The Cornell-Hebrew University Partnership has found that small particles can move between phases. A Groundbreaking discovery in nanoscience flying from New York to Jerusalem.
Professor Uri Banin, founder of the Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his colleagues Professor Richard Robinson and Professor Tobias Hanrath of Cornell University have made a groundbreaking discovery in nanoscience. In their recent article “Chemically Reversible Isomerization of Inorganic Clusters” published in Science, the authors show that the “magic size nanocluster” is a missing link that links the division between what changes in itself to small molecular isomerization and size. , phase transition of solid bulk material.
Isomerization – the conversion of one molecule into another molecule with the same atoms, under different regulation – is common in nature. This is usually caused by an increase in energy, for example when light causes the retinal molecule we see to act; or how to isomerize olive oil in an unusual form known as superheated trans fats. Large materials such as graphite can also change phases – such as diamonds – but require more energy and the change is slower, with the change propagating more slowly in the molecule. Over the years, scientists have sought a bridge between the two worlds: between large materials, which change more slowly, and small organic materials, which are still the same, between the two states. This idlas remains a missing link in the search for nanoscientists to map and understand the transition from molecular isomerization to phase transitions. To discover this bridge, they need to know how many nanocrystals change rapidly in their internal structure, as molecules do during isomerization. Banin and Robinson found this magic number on an imaginary flight from Ithaca to Jerusalem. Three years later, Robinson was on vacation at Banin’s Nanoscience Laboratory at Hebrew University. When Robinson was in Jerusalem, he asked a student from home to send him some nanoparticles of a specific size.
“As they approached, I met them with a spectrometer and said, ‘Wait, you’re sending me smaller particles instead of bigger ones. “And he said, No, I sent it to you.” The bigger ones, “Robinson recalls. “We realized that it would probably change during the flight. And that raises a lot of questions and experiments that lead us to this new discovery.
Banin, Robinson and Hanrath concluded that the particles had changed from Ithaca to Jerusalem. “There must be moisture in the trunk during the flight and the monsters are moving in their phase,” Banin explained. The Cornell University-Hebrew Joint Group has already begun studying the transition of small cluster molecules, especially “magically large nanoclusters.” These clusters have only 57 atoms – making them larger than your typical molecules, but smaller than many materials such as graphite or diamond. The team found that the transition of these clusters – as they change from one structure (or phase) to another – takes place in one step, as in the case of small molecule isomerization. In this way, the team found a missing link between bulk phase transfers and molecular isomerization.
While further research is needed, possible future applications include the use of these particles as computer switches and sensors, Banin said. The discovery could also provide tools related to quantum computers such as the microbe for the production of larger nanoparticles. One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein did not predict that his theory of relativity would support GPS systems and the Waze application we relied on for navigation. Nanoclusters are chemicals that can be used to make other great materials. The ability to maneuver smoothly from one state to another can have many important applications on the road,” Banin concluded.
