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 ...

Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known ...

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?

The ability to predict crystal structures is a key part of the design of new materials. New research shows that a mathematical algorithm can guarantee to predict the structure of any material just ...

Defect-filled lead-halide perovskites rival silicon solar cells because domain walls inside the material separate and guide charges. Researchers visualized these charge-transport networks using a ...

A new artificial intelligence model can predict how atoms arrange themselves in crystal structures. A new artificial intelligence model that can predict how atoms arrange themselves in crystal ...

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 ...

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