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 ...

(Phys.org)—It would seem that figuring out how many molecules of water are needed to form the smallest, or most basic ice crystal would have been discovered long ago, but that is not the case, because ...

New research published in Nature reveals that, when cooled, droplets containing chain-like liquid crystal molecules transform from spheres into complex shapes such as flowers, corals, and fibrous ...

SPaDe-CSP first predicts most probable space groups and crystal densities using machine learning and then employs an efficient neural network potential for structure refinement. Prediction of crystal ...

Physicists have created a crystal-like arrangement of ultracold gas molecules that swap quantum "spin" properties with nearby and distant partners. The novel structure might be used to simulate or ...

Two-dimensional materials’ unique electronic and optical properties lead to a number of possible applications, like perovskite solar cells or graphene semiconductors. Stacking different 2D materials ...

In a discovery that could have implications ranging from the design of new materials to an understanding of the origin of life, researchers have discovered how the microscopic orientation of amino ...

Researchers have identified a mechanism that triggers shape-memory phenomena in organic crystals used in plastic electronics. Shape-shifting structural materials are made with metal alloys, but the ...

BOULDER, Colo.- Physicists at JILA have created a crystal-like arrangement of ultracold gas molecules that can swap quantum "spin" properties with nearby and distant partners. The novel structure ...