Related papers: Metallic bonds become molecular-like in atomic-siz…
Atomic-sized junctions of iron, created by controlled rupture, present unusually high values of conductance compared to other metals. This result is counter-intuitive since, at the nanoscale, body-centered cubic metals are expected to…
We first argue that the covalent bond and the various closed-shell interactions can be thought of as symmetry broken versions of one and the same interaction, viz., the multi-center bond. We use specially chosen molecular units to show that…
The way atoms attach to each other defines the function(s), e.g., mechanical, optical, electronic, of a given material. The nature of the chemical bond is, therefore, one of the most fundamental issues in materials. Both ionic interactions,…
The realization of molecular-based electronic devices depends to a large extent on the ability to mechanically stabilize the involved molecular bonds, while making use of efficient resonant charge transport through the device. Resonant…
Analysis of experimental data shows that the metal--insulator transition is possible in materials composed of atoms of only metallic elements. Such a transition may occur in spite of the high concentration of valence electrons. It requires…
A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) supplemented with a force sensor is used to study the mechanical properties of a novel metallic nanostructure: a freely suspended chain of single gold atoms. We find that the bond strength of the…
The metallurgy and materials communities have long known and exploited fundamental links between chemical and structural ordering in metallic solids and their mechanical properties. The highest reported strength achievable through the…
While solid-state materials are commonly classified as covalent, ionic, or metallic, there are cases that defy these iconic bonding mechanisms. A prominent example is given by phase-change materials (PCMs) for data storage or photonics,…
This mini review focuses on conductance measurements through molecular junctions containing few tens of molecules, which are fabricated along two approaches: (i) conducting atomic force microscope contacting a self-assembled monolayers on…
Most elemental metals under ambient conditions adopt simple structures such as BCC, FCC and HCP in specific groupings across the Periodic Table, and on compression, many of these elements undergo transitions to surprisingly complex…
The chemistry (composition and bonding information) of metallic glasses (MGs) is at least as important as structural topology for understanding their properties and production/processing peculiarities. This article reports a machine…
Solid state physics deals with systems composed of atoms with strongly bound electrons. The tunneling probability of each electron is determined by interactions that typically extend to neighboring sites, as their corresponding wave…
The simplicity of single-molecule junctions based on direct bonding of a small molecule between two metallic electrodes make them an ideal system for the study of fundamental questions related to molecular electronics. Here we study the…
Transport properties of metal-molecule-metal junctions containing monolayer of conjugated and saturated molecules with characteristic dimensions in the range of 30-300 nm are correlated with microscopic topography, stress and chemical…
Colloidal crystals formed by size-asymmetric binary particles co-assemble into a wide variety of colloidal compounds with lattices akin to ionic crystals. Recently, a transition from a compound phase with a sublattice of small particles to…
Despite extensive investigations of dissipation and deformation processes in micro- and nano- sized metallic samples, the mechanisms at play during deformation of systems with ultimate, molecular size remain elusive. While metallic…
Bulk gold is a good metal, i.e., conductor of electricity and heat, due to its delocalized electron density that can respond to extremely small external perturbations such as electric field or temperature gradient. In energy space, the…
When materials are deformed at extreme strain rates, greater than $10^6 \text{ s}^{-1}$, a counterintuitive mechanical response is seen where the strength and hardness of pure metals increases with increasing temperature. The anti-thermal…
Recent years have shown steady progress in research towards molecular electronics [1,2], where molecules have been investigated as switches [3-5], diodes [6], and electronic mixers [7]. In much of the previous work a Scanning Tunnelling…
The continuing miniaturization of microelectronics raises the prospect of nanometre-scale devices with mechanical and electrical properties that are qualitatively different from those at larger dimensions. The investigation of these…