Learn about materials being designed in Richland that will make your life better

New materials not seen in nature may be the key to major advances in technology.

Steven Spurgeon, a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will discuss “Modern Day Alchemy — Building the Future Atom by Atom” in Richland Tuesday.

A revolution in designer materials could lead to faster and more reliable mobile phones, batteries that can be depended upon to power a cross-country road trip and quantum computers that can encrypt millions of financial transactions.

Materials are being built a single layer of atoms at a time with advanced microscopes used to image the atomic structure.

Spurgeon, whose research focuses on nanoscale material systems for next- generation electronics and energy storage, will speak at 7 p.m. at the Richland Public Library.

The talk is part of the PNNL Community Science and Technology Seminar Series.