There are new structures of solid substances hidden in ceramics

Researcher Chen Chunlin of the Institute of Metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Yuichi Ikuhara of the University of Tokyo in Japan and Associate Professor Yu Deqiang of Chongqing University, has discovered a new structure of solid matter different from crystals, quasicrystals and non-crystals in ceramic materials: a one-dimensional ordered structure. The results were published online December 10 in Nature Materials.
discovery of one-dimensional ordered crystals shows that the types of solid matter structures are richer than people already know, and that the physical properties of the new structures differ significantly from the corresponding common structural types

. Solid matter can be divided into three categories according to the symmetry of its microstructure: crystal, quasicrystal and non-crystal. Crystals have rotating symmetry and translational symmetry, and their atoms are periodically repeated in three-dimensional space, such as snowflakes, diamonds, crystals, etc., which are common in daily life. Non-crystals do not have rotational symmetry and translational symmetry, and their atomic arrangement does not have long-range order such as glass, paraffin and so on. Quasicrystals have rotational symmetry, but not translational symmetry. The atomic arrangement of quasi-crystals has a long-range order, but not a three-dimensional translation periodicity.
of quasicrystal structures are not common in everyday life, and scientists first discovered quasicrystals in the phases of alloys. Chen Chunlin et al. used scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with theoretical calculation of the principle of first nature to find one-dimensional ordered crystals in magnesium oxide (MgO) and Nd2O3 film materials, which updated people's understanding of solid matter structure. Chen Chunlin introduced that the structure only retains the translation symmetry and periodicity of the crystal in one direction, and in the other direction its atoms appear out of order, forming a long-range ordered structure with one-dimensional translation periodicity.
, the atomic arrangement of the structural units that make up one-dimensional ordered crystals is very similar to that of the re-position point array dumping crystal boundary. The study shows that although magnesium oxide crystals are insulators with an energy gap of 7.4 electron volts, magnesium oxide one-dimensional ordered crystals are broadband semiconductors with an energy gap of 3.2 electron volts. The discovery of one-dimensional ordered crystals shows that the types of solid matter structures are more abundant than people already know, and the physical properties of the new structures are significantly different from the corresponding common structural types.