Watching nanoparticles form in real time uncovers 'missing link' in microwave-assisted manufacturing

Advanced materials power everything from batteries and electronics to clean energy technologies. For years, engineers have known that microwave-assisted synthesis can dramatically accelerate the chemical reactions used to manufacture these materials. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have provided new evidence challenging a long-held assumption about why, suggesting that microwaves speed chemical reactions in a fundamentally different way than many scientists believed.