Physical Sciences Directorate Research Highlights

Research Highlights

Brillouin Light Scattering has revealed the presence of an interfacial layer that controls mechanical reinforcement. By fitting BLS data (red) with a continuum model (blue) the shear modulus of the interface was determined. Inset: The BE SPM work has enab

Key to mechanical reinforcement of glassy polymer nanocomposites has been unraveled

July 26, 2016

Scientists have unraveled details of the mechanism of mechanical reinforcement in glassy polymer nanocomposites.1 Measurements in the interfacial layer ~2–4 nm around nanoparticles revealed that Young’s modulus, which defines the relationship between

Synthesis of two-dimensional GaSe/MoSe2 misfit heterojunctions by van der Waals epitaxy

April 26, 2016

Misfit heterojunctions formed by van der Waals (vdW) epitaxial growth of one crystalline metal chalcogenide monolayer on another was demonstrated for the first time to form p-n junctions that exhibit a photovoltaic response.

Listening to Materials at the Nanoscale

February 2, 2016

The detection of local phase transitions remains challenging, and to date most techniques can detect properties that change at macroscopic scales or at atomic scales, but virtually no technique offers the ability to monitor and map bias-induced phase trans

Controlling the Stiffness of a Material at the Nanoscale

February 2, 2016

Giant elastic tunability—the Young’s modulus changes reversibly over 30% under applied electric fields—was discovered in BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films through an atomic force microscopy study utilizing band-excitation piezroresponse spectroscopy.

Polymer Molecular Weight Affects Nanocomposite Properties in an Unexpected Way

January 26, 2016

Contradicting theoretical expectations, researchers discovered that increased molecular weight of a polymer significantly reduces the influence of nanoparticles on macroscopic properties of polymer nanocomposite.

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