Where two different materials meet on the atomic level, a new material can be born that is neither one nor the other. The two parent materials do not mix -- they remain distinct from one another -- but their marriage begets a strange child with properties unlike those of either parent. These so-called interfacial materials are considered to be a breed of materials in their own right, and, thanks to recent technological advances that allow them to be fabricated in the laboratory, their real-world properties can now be explored.
A discussion of new insights into these interfacial materials, as well as some of the novel properties expected of them, will be given by materials scientist Chang-Beom Eom, Theodore H. Geballe Professor and Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, at the AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 27-Nov. 1, 2013, in Long Beach, Calif.
"Each new interfacial material presents unexplored territory, in much the same way as the discovery of a new bulk material," Eom said. Researchers can use analogies to compare a new interfacial material to bulk materials with similar properties, he continued, "but there is always something unique about the new interfacial material that holds surprises" for the people studying it.
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