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New insights show universal applicability of carbyne as a sensor For the design of future materials, it is important to understand how the individual atoms inside a material interact with each other quantum mechanically. Previously inexplicable vibrational states between carbon chains (carbyne) and nanotubes have puzzled materials scientists.

New property of graphene revealed by ultra-clean airless measurement Environment Graphene is a "miracle material": mechanically extremely strong and electrically highly conductive, ideal for related applications. Using a worldwide unique method physicists at the University of Vienna led by Jani Kotakoski have for the first time made graphene drastically more stretchable by rippling it like an accordion.

An international team led by Fabian Garmroudi has succeeded in producing new, efficient thermoelectric materials that could compete with state-of-the-art materials, offering greater stability and lower cost. Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy. This makes them particularly attractive for the emerging "Internet of Things", for example for the autonomous energy supply of microsensors and other tiny electronic components.

The [X-MAT] research team from the Chair of Nonferrous Metallurgy, in collaboration with international partners, has made a significant breakthrough in the development of radiation-resistant materials for nuclear fusion reactors. Their latest study, published in Advanced Science (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202417659), challenges conventional high-entropy alloy (HEA) concept by demonstrating that reduced chemical complexity can still achieve superior radiation tolerance.

New method can improve the efficiency and flexibility of displays, solar cells and transistors Scientists at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna, have unveiled an innovative approach for synthesizing azaparacyclophanes (APCs), a class of highly advanced ring-shaped molecular structures with immense potential in material science.

Until now, old clothes have mainly been incinerated. Using adapted processes from paper production, it is possible to recover the cellulose fibres from used clothing and use them to produce cardboard and other packaging materials.

ISTA researchers 3D print high-performance, sustainable thermoelectric materials Rapid, localized heat management is essential for electronic devices and could have applications ranging from wearable materials to burn treatment. While so-called thermoelectric materials convert temperature differences to electrical voltage and vice versa, their efficiency is often limited, and their production is costly and wasteful.

From a tiny electric jolt when touching a doorknob to styrofoam peanuts that cling to a mischievous cat's fur-the well-known and seemingly simple phenomenon of static electricity has puzzled people since antiquity. How could this ubiquitous effect, frequently demonstrated to bedazzled children by rubbing a balloon on their hair, still not be completely understood by scientists? Static electricity goes by multiple names, but scientists prefer to call it 'contact electrification'.

Breakthrough in materials research: an alloy of several metals has been developed that shows practically no thermal expansion over an extremely large temperature interval. Most metals expand when their temperature rises. The Eiffel Tower, for example, is around 10 to 15 centimetres taller in summer than in winter due to its thermal expansion.

A kind of 'umbilical cord' between different quantum states can be found in some materials. Researchers at TU Wien have now shown that this 'umbilical cord' is generic to many materials. It is a basic principle of quantum theory: sometimes certain physical quantities can only assume very specific values; all the values in between are simply not permitted by physics.

A research team at the Institute of Materials Chemistry at TU Wien, led by Professor Dominik Eder, has developed a new synthetic approach to create durable, conductive and catalytically active hybrid framework materials for (photo)electrocatalytic water splitting. Porous metal-organic framework catalysts The development of technologies for sustainable energy carriers, such as hydrogen, is essential.

In certain materials, electrical charge can only move in very specific directions. Researchers at TU Wien (Vienna) have now shown that this can be explained by magnetic effects. High-temperature superconductivity is one of the great mysteries of modern physics: some materials conduct electrical current without any resistance - but only at very low temperatures.

Scientists at the TU Wien and the University of Vienna have uncovered the detailed structure of the aluminum oxide surface, a challenge that has baffled researchers for decades. Aluminum oxide (Al2O3), also known as alumina, corundum, sapphire, or ruby, is one of the best insulators used in a wide range of applications: in electronic components, as a support material for catalysts, or as a chemically resistant ceramic, to name a few.

Using 3D printing technology and ultrasonic joining technique, researchers at TU Graz succeeded in attaining an extremely strong joining of the renewable raw material wood with metal and polymer composite. The renewable raw material wood is climate-neutral and at the same time light and strong, making it fundamentally attractive for use in vehicle manufacturing.

Batteries undercut their theoretical capacity in practice, sometimes significantly. In a lithium iron phosphate cathode, researchers at TU Graz have now been able to observe exactly where the capacity loss occurs. Lithium iron phosphate is one of the most important materials for batteries in electric cars, stationary energy storage systems and tools.

Normally, thermal radiation is a product of randomness, described by the laws of statistical physics. TU Wien and the University of Manchester show that it can also be controlled. When a piece of metal is made to glow, its colour depends solely on its temperature. The material, the geometry, the structure of its surface - none of these details matters.

A team of materials scientists at the University of Leoben is working on improving medical implants with the help of additive manufacturing. Their research work was recently published in the journal "Advanced Functional Materials". Dipl.-Ing. Sepide Hadibeik, Dr. Florian Spieckermann and Jürgen Eckert from the Department of Materials Science at the University of Leoben, in cooperation with the Swiss Advanced Manufacturing Center in Biel, have used an advanced process for the additive manufacturing of metallic glasses for the first time.

Dyes, such as those used in the textile industry, are a major environmental problem. At TU Wien, efficient filters have now been developed - based on cellulose waste. Using waste to purify water may sound counterintuitive. But at TU Wien, this is exactly what has now been achieved: a special nanostructure has been developed to filter a widespread class of harmful dyes from water.

Using only a single electron microscope image, researchers at TU Graz can determine the type and exact position of so-called guest atoms in high-tech materials. They also come closer to solving the mystery of the blue colour of aquamarine. In addition to their main components, the properties of crystalline and nanoporous materials often depend crucially on guest atoms or ions that are embedded in the tiny pores of their lattice structure.

In a joint project between MedUni Vienna and TU Wien, the world's first 3D-printed "brain phantom" has been developed, which is modelled on the structure of brain fibres and can be imaged using a special variant of magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). As a scientific team led by MedUni Vienna and TU Wien has now shown in a study, these brain models can be used to advance research into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.