Sheng Dai, the most prolific author ever at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, had no intention of pursuing a career in science as a young man; he wanted to paint instead.
Catalysts make chemical reactions more likely to occur. In most cases, a catalyst that’s good at driving chemical reactions in one direction is bad at driving reactions in the opposite direction.
Rare earth elements are metals used in technologies from wind turbines and magnetic resonance imaging agents to industrial catalysts and high-definition televisions.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø have developed a new method to manipulate a wide range of materials and their behavior using only a handful of helium ions.
The team’s technique, published in Physical Review Letter..