Big Success with Tiny Cristals

Tiny crystals exhibit unexpected properties. Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology and the S.N. Bose National Centre Kolkata can now explain why. A little piece of iron wire is magnetic - just like a huge iron rod. When it comes to material properties, size usually does not matter. Surprisingly, researchers from Austria and India have now discovered that some materials show very unusual behavior, when they are studied in the form of tiny crystals. This could now lead to new materials with tailor-made electronic and magnetic properties. Different Size Changes Material Properties - Material properties such as electrical conductivity, magnetic properties or the melting point do not depend on an object's size and shape.