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Advances in the control of the shape, bonding direction and valency of DNA-coated nanoparticles allow the synthesis of nanoparticle crystallites of ever increasing complexity.
Understanding the behaviour of metallic glasses requires answers to complex scientific questions, which are also critical for their successful commercialization.
There have been a number of attempts to commercialize bulk metallic glass over the past 20 years. William L. Johnson, the Mettler Professor of Materials Science at California Institute of Technology, has been a prominent figure in these efforts and gives Nature Materials his perspective on the topic.
It has long been thought impossible for pure metals to form stable glasses. Recent work supports earlier evidence of glass formation in pure metals, shows the potential for devices based on rapid glass–crystal phase change, and highlights the lack of an adequate theory for fast crystal growth.
Recent research has revealed considerable diversity in the short-range ordering of metallic glass, identifying favoured and unfavoured local atomic configurations coexisting in an inhomogeneous amorphous structure. Tailoring the population of these local motifs may selectively enhance a desired property.
