Helium ions open whole new world of materials

The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big.

Richard P. Feynman

[Queensland University of Technology] QUT scientists have found an exciting new way to manipulate and design materials of the future at the atomic level and change the way they behave at a larger scale that opens the way to new applications such as early cancer biomarkers.

...

"We discovered that a beam of energetic helium ions generated in a helium ion microscope rearranged a nanoporous anodized alumina material on the atomic scale and shrank its pores to various, unprecedented tiny sizes," Professor Ostrikov said.

"These tiny pores mean scientists could potentially 'sift' molecules into different sizes to study them individually. It could open the way to early detection of cancer, for example, through a blood test that could detect DNA produced by a cancer before the tumour developed.

"This new ion-assisted manipulation of matter on the tiniest of length scales completely changed the behaviour of the aluminium oxide: when we applied moderate exposure to helium ions, its pores shrank, when we increased exposure to the ions this normally brittle and porous ceramic turned into a superplastic and gained the ability to stretch more than twice without breaking."

phys.org, Feb. 26, 2018 - Helium ions open whole new world of materials.

They shot the helium ions at a brittle ceramic. Over time, they were able to stretch it out and it became plastic and rubbery. They can use the same technique on other materials. Micro pores to filter out tritiated water perhaps? Keeps from having to dump it in the ocean. Maybe filter out heavy water for future fusion reactors? This is going to open the doors to the smaller world! Feynman said there is still room at the bottom!

Yet another step towards controlling our world at the atomic level!



Video from QUT

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Stuff like this amazes me and I find it so interesting .. I’m just clever enough to understand
Some of it 😊 but pisssd that can’t understand it all better .. thanks for the thread s + f

DP

The practical applications are almost endless and application could be nearly immediate.

Water filtering, air filtering, nanotech, dialysis....

Very cool to hear.

a reply to: nofear39

The whole notion of controlling materials at the atomic level is kind of mind blowing!

As far as understanding goes, it is all good. Just know enough to be amazed that people figured this stuff out! By shooting some gas atoms at other atoms, they changed and manipulated the structure of the material. There are a bunch of different materials (and gasses to use). The headline should read, "Helium ions open whole new world of material science" as we take that step into a future where we make materials that have specific properties. 31 flavors has now become 31,000,000 flavors!

To read Feynman talk about nanotechnology (zyvex.com): There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.

He has a real knack making the amazing seem like it is just around the corner! He is kind of amazed at what is coming himself!

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

The video is rather amazing to! They imaged a dragonfly's wing, watched as bacteria would brush up against hairs sticking out, and in their effort to move away, ripped themselves apart! They said that finding could lead directly to surgical equipment that auto-sterilizes.

The firing gas ions is a neat trick. But the microscope is pretty amazing too! The fact they can also do this to living tissue
is wild. The dragonfly was not hurt!

This is big... practical manipulation of individual atoms is as big as it is small! Cool.

But, we are running low on Helium. I guess they are going to have to stop filling balloons with it. Acetylene works pretty good for balloons and can be fun to blow up too.

a reply to: rickymouse

There is a huge helium find in Tanzania. Lockheed has teamed up with Solo 1, (I think)
, and they will be ferrying out the helium in Lockheed's airship, which uses helium. Lockheed is on pace to get their airship fleet up around 2019 as they have had pre-ordered sales.

There is a Canadian company that is focusing on helium in natural gas because it is more profitable.

And I would hope that helium is used responsibly (i.e., recycled as much as can be. Lockheed has little robots that search the skin for holes called Spiders because helium is expensive).

a reply to: nofear39

I agree. I was able to digest most of the information and concept behind the CRISPR genetic manipulation breakthroughs when they began filtering through year or so ago but just at a basic level.

This seems this is even more exciting.

Brave New World we live in!

There was some UFO wreckage in a Roswell museum that included copper that was manipulated on an atomic level to change its properties, the material was immune to radar and there were a few other things. This is the first I've seen where our technology is doing something similar.

originally posted by: darkbake
There was some UFO wreckage in a Roswell museum that included copper that was manipulated on an atomic level to change its properties, the material was immune to radar and there were a few other things. This is the first I've seen where our technology is doing something similar.

reversed engineering perhaps?? Finally figured out how it was done?

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist


That was layered bismuth-magnesium from the supposed Roswell metal. I think Linda Moulton reported that one on Art Bell.

This is manipulating materials by shooting gas ions at the atoms and making them re-arrange themselves into repeating patterns. The size of the "holes" in the patterns are being directly controlled which modifies the properties of the material.

It could be reversed engineering (this is ATS after all). I like to think that this is an example of just engineering! This is not news from MIC aerospace companies which is where I would expect RE news to come from. Lockheed has partnered with QUT before, so who knows?

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Might turnout this is something great. Whenever I see some new thing being promoted as a cure for cancer, I just can't take it seriously. Calling bull**** on this one.

a reply to: toms54

"These tiny pores mean scientists could potentially 'sift' molecules into different sizes to study them individually. It could open the way to early detection of cancer, for example, through a blood test that could detect DNA produced by a cancer before the tumour developed.

phys.org article

They "could" make a molecule sifter that "could" detect cancer DNA. They did not say they have created one.

What they did do, and are investigating, what other materials can this method be applied to? Which gases work best with which materials? The video showed both helium and neon ions being used to change materials properties. What about other Nobel gases?

The nice thing is all we have to do is wait and see.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Thanks pal I will have a look now ..👍

Instead of a whole new thread on the same principal (i.e., manipulating materials at the atomic level), I will take the Feynman quote as the main theme. The OP was about stretching and shrinking materials using gas ions to change the atomic connections between atoms.

This story is about having quantum structure self-assemble into tunable layers of materials (I wonder if this is even more of the "reverse engineering" than OP).

"Neutron spectroscopy measurements were crucial to demonstrating that in certain metals, the competition between various interactions may be resolved by the spontaneous formation of a state in which the electronic and magnetic properties alternate periodically," said Georg Ehlers, the ORNL scientist who performed spectroscopy measurements at SNS [Oak Ridge Spallation Neutron Source].

This periodic arrangement leads to interfaces between alternating material layers that are akin to interfaces in engineered heterostructures. However, the spontaneously self-assembling interfaces identified in this study have major advantages; they are intrinsically clean, and relevant parameters such as the interface thickness can be tuned in-situ via external parameters such as magnetic field or temperature.

The basic ingredients identified by Fobes and the team are common to several classes of quantum materials and suggest that these intrinsic and tunable interfaces may be more frequent. Learning to control the self-assembly of such intrinsic quantum interfaces, in turn, has the potential to revolutionize device design, where devices are not fabricated but spontaneously form via quantum engineering of the underlying atomic-scale interactions.

phys.org, March 27, 2018 - Self-assembling, tunable interfaces found in quantum materials.

A few definitions for those who do not follow material science stuff.

Heterostructures: Are stacked crystalline materials of dissimilar properties, that are used to used to achieve a desired effect (the ones I've read about are usually electric). They can also be metal (see, transition metal dichalcogenides). The one that has the most attention is graphene-hB (hexagonal boron) because each protect the other. Anyway, first you have to make the atomically flat material and if you have been following graphene production, you know how difficult it is to do that one material let alone two, then stack them together. Or, you make specifically sized, specific materials semiconductors, which is also difficult to scale up (the article's use of "impurities" flies by real quick but at the atomic level those impurities become major hurdles).

Quantum Material: Actually, these are the metallic ions under investigation. What happens is they tend to clump together and lose their stand alone quantum properties. What the article is saying is that in keeping the quantum magnetic moment corralled in one layer, having an electric moment layer, then another magnetic moment layer, you can keep the inherent quantum properties. What they have found is that controlling the electric or magnetic property, they can have alternating layers with the magnetic moment in one layer pointing one way and the other magnetic moment pointing the other with out having to make an atom at a time.

Why is this important? Because you do not have to "make" a material but allow the structure to make itself! Now you can flip the magnetic switch you made and read the setting. If you can use the electric layer to do this then you are flipping magnetic moments on the atomic level! Quantum hard disk anybody??

And the article says it from the beginning...

A potential revolution in device engineering could be underway, thanks to the discovery of functional electronic interfaces in quantum materials that can self-assemble spontaneously.

(same source)

We are figuring out how to make things at the atomic level! Two stories in about a month. I love seeing new discoveries while realizing the "molecular engineering" dream!

PS - For us Latin challenged, "in situ" means "in position" which means they do not have to transfer materials around.