UA nanoscale professor lands $438,317 science grant

FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas at Fayetteville research into the design of nanoscale materials to extend the life of computers has received a boost through a $438,317 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Min Zou is examining the properties of materials with a metallic core and a shell made up of a different type of material.

The combination results in materials that snap back into their original shape, even after being put under high pressure, making them a candidate for use in combination with computer hard drives and the read-write head that accesses the drives.

When a computer starts up, the friction between the read-write head and disk can be damaging to the hard drive over the lifetime of the computer. Zou said the new nanoscale materials could be placed as pads onto the disk and the head to reduce wear and tear.

Zou, a mechanical engineering professor, joined UA in 2003. Her work is based at UA's Nanoscale Material Science and Engineering building, which opened in 2011. She will work with other UA professors to try to model and analyze why the core-shell materials are so strong.

"If we understand what the mechanism is, then we can design new materials with better quality," Zou said, adding that the discovery of the core-shell materials' properties came about "by accident" while researching processes used to create solar cell materials.

Metro on 05/02/2015

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