Image de microscopie optique de grands super-réseaux cubiques. Ces structures formées à partir de nanocristaux sont des candidats potentiels à l’utilisation comme émetteurs de lumière ultrarapides à haute efficacité énergétique. Image : Empa
Image de microscopie optique de grands super-réseaux cubiques. Ces structures formées à partir de nanocristaux sont des candidats potentiels à l'utilisation comme émetteurs de lumière ultrarapides à haute efficacité énergétique. Image : Empa - An international team led by Empa and ETH Zurich researchers is playing with shape-engineered nanoscale building blocks that are up to 100-times larger than atoms and ions. And although these nano "Lego bricks" interact with each other with forces vastly different and much weaker than those holding atoms and ions together, they form crystals all by themselves, the structures of which resemble the ones of natural minerals. These new mega-crystals or superlattices that are depicted on the cover of the latest issue of "Nature" exhibit unique properties such as superfluorescence - and may well usher in a new era in materials science. To really appreciate what a team of researchers led by Maksym Kovalenko and Maryna Bodnarchuk has achieved, it is best to start with something mundane: Crystals of table salt (also known as rock salt) are familiar to anyone who has ever had to spice up an overtly bland lunch. Sodium chloride - NaCl in chemical terms - is the name of the helpful chemical; it consists of positively charged sodium ions (Na+) and negatively charged chloride ions (Cl-).
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