Researchers at the University of Connecticut have found that reducing oxygen in some nanocrystalline materials may improve their strength and durability at elevated temperatures, a promising enhancement that could lead to better biosensors, faster jet engines, and greater capacity semiconductors. "Stabilizing nanocrystals at elevated temperatures is a common challenge," says Peiman Shahbeigi-Roodposhti, a postdoctoral research scholar with UConn's Institute of Materials Science and the study's lead author. "In certain alloys, we found that high levels of oxygen can lead to a significant reduction in their efficiency." Using a special milling process in an enclosed glove box filled with argon gas, UConn scientists, working in collaboration with researchers from North Carolina State University, were able to synthesize nano-sized crystals of Iron-Chromium and Iron-Chromium-Hafnium with oxygen levels as low as 0.01 percent. These nearly oxygen-free alloy ...