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Home > News > A surprising twist
Twisted helixes

A surprising twist

Fall 2019 Berkeley Engineer cover
October 25, 2019
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Fall 2019
  • In this issue

    Features

    New frontiers in gene editing

    Keeping edited cells healthy

    Moments of untruth

    At fault

    Dean’s note

    Upfront

    • Separate ways
    • Roach-inspired robot
    • Better eye screening
    • Mass-producing biomaterials
    • Mirror mirror
    • New master’s degree programs
    • Get the lead out
    • A surprising twist

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    • Streets named Pew Scholar
    • Alum honored as MEMS pioneer
    • Two faculty named top innovators
    • Farewell

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Materials scientists from Berkeley Engineering and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically thin sheets that unexpectedly spiral like a nanoscale card deck. Made of stacked layers of germanium sulfide, a semiconductor material, these helical crystals may yield unique optical, electronic and thermal properties, including superconductivity. Other researchers had successfully stacked two layers at a time, but this work shows how to synthesize stacked structures — potentially millions of layers thick — in a continuously twisting fashion. To create the structures, the team took advantage of a crystal defect called a screw dislocation, known as the Eshelby Twist, that gives the structure twisting force. By adjusting the material synthesis conditions and length, the researchers could change the angle between the layers, creating a helical structure. This technique could likely be used with other materials that form similar atomically thin layers.

Photo courtesy the researchers

Topics: Materials science, Research
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