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Materials Research Society welcomes new Editor-in-Chief of MRS Energy & Sustainability—A Review Journal
MRS is pleased to welcome Elizabeth A. Kócs, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), as the newest editor-in-chief of its digital journal, MRS Energy & Sustainability—A Review Journal. Read more |
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Preregister and Save—2015 MRS Fall Meeting
Preregistration for the 2015 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit in Boston is now open at www.mrs.org/fall-2015-registration. Register by 5:00 pm (ET), November 13 to ensure discounted rates!
Preregistration Deadline: November 13, 2015 |
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Two FREE Webinars in October
Engineered Nanomaterials in Aerospace Applications
Presented by MRS Bulletin
Sponsored by Lake Shore Cryotronics
Wednesday, October 21 | 12:00 - 1:30 pm (ET)
Why is PeakForce Tapping the Fastest Growing AFM Mode?
Sponsored by Bruker
Tuesday, October 27 | 11:00 am - 12:30 pm (ET)
Attendance for these and all MRS OnDemand Webinars is FREE,
but advance registration is required. |
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Important Award Nomination Deadlines
Nominations for the 2016 MRS Spring Meeting Postdoctoral and Graduate Student Awards are now being accepted. Nominate a colleague today for one of these prestigious MRS Awards.
Nomination Deadline: October 30, 2015 |
MATERIALS NEWS
Keep up with materials research news through MRS!
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Materials in Focus
Linear complexions along dislocations offer a new tool for tailoring materials properties |
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In recent years, materials researchers have applied the term complexion to an interface (e.g., surface, grain boundary, or heterostructure junction) whose equilibrium composition and crystal structure differ from those of the phase(s) it bounds. Now, a group from the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf has extended the concept to dislocations. In their study of an iron-manganese solid solution, the researchers observed manganese segregation accompanied by an austenitic face centered cubic (fcc) structure, both confined to dislocations in an otherwise martensitic body centered cubic (bcc) crystal. |
Implant detects and captures early metastatic cancer cells |
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Metastatic cancer occurs when tumor cells break off of a primary cancer and form new tumors in other areas of the body. These cancers are a cause for great concern, particularly because they are generally only detected after they have progressed to the point of affecting organ functions, by which time they are difficult to treat. |
Modeling of graphene on a substrate points way to controllable crumpling |
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Recent research indicates that graphene can assume what are variously described as wrinkled, buckled, and crumpled topologies and that changing the topology can also change the physical properties, raising the question: Can the properties be manipulated by controlling the topology? A molecular mechanics study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, modeling what happens to graphene on a substrate under uniaxial compression in the plane, lends support to this notion by identifying the crucial parameters and their values at the transition between crumpled and buckled states.
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Nano Focus: Stretchable carbon nanotube transistors are put to the test
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The advent of wearable devices has signaled a modern trend toward higher levels of integrated technology. The natural progression of this field is a move from wearable technologies such as smartwatches or glasses to more cohesive or even implantable technology. However, current electronic transistors are typically made of stiff, brittle materials that make them unfit for applications that require flexibility or durability, such as in biomedicine or biosensing. In order for this evolution in personal technology to continue, significant strides must be achieved toward more adaptable electronics.
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Nano Focus: Scanning thermoelectric microscopy locates extra electrons outside quantum dots |
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Semiconducting quantum dots (QDs) can be used to enhance the performance of a variety of devices encompassing optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and alternative energy technologies. Often, a small amount of another element must be added to the semiconducting QDs to provide extra electrons and improve conductivity. At the nanoscale, these extra electrons are difficult to locate. Rachel Goldman and her colleagues at the University of Michigan have now shown the feasibility of such measurements. |
Bio Focus: 3D-printed octacalcium phosphate bone substitutes reduce defect region |
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A significant challenge facing the fabrication of effective bone implants is the manipulation of synthetic materials to construct structures that mimic the complex form of native bone. As a technique attracting considerable attention for multiple applications, three-dimensional (3D) printing is being explored to generate synthetic biocompatible materials for guided bone regeneration and bone substitutes. However, the two principal existing techniques require an annealing step that can lead to mineral decomposition and the introduction of impurities. |
In pursuit of novel superconductors: Four years and 1000 materials |
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The article summarizes the results of a four-year long research project funded as part of FIRST (Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology), a Japanese government-funded program. Six Japanese research groups collaborated under the leadership of Hosono from the Tokyo Institute of Technology to pursue multiple goals in the field of superconducting materials, the fabrication of prototype devices based on superconducting wires and tapes, and exploration of new functionality of relevant materials. |
Non-Joulian magnetostriction revealed in Fe-Ga alloy |
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Large non-volume conserving magnetostriction has been discovered in iron-gallium magnets. This paradigm-shifting discovery was made by Harsh Deep Chopra at Temple University and his collaborator Manfred Wuttig at the University of Maryland, and published in the May 21 issue of Nature. The researchers have termed this “non-Joulian magnetostriction” to distinguish it from the volume-conserving “Joule” magnetostriction discovered by Joule in 1841.
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Bio Focus: Electronic devices engineered to dissolve and disintegrate by thermal triggering |
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What if rigid and solid electronics could vanish before your eyes? An emerging class of electronic devices that could physically disappear or hydrolyze has been given the name of transient electronics. The rate of dissolution depends on the material used and properties such as film thickness, polymer crystallinity, and environmental conditions. All of these parameters could be engineered to enable programmable degradation of electronic devices. |
Nano Focus: Magnetic ferrofluid key to new take on spinning polymer fibers |
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Nanofiber polymers find use in both well-established (filtration, catalysis, and personal care products such as diapers and adsorbents) and burgeoning industries such as biomedicine and composite materials. Nanofibers benefit from a very high surface-to-volume ratio as well and also have the potential for additional functionality. However, melt spinning—the current industrial standard for the production of polymer fibers—suffers from certain limitations on the size and type of polymers that can be manufactured. Now a team of researchers has developed a technique for drawing nanofibers of virtually any polymeric material using an external magnetic field.
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Energy Focus: Gallium nitride goes vertical |
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Although familiar to most as the workhorse material underpinning blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), gallium nitride plays a critical role in many technologies beyond lighting. In particular, GaN-based transistors are well suited for high power applications, as these devices can function at much higher temperatures and voltages than other semiconductors.
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Industry Focus
Science meets fiction as 3D printers create body parts and repair the unrepairable
The process of printing in different materials to create parts to repair human bodies gives a legitimate use to the old cliche that this is technology limited only by the limits of imagination.
Smaller, faster, cheaper, over: The future of computer chips
In recent years, the acceleration predicted by Moore’s Law has slipped. Chip speeds stopped increasing almost a decade ago and the cost of individual transistors has plateaued. By the middle of the next decade, technologists fear, there could be a reckoning, when the laws of physics dictate that transistors, by then composed of just a handful of molecules, will not function reliably. Then Moore’s Law will come to an end, unless a new technological breakthrough occurs.
Molten salt reactors—a nuclear comeback?
Nuclear energy got a bad rap following the Fukushima disaster in 2011, but by using a different reactor type—molten salt reactors (MSRs)—it may soon be poised for a comeback. The startup Transatomic Power is shaping up to be a main driving force behind the expansion of MSRs, since theirs are safer than conventional reactors and—crucially—they use radioactive waste from other nuclear power plants as fuel.
 CORPORATE PARTNER—News
METTLER TOLEDO: Thermal Analysis of Biopolymers
Thermal analysis can be used to investigate polymers produced directly by organisms, extracted from renewable biomass or synthesized from bio-derived monomers. The most important physical properties measured are the glass transition, crystallization and decomposition temperatures. The four main techniques of thermal analysis, DSC, TGA, TMA, and DMA, can be used to characterize polymers as a function of temperature over a wide temperature range, from –150 to 1600 °C.
In this Webinar, we will show how thermal analysis is used to investigate biopolymers and present some typical examples of samples measured by DSC, TGA, TMA or DMA. Register here.
A portion of the funds from the Corporate Partner Program supports the Materials Research Society Foundation®.
Policy Focus
Next-generation x-ray source fires up
Electrons have begun circulating in a synchrotron in Lund, Sweden, in what researchers hope marks the start of a new era for x-ray science.
Russia to ramp up spending on military science
The Russian government plans to invest on the development of military science and defense research and development. Part of these plans is the establishment of five consolidated research institutes in different parts of the country, to be overseen by Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Defense. Each of the newly established institutions will specialize in a particular research area, such as aviation, biotechnology, laser technology and surveying and navigation software.
For more science policy news, follow @MaterialsSciPol
OF INTEREST TO THE MATERIALS COMMUNITY
New XPrize to give $20 million for carbon capture
A new competition will award $20 million for carbon capture technologies that convert carbon dioxide into high-value products. NRG, a US-based energy provider, and Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), a group of 13 oil sands producers, are sponsoring the award, which is being organized by the XPrize Foundation. More
The semiotics of “rose gold”
With its new generation of iPhones, Apple announced it would be offering a model that was “rose gold” in color. When employed by jewelers, rather than by extremely savvy marketers of digital devices, the term “rose gold” refers to an alloy of gold to which copper has been added. In appearance, rose gold is warm and flush—what yellow gold would look like if it suddenly suffered an embarrassment. More
MEETINGS UPDATE
Critical Meeting Deadlines
2015 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit
November 29 - December 4, 2015
Boston, Massachusetts
exhibit opportunities available |
PREREGISTRATION NOW OPEN
Preregistration Deadline—
November 13
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8th International Conference of the African MRS
December 7-10, 2015
Accra, Ghana |
ONLINE REGISTRATION
NOW OPEN
Online Registration Deadline—
November 20
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2016 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit
March 28-April 1, 2016
Phoenix, Arizona
exhibit opportunities available |
CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstract Submission Deadline—
11:59 pm (ET), October 15
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74th Device Research Conference (DRC 2016)
June 19-22, 2016
Newark, Delaware
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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58th Electronic Materials Conference (58th EMC)
June 22-24, 2016
Newark, Delaware
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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American Conference on Neutron Scattering
(ACNS 2016)
July 10-14, 2016
Long Beach, California
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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18th International Conference on Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (ICMOVPE-XVIII)
July 10-15, 2016
San Diego, California
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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5th International Conference on Metal-Organic Frameworks & Open Framework Compounds
(MOF 2016)
September 11-15, 2016
Long Beach, California
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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International Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors
(IWN 2016)
October 2-7, 2016
Orlando, Florida
exhibit opportunities available |
SAVE THE DATE
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PUBLICATIONS UPDATE
Critical Publications Deadlines
Advertise in JMR.
JUST PUBLISHED
Call for Nominations! — New MRS Communications Lecture
The new MRS Communications Lecture recognizes excellence in materials research through work published in MRS Communications. The lead author of the chosen outstanding paper will be invited to present a lecture about the related research at the 2016 MRS Spring Meeting. Visit www.mrs.org/mrc-lecture for more information.
Nomination Deadline—November 15, 2015
Get your free Android App or iOS App for MRS Communications for full mobile access to this journal.
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Aerospace applications have historically been a driver of advanced materials. The articles in this issue of MRS Bulletin review some of the more promising aerospace applications of nanomaterials with a focus on space applications. High-performance miniaturized propulsion will enable deep space exploration using small and inexpensive spacecraft, such as the shoebox-sized CubeSat illustrated on the cover thrusting toward Mars. These electric rockets are enabled by micro- and nanostructured materials. The image inset shows a scanning electron image of a dense array of tips microfabricated on a porous material from which high-energy ion beams are emitted to produce thrust.
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Engineered nanomaterials in aerospace
Sivaram Arepalli and Padraig Moloney, Guest Editors
Taking nanotechnology to new heights: The potential impact on future aerospace vehicles
Michael A. Meador
Nanoelectronics and nanosensors for space exploration
M. Meyyappan, Jessica E. Koehne, and Jin-Woo Han
Structural nanocomposites for aerospace applications
Emilie J. Siochi and Joycelyn S. Harrison
MRS Bulletin will present a free webinar on Engineered Nanomaterials in Aerospace Applications on Wednesday, October 21.
Advertise in MRS Bulletin.
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A selection of papers:
Stress Engineering with AlN/GaN Superlattices for Epitaxial GaN on 200 mm Silicon Substrates Using a Single Wafer Rotating Disk MOCVD Reactor
Jie Su, Eric A. Armour, Balakrishnan Krishnan, Soo Min Lee and George D. Papasouliotis
A Review of In-situ Surface Functionalization of Gallium Nitride via Beaker Wet Chemistry
Brady L. Pearce, Stewart J. Wilkins, Tania Paskova and Albena Ivanisevic
Structural and optical properties of PA MBE AlGaN quantum well heterostructures grown on c-Al2O3 by using flux- and temperature-modulated techniques
Valentin N. Jmerik, Dmitrii V. Nechaev, Sergey Rouvimov, Valentin V. Ratnikov, Peter S. Kop'ev, Mikolai V. Rzheutski, Eugenii V. Lutsenko, Gennadii P. Yablonskii, Maher Aljohenii, Abdulaziz Aljerwii, Ahmed Alyamani and Sergey V. Ivanov
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From Volume 1699, 2014 MRS Spring Meeting,
Symposium LL – Transparent Electrodes
ITO-Free OLED and OPV Devices with a Transparent Silver Nanowire Electrode
Florian Pschenitzka
From Volume 1700, 2014 MRS Spring Meeting,
Symposium MM – Nanotubes and Related Nanostructures--2014
Simulation of Charge Transport in Disordered Assemblies of Metallic Nano-Islands: Application to Boron-Nitride Nanotubes Functionalized with Gold Quantum Dots
John A. Jaszczak, Madhusudan A. Savaikar, Douglas R. Banyai, Boyi Hao, Dongyan Zhang, Paul L. Bergstrom, An-Ping Li, Juan-Carlos Idrobo and Yoke Khin Yap
Coupled Vibrations in Index-Identified Carbon Nanotubes
Dmitry Levshov, Thierry Michel, Matthieu Paillet, Xuan Tinh Than, Huy Nam Tran, Raul Arenal, Abdelali Rahmani,Mourad Boutahir, Ahmed-Azmi Zahab and Jean-Louis Sauvajol |
SCIENCE AS ART
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Liquid metal alien micro-egg
by Konrad Rykaczewski, Arizona State University
and Kyle Doudrick, University of Notre Dame.
The image shows ~200 micrometer diameter “egg” of GaInSn after exposure to HCl acid vapor. After the exposure, the room temperature liquid metal is covered in a thick mostly gallium chloride shell, instead of the typical nanometer thin oxide shell. The cracked shell gives an impression that the bare liquid metal is about to “hatch”. For more information see Doudrick et al., Langmuir, 30, 2014.
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A finalist in the Science as Art competition at the 2015 MRS Spring Meeting
Copyright for all Science as Art images belongs to the Materials Research Society.
To request permission to re-use the images, please contact Anita Miller.
EDITOR'S CHOICE VIDEO
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Cancer patient receives 3D printed ribs manufactured by Anatomics
A cancer patient has received a titanium sternum and rib cage designed and manufactured by Melbourne-based medical device company Anatomics and printed utilizing their 3D printing facility, Lab 22. |
NEW PRODUCTS FOCUS
| New Ductless Fume Hood |
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The new Purair 5 Ductless Fume Hoods from Air Science USA feature a high level of operator protection where routine work is being carried out. The units exceed OSHA, ANSI and all relevant international standards. The Ductless design eliminates installation costs and allows the unit to be positioned over a sink or benchtop apparatus. The units operate at low noise levels and because they recirculate, they do not exhaust expensive conditioned and/or heated air into the atmosphere. Typical applications for the Purair 5 include histology, powder weighing and sampling prep work.
Contact: [email protected] or 239-489-0024
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| Versatile Accessory for Bulk and Flask Freeze Drying |
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SP Scientific has announced the Horizontal Drum Manifold, a new accessory to maximize the performance of its BenchTop Pro freeze dryer while adding bulk and flask drying capabilities for aqueous application. Designed for use with 3-, 8- and 9-Liter BenchTop Pro units, the new manifold provides a highly economic solution to further increase the versatility of the popular tray dryer either purchased with a new system or easily assembled on an existing unit in the field with no additional hardware required.
Contact: [email protected] or 845-255-5000
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To suggest items for inclusion in Industry News and New Products Focus,
please contact Mary Kaufold at 724-779-2755.
ABOUT MATERIALS360®
Materials360 is edited by Judy Meiksin, News Editor, and produced by Joe Yzquierdo, Electronic Communications Assistant, Materials Research Society.
Not a current MRS member? It's never too late to join or renew!
This e-mail may be forwarded to anyone interested. We welcome reproduction of the content of this e-mail electronically or in print with
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© Reproduced with permission of the Materials Research Society (MRS) [www.mrs.org]
© Materials Research Society, 2015. All rights reserved. |
