Polyhedral arrangements of atoms in Nickel Phosphide make a solid glass without cooling

Sixty years ago, Professor Sir Charles Frank postulated that glassy materials should be comprised of icosahedral configurations of atoms.

With collaborator Dr Thomas Speck in Düsseldorf, Bristol's Dr Paddy Royall and PhD student Alex Malins have shown that by encouraging Nickel Phosphide liquid to produce such polyhedra, it formed a solid glass without cooling.

Their work appears in Physical Review Letters this week.