The hardness of a material normally is set by the strength of chemical bonds between electrons of neighboring atoms, not by freely flowing conduction electrons. Now a team of scientists has shown that ...

An Australian-led study uses a scanning-tunnelling microscope ‘trick’ to map electronic structure in Na 3 Bi, seeking an answer to that material’s extremely high electron mobility. In studying the ...

Electrons confined within self-assembled phosphorus chains have been shown to move in a strictly one-dimensional manner, marking a significant advance in condensed matter physics and nanomaterials ...

The hardness of materials is determined by the strength of the chemical bonds that are formed between the electrons of the neighbouring atoms. For example, the bonds in diamond are very strong, so it ...