Secret lives of two elements uncovered by Sandia researchers

The cluster above is an ideal structural and reactivity model for niobate and tantalate surfaces, such as those used for metal surgical implants. In the cluster, the red spheres are oxygen, the blue spheres are niobium or tantalum. The white lines are pointing to the different types of oxygen present on the surface and cluster, and the yellow slab is the niobium or tantalum oxide surface.
(Media are welcome to publish this image with related news stories.)ALBUQUERQUE, N.M —Unexpected differences recently discovered between the elements niobium and tantalum may lead to more optimized electronic materials and photocatalysts.

Sandia researcher May Nyman and colleagues reported on the new-found disparities in a cover story of the Oct. 28 Dalton Transactions, an international inorganic chemistry journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the British equivalent of the American Chemical Society. The research paper also received the distinction of being picked among “the hottest science” by referees of that journal on its web page.