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Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences (SIMES) RSS feed

SIMES researchers study complex, novel materials that could transform the energy landscape by making computing much more efficient or transmitting power over long distances with no loss, for instance.

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Polarons, bubbles of distortion in a perovskite lattice.

News Feature

The surprising results offer a way to boost the activity and stability of catalysts for making hydrogen fuel from water.

Illustration showing a book with layers of atoms on its pages
News Feature

These fleeting disruptions, seen for the first time in lead hybrid perovskites, may help explain why these materials are exceptionally good at turning sunlight...

An illustration shows polarons as bubbles of distortion in a perovskite lattice
Animation
As this animation shows, polaronic distortions start very small and rapidly expand outward in all directions to a diameter of...
Animation of polaronic distortions expanding in an atomic lattice
Illustration

An illustration shows polarons – fleeting distortions in a material’s atomic lattice ––in a promising next-generation energy material, lead hybrid perovskite.

Polarons, bubbles of distortion in a perovskite lattice.
News Feature

SLAC and Stanford partner with two Illinois universities to create the Center for Quantum Sensing and Quantum Materials, which aims to unravel mysteries associated...

Illustration of quantum processes
Press Release

Adding polymers and fireproofing to a battery’s current collectors makes it lighter, safer and about 20% more efficient.

Conceptual illustration of advantages of redesigned current collector.
News Feature

For decades Z-X Shen has ridden a wave of curiosity about the strange behavior of electrons that can levitate magnets.

Portrait of Stanford and SLAC Professor Z-X Shen
News Feature

Theory suggests that quantum critical points may be analogous to black holes as places where all sorts of strange phenomena can exist in a...

Illustration of changes in charge stripes as a superconductor approaches a quantum critical point

Researchers have invented a way to slide atomically-thin layers of 2D materials over one another to store more data, in less space and using...

Illustration of experimental technology that stores data by shifting atomically thin layers of metal
News Feature

A new lithium-based electrolyte invented by Stanford University scientists could pave the way for the next generation of battery-powered electric vehicles.

Photo of vials containing new electrolyte for lithium metal batteries
News Feature

The advance opens a path toward a new generation of logic and memory devices that could be 10,000 times faster than today's.

Fanciful illustration based on electron orbitals
News Feature

Turning a brittle oxide into a flexible membrane and stretching it on a tiny apparatus flipped it from a conducting to an insulating state...

Close up of strain pattern produced by stretching membrane