

15-Jul-2019

Researchers have used ultra-high-speed x-ray pulses to make a high-resolution "movie" of a molecule undergoing structural motions. The research, published in Nature Chemistry, reveals the dynamics of the processes in unprecedented detail -- capturing the excitation of a single electron in the ...

more

06-Nov-2018

Researchers from Brown University and the Institute of Metals Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found a new way to use nanotwins -- tiny linear boundaries in a metal's atomic lattice that have identical crystalline structures on either side -- to make stronger metals. The ...

more

24-Sep-2018

With a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a Brown University-led research team will use machine learning to speed up atom-level simulations of chemical reactions and the properties of materials. "Simulations provide insights into materials and chemical processes that we can't readily ...

more

24-May-2018

Liquid crystals undergo a peculiar type of phase change. At a certain temperature, their cigar-shaped molecules go from a disordered jumble to a more orderly arrangement in which they all point more or less in the same direction. LCD televisions take advantage of that phase change to project ...

more