Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other international institutions have for the first time achieved atomic-scale observations of grain rotation in polycrystalline materials. Widely used in electronic devices, aerospace technologies, automotive applications and solar energy systems, these substances have long been studied for their unique properties and structural dynamics.
Using state-of-the-art microscopy tools housed in the UC Irvine Materials Research Institute, scientists were able to heat samples of platinum nanocrystalline thin films and observe the mechanism driving grain rotation in unprecedented detail. Their findings are the subject of a paper published recently in Science.
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