Articles
Our team of experts produce regular content to shine a light on the latest news and trending topics within key areas of research. Read our latest articles to find out more about our new product lines, customer research highlights and corporate milestones.
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Aluminium Thin Films: How Grain Growth Affects Reflectivity
A 2024 study from the University of Patras and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki found that aluminium thin films sputtered under specific room-temperature conditions grew with randomly oriented grains rather than the columnar structure typically expected — a result the researchers trace to low surface mobility and grain-boundary diffusion. The same films, particularly the thickest, also showed low surface roughness and reflected more than 90% of visible light, a separate finding the study links to roughness rather than to grain orientation itself.
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An Injectable Conductive Hydrogel Electrode That Matches Neural Tissue's Softness
Implantable neural interfaces face a fundamental materials problem. Platinum and iridium are widely used for their electrical performance, but their stiffness differs substantially from that of soft neural tissue, and implanting them typically requires invasive surgery. Researchers in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London investigated an alternative: an injectable conductive hydrogel designed to provide electrical functionality while better matching the mechanical properties of the tissue it sits against.
Why rats choose dinner over company — and what their brainwaves say about it
Given a free choice, rats consistently pick food over company — but multi-site brain recordings show the two rewards are processed through entirely different neural circuits. Scientific Reports, February 2025.
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Dopamine's Reach Into the Primate Parietal Attention Network
Dopamine's role in attention has mostly been studied in the frontal lobe. A Newcastle University team went looking for it in the parietal cortex instead, delivering the drug directly onto the very neurons they were recording from in awake macaques.
Why Sustainable Sourcing Matters in Scientific Research
Advent ReMaterial is a free-of-charge recycling initiative open to scientists, researchers, and all Advent customers. The premise is simple: most used materials originally supplied by Advent Research Materials can be returned to us, and we will recover, repurpose, refine, or recycle them responsibly.
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How Science is Rewriting the Rules of Wine | Controlled Micro-Oxygenation in Wine Aging
Researchers at the University of Auckland used Advent Research Materials' Titanium to investigate micro-oxygenation in wine ageing. Their findings demonstrated how precise material specification enables reproducible results in a craft that has long relied on intuition and tradition.
Tungsten-Rhenium Alloys: High-Temperature Performance for Extreme Environments
When temperature measurement or structural performance must extend beyond the limits of conventional materials, tungsten-rhenium (W-Re) alloys are often the only viable option. By combining tungsten's exceptional refractory properties with rhenium's ability to restore ductility at elevated temperatures, W-Re alloys occupy a unique position in research, aerospace, and advanced energy applications.
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Why Platinum/Iridium 90:10 Was Chosen for a Neonatal Sweat Glucose Biosensor
Measuring glucose in a premature baby currently means a heel-prick. A team at Imperial College London has built a patch that reads glucose from natural sweat instead — and the sensor at its centre is a 50 μm platinum/iridium wire. Published in Science Advances, July 2026.
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Platinum-Rhodium Thermocouples: Measuring Temperature Where Most Sensors Fail
A platinum-rhodium thermocouple measures temperature by generating a tiny voltage across a junction of two dissimilar noble-metal wires — a direct expression of the Seebeck effect. This article explains that mechanism, sets out the differences between Type R, S and B, and shows why adding rhodium to platinum is what makes reliable measurement above 1500°C possible.
Indium: From Cryogenic Seals to Compound Semiconductors
Indium is a soft, silvery-white post-transition metal that occupies a quiet but essential role across some of the most demanding areas of modern research and engineering. With a melting point of just 156.6°C and exceptional ductility even at cryogenic temperatures, indium exhibits a suite of properties that make it irreplaceable in applications where conventional metals fall short.