Functional nanomaterials featured in materials journal

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Figure 5. The cover of the September 2015 journal issue. Aiping Chen (MPA-CINT) took the plan-view transmission electron microscope image of a vertically aligned nanocomposite (background), and Chris Sheehan (MPA-CINT) created the schematic drawings of the most commonly investigated architectures of nanocomposites.

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The journal cover and content of the September special issue of the MRS Bulletin focused on nanoscale composite materials. These materials provide a new design paradigm to yield enhanced or novel functionalities that cannot be obtained in individual constituents. Nanocomposites provide reduced dimensionality or enlarged interfacial areas. Articles in the journal issue emphasized approaches to the design and control of the functionalities of composite materials through controlled synthesis and advanced characterization in concert with simulation and modeling.

LANL Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (MPA, CINT) Co-Director Quanxi Jia and Ce-Wen Nan (Tsinghua University, China) served as guest editors. Their lead article, “Obtaining Ultimate Functionalities in Nanocomposites: Design, Control, and Fabrication,” noted that as the creation of new materials becomes more complex and expensive, nanocomposites are garnering increased attention due to their ability to achieve enhanced or emergent behavior by interfacing known materials at the nanoscale or mesoscale. There is more freedom to tune or enhance functionalities that cannot be obtained from individual constituents. The microstructure and thus the macroscopic properties of nanocomposites can be designed as required. Combinations of known materials with appropriate architectures at the nano- or mesoscales provide a rational approach to the design of materials for specific applications. This requires intimate coupling of synthesis and characterization with modeling and simulation at different length and time scales, plus advanced probing techniques to characterize the buried interfaces and local structural and transport inhomogeneities that control the functionalities in the nanocomposites.

Figure 5. The cover of the September 2015 journal issue. Aiping Chen (MPA-CINT) took the plan-view transmission electron microscope image of a vertically aligned nanocomposite (background), and Chris Sheehan (MPA-CINT) created the schematic drawings of the most commonly investigated architectures of nanocomposites.

The issue featured articles from Los Alamos researchers Millie Firestone, Steven Hayden, Jennifer Hollingsworth, and Han Htoon (MPA-CINT); and Andrei Piryatinski (Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, T-4).

In “Greater than the Sum: Synergy and Emergent Properties in Nanoparticle-polymer Composites,” Firestone, Hayden, and Dale Huber (CINT, Sandia National Laboratories) presented examples illustrating possibilities for the rapidly changing field of nanocomposites. They described novel or emergent properties that can arise from introducing nanoparticles into a polymer.

In “When Excitons and Plasmons Meet: Emerging Function Through Synthesis and Assembly,” Hollingsworth, Htoon, Piryatinski, and collaborators reviewed strategies for “soft” chemical approaches to precision integration and assembly of emitter and plasmonic nanoantenna. The structures are important for the goal of creating hybrid semiconductor-metal couples.

Reference: MRS Bulletin 40, 9 (2015) doi: 10.1557/mrs.2015.196.

CINT is a Nanoscale Science Research Center managed under the aegis of the DOE Office of Science and jointly operated by Los Alamos and Sandia as a national user facility. CINT is devoted to establishing the scientific principles that govern the design, performance, and integration of nanoscale materials. The work supports LANL’s national security missions and the Materials for the Future science pillar by creating materials with properties optimized for specific functions. Technical contact: Quanxi Jia