New materials

Using the process of selective doping of a material, North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that would allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text!

The process could also be used for boosting vehicles' fuel economy and reducing heat produced by semiconductors, and thus more efficient energy.

The engineers added metal nickel to magnesium oxide, a ceramic. The resulting material contained clusters of nickel atoms no bigger than 10 square nanometers, a 90percent size reduction that could boost computer storage capacity.

By introducing metallic properties into ceramics, engineers could develop a new generation of ceramic engines able to withstand twice the temperatures of normal engines and achieve fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon. And since the thermal conductivity of the material would be improved, the technique could also have applications in harnessing alternative energy sources like solar energy.

The discovery will aid the emerging field of "spintronics," which is dedicated to harnessing energy produced by the spinning of electrons. By manipulating the nanomaterial the electron spin can be controlled, helping to harness electron’s energy.

Materials are the promise of tomorrow. But will technofixes alone help?