Quasicrystals

Schectman's had to face the wrath of the scientific community in general and his boss in particular who thought the idea to be ridiculous and asked him to leave the lab.
Here is an example which gives a better idea of what quasicrystals are.
Suppose you want to cover the floor of a room in your house with tiles, you can use tiles of regular shapes like rectangles, triangles, squares, hexagons, and so on. If you want to use all shapes it is not going to work since it will leave gaps.Quasicrystals are similar in three dimensions. What Dr. Shechtman discovered is that pentagonal symmetry works and it is possible to fit different unit cells in a crystal. If only pentagons are placed it won’t fit like squares or triangles can.
In nature quasi crystal arrangement has been discovered, nature places other atomic shapes into the gaps created.
In quasicrystals, the distances between atoms are therefore an average rather than specific as in NaCl or Copper.
Historically quasi arrangement has been in existence from a very long time. Some decorative tilings created by medieval Islamic architects were made of quasiperiodical structures.
For instance the tiles in a medieval Islamic mosque in Isfahan Iran are arranged in a two-dimensional quasicrystalline pattern, another example is found in Alhambra Palace in Spain. (See the picture below)

Mosaics, which are not periodic are found in the medieval Islamic mosaics of the Alhambra Palace in Spain (shown above), these have helped scientists understand what quasicrystals look like at the atomic level.
In such mosaics, and in quasicrystals, the patterns are regular, follow certain mathematical rules, but never repeat themselves.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111005080232.htm(source of image and some text)
After discovery by Shechtman, hundreds of quasicrystals have been found. They exist in many metallic alloys and in some polymers too.
Quasicrystals are found mainly in aluminium alloys (Al-Li-Cu, Al-Mn-Si, Al-Ni-Co, Al-Pd-Mn, Al-Cu-Fe, Al-Cu-V, etc.),
However many other combinations involving other elements are also known. (Cd-Yb, Ti-Zr-Ni, Zn-Mg-Ho, Zn-Mg-Sc, In-Ag-Yb, Pd-U-Si, etc.)
Not many applications of quasi crystals have been found. Scientists are experimenting their use in a variety of products such as frying pans and diesel engines. Expectations of their uses are high.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasicrystal http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/quasicrystals-win-chemistry-nobel.html