A group of scientists led by Duke University have engineered a new class of materials capable of producing tunable plasmonic properties while withstanding incredibly high temperatures.
October 11, 2022
A group of scientists led by Duke University have engineered a new class of materials capable of producing tunable plasmonic properties while withstanding incredibly high temperatures.
Plasmonics is a technology that essentially traps the energy of light within groups of electrons oscillating together on a metallic surface. This creates a powerful electromagnetic field that interacts with incoming light, allowing devices to absorb, emit or otherwise control specific frequencies across much of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The new materials are hard enough to stir molten steel and can withstand temperatures above 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit—about the same temperatures found just a few hundred miles above the surface of the sun. Coupled with their newly discovered plasmonic abilities, the carbides could achieve improved communications and thermal regulation in technologies including satellites and hypersonic aircraft.
The research appears online October 11 in Nature Communications.
« The standard metals used in plasmonics research, such as gold, silver and copper, melt at relatively low temperatures and need protection from the elements, » said Arrigo Calzolari, a researcher at the Istituto Nanoscienze of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Modena, Italy « That means they can’t be used in rockets, satellites or other aerospace applications. But these new materials we are developing open a completely new working arena because they can create plasmonic effects at incredibly high temperatures. »
The abilities come from a class of disordered ceramics discovered in 2018 by Stefano Curtarolo, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke, called « high-entropy » carbides.
