Nanoscale material offers new way to control fire

High-temperature flames are used to create a wide variety of materials—but once you start a fire, it can be difficult to control how the flame interacts with the material you are trying to process. Researchers have now developed a technique that utilizes a molecule-thin protective layer to control how the flame's heat interacts with the material—taming the fire and allowing users to finely tune the characteristics of the processed material.