Some polycrystal grain boundaries feel the heat more than others

Polycrystals are solid materials that are made up of lots of small crystals. The points where the crystals meet are known as grain boundaries (GBs). GBs are important because they can affect the way the solid behaves. However, conventional analysis techniques are unable to measure the nanoscale detail at GBs. Now, researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have used electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to investigate the effect of heating on the GBs of strontium titanate (SrTiO3). Their findings are published in Nano Letters.