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 ...

When scientists study how materials behave under extreme conditions, they typically examine what happens under compression. But what occurs when you pull matter apart in all directions simultaneously?

Every crystal's shape is a mirror of the internal arrangement of its molecules, but the molecules in photoswitchable crystals can expand, twist and change properties—from their color to their ...

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a 4D-STEM workflow that can isolate and solve atomic structures from individual nanocrystals buried inside dense, tangled clusters, ...

This image by Shaista Hassan Lone, a scientist at the University of Kashmir, shows two polymorphs—different crystal structures—of 4-(dimethylamino)benzaldehyde. When Lone initially set out to grow ...

Researchers developed a method that gradually adds and removes atoms in simulations, enabling realistic modeling of crystal defects that affect material strength.

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered a new way to use some of the oldest known semiconductor materials to improve infrared technology. Their work could lead to smaller, cheaper, and more ...

Researchers have devised a mathematical approach to predict the structures of crystals -- a critical step in developing many medicines and electronic devices -- in a matter of hours using only a ...

Duplicates of crystal structures are flooding databases, implicating repositories hosting organic, inorganic, and computer-generated crystals. The issue raises questions about curation practices at ...