Related papers: Modulation of structural short-range order due to …
Order versus disorder in the structure of materials plays a key role in the theoretical prediction of their properties. However, this structural description appears to be ineffective for new families of materials such as high entropy alloys…
The ordered structure of binary alloy nanoparticles determines their magnetic and catalytic characteristics. In the alloys after annealing, one of the components preferentially segregates on the surface to reduce surface energy. This…
Structural changes in a glass due to deformation are subtle and difficult to quantify using conventional imaging and diffraction techniques. Additionally, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation using energetic ions often…
Metallic alloys often form phases - known as solid solutions - in which chemical elements are spread out on the same crystal lattice in an almost random manner. The tendency of certain chemical motifs to be more common than others is known…
Co-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured polymer matrix represents an intricate interplay of enthalpic or entropic forces. Particle size largely affects the phase behavior of the nanocomposite. Theoretical studies…
High entropy oxides (HEOs) are a rapidly growing class of compositionally complex ceramics in which configurational disorder is engineered to unlock novel functionality. While average crystallographic symmetry is often retained, local…
Systematic exploration of amorphous ABC heterostructures revealed that nanoscale morphological modifications markedly improved their artificial bulk second-order susceptibility. These amorphous birefringent heterostructures were fabricated…
A nanocrystalline metal's strength increases significantly as its grain size decreases, a phenomenon known as the Hall-Petch relation. Such relation, however, breaks down when the grains become too small. Experimental studies have…
The low-energy properties of two-dimensional ensembles of dipole-coupled magnetic nanoparticles are studied as function of structural disorder and particle coverage. Already small deviations from a square particle arrangement lift the…
Assembly theory predicts that a distinguishing signature of life is its ability to produce complex molecules in abundance, opening new possibilities for life detection. Experimental validation of this approach has so far relied on abiotic…
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…
The elastic interaction, induced by the lattice distortion due to the difference of the molecular size, causes an effective long-range interaction. In spin-crossover (SC) compounds, local bistable states, i.e., high-spin and low-spin states…
The interplay between static and dynamic disorder and collective optical response in molecular ensembles is an important characteristic of nanoplasmonic and nanophotonic molecular systems. Here we investigate the cooperative superradiant…
Atom probe tomography (APT) is ideally suited to characterize and understand the interplay of chemical segregation and microstructure in modern multicomponent materials. Yet, the quantitative analysis typically relies on human expertise to…
The application of modern layer-by-layer growth techniques to transition-metal oxide materials raises the possibility of creating new classes of materials with rationally designed correlated electron properties. An important step toward…
The structure and degree of order in soft matter and other materials is intimately connected to the nature of the interactions between the particles. One important research goal is to find suitable control mechanisms, to enhance or suppress…
The ability to control forces between sub-micron-scale building blocks offers considerable potential for designing new materials through self-assembly. A typical paradigm is to first identify a particular (crystal) structure that has some…
Tailoring the performance of next-generation high entropy materials requires a deep understanding of the competition between entropy-driven random solid solution and enthalpy-driven chemical ordering. Investigating such order and disorder…
Structural disorder causes materials surface electronic properties, e.g. work function ($\phi$) to vary spatially, yet it is challenging to prove exact causal relationships to underlying ensemble disorder, e.g. roughness or granularity. For…
Crystals are a state of matter characterised by periodic order. Yet crystalline materials can harbour disorder in many guises, such as non-repeating variations in composition, atom displacements, bonding arrangements, molecular…