Nanoparticle-based Materials. The vision of IRG-4 is to explore nanoparticle-based materials that are non-toxic, environmentally benign, abundant, stable and economically manufacturable, and to understand their fundamental optoelectronic properties for luminescent and photovoltaic (solar-to-electric energy conversion) applications. The IRG focuses on semiconductor nanoparticles including group IV materials (Si and Ge) and several metal-oxides, whose constituent elements are among the most abundant in the earth's crust and non-toxic. IRG researchers study the size-tunable optical properties of nanoparticles, novel low-cost nanoparticle assembly approaches, and novel photo-physical phenomena in nanoparticles and nanoparticle films.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Michigan State University provides a focal point for long-range university-based research on materials and devices that have high potential for application in automotive sensing systems. The MRSEC contains two strongly focused interdisciplinary research groups. The group investigating chemically tailored materials for automobile control and diagnostics integrates efforts in chemistry, physics and engineering to develop chemically tailored materials that can provide engineers with new devices and techniques for the development of improved automobiles. The research targets specific sensing applications related to engine performance, which is largely determined by the fuel composition entering the engine and its turbulent mixing in the cylinder. A newly developed technique, LIPA (laser induced photochemical anemometry) is used to provide real-time maps of cylinder gas flows in test chambers or actual engines. The group investigating materials used for physical sensing in automobiles concentrates their studies on materials that are rugged, perform well in extremely variable and harsh conditions, and can be manufactured reliably and efficiently. The MRSEC supports a variety of shared facilities including a lithographic facility, space and services in a chemistry laser laboratory, space in the engine research and turbulent mixing laboratories, and the engineering research laboratories for film growth and fabrication. There is active industrial collaboration with Ford and General Motors. Educational plans for the MRSEC involve K-12 students in urban and rural schools, science and engineering undergraduates on campus, and interdisciplinary research participation by advanced degree candidates. The center currently supports 13 senior investigators, 2 postdocto ral research associates, 2 technical staff members, 12 graduate students, and 4 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor Brage Golding.

Remarkable electrical, magnetic, and thermal phenonmena exist in functional intermetallics, and this richness stands to be amplified via multiscale microstructural design capable of further unlocking and harnessing their properties.  Hierarchically structured thermoelectric materials with high figures of merit exemplify the power and promise of this multiscale approach.  The materials challenge addressed in this IRG is to understand and develop unprecedented control over the couplings between strain, magnetization, and temperature (entropy) in single- and multiphase intermetallic compounds.  The long-term outcome of this research will be design rules for novel intermetallics that display engineered magnetoelastic and magnetocaloric responses to external fields, which will provide a fundamental advance capable of impacting technologies of actuation and solid-state refrigeration.

The development of novel magnetic systems enabling fast, efficient control of magnetic states is essential to advancing next-generation spin-electronics. IRG-1 is exploring a highly promising approach utilizing little-explored magnetic structures founded on insulating magnets and innovative means of controlling spins. This multidisciplinary team will establish a new regime for the creation and understanding of novel static/dynamic magnetic phases and multipronged control of the magnetic states in interface-driven metal/magnetic insulator systems.

Goals:

• This IRG will advance the development of MI interfacial platforms, provide insights into the charge and spin dynamics down to the fs/as time scales, and achieve novel control of the magnetic states, which will be made available to the research community.

• The team brings together diverse, multidisciplinary expertise including atomic-molecular-optical and condensed matter physics, chemistry, and materials sciences and engineering, to provide a rich collaborative environment in which graduate, undergraduate students, and postdocs perform cutting-edge, team-based research. CEM students and postdocs will benefit tremendously from this center-wide community, in which they develop collaboration and leadership skills.

• IRG-1 members have a strong record of actively engaging students from underrepresented minority groups in research, including those from OSU, the REU program, and community colleges. IRG-1 PIs play important roles in the OSU Physics Bridge Program in recruiting and advising the Bridge students. The supportive and collaborative environment within CEM will help Bridge students overcome the barriers in course work and research and improves their sense of belonging.

 

IRG-2 seeks to combine novel experiments with theory to understand the fundamental principles underlying the dramatic property deviations of amorphous polymers when confined to the nanoscale, and to uniquely exploit size and interfaces for advanced materials design. In the former, we aim to understand the combined roles of size, interfaces and processing on the behavior of confined amorphous polymers by developing novel processing routes through which different states of confinement can be achieved and subsequently characterized by state-of-the-art, in-house custom built instruments. For example, a unique gas-phase deposition process, MAPLE (Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation), will be exploited for innovative materials design of heterogeneous amorphous films and their nanocomposites. The interplay between novel processing methods and confining geometries as well as novel characterization tools combined with rigorous simulation and theory carried out in an integrated approach is the hallmark of IRG-2. The insights learned from the work will provide an important contribution to the general understanding of the glass transition, and a demonstration of how that knowledge can be applied for the development of new materials, for instance, stable glasses.     

Co-Leaders
R. D. Priestley (CBE, co-leader)
C. B. Arnold (MAE, co-leader)

Senior Investigators
Y.-L. Loo (CBE)
C. P. Brangwynne (CBE
P. G. Debenedetti (CBE)
C. E. White (CEE)
A. Z. Panagiotopoulosv (CBE)
R. A. Register (CBE)

Collaborators
G. Fytas (MPI)
A. Bell (Promerus)
K. Tanaka (Kyushu U.)
H. Stone (Princeton U.)

IRG-2 publications
IRG-2 highlilghts

This IRG explores how heterojunctions consisting of nanoelectronic materials of differing dimensionality are influenced by dielectric screening, electronic band/level offsets, and interfacial regions. By utilizing low-dimensional materials synthesis, surface chemical functionalization, spatially and spectrally resolved characterization, and advanced computation, IRG-1 develops quantitative descriptions of the nonlinear responses in mixed-dimensional heterojunctions. Elucidation of the mechanisms governing structural changes, and the corresponding changes in optoelectronic properties, allows controllable reconfiguration in response to stimuli including electric fields, photons, heating, and reactive species with implications for neuromorphic computing.

The primary goal of IRG #2 is to develop and produce materials with superior mechanical properties using polymer-based processing strategies that include polymers, ceramics, metals, and structured composite materials. Polymers and gels are versatile materials with useful mechanical, electrical and biological functions. Center scientists are developing methods for controlling the properties of these materials by tuning the structure at the molecular level, by developing supramolecular assemblies with dimensions in the nanometer range, and by the addition of appropriately chosen nanoparticle fillers.?е║ Approaches to self assembly include the use of hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions in low molecular weight peptide amphiphiles, and control of the sequence distribution in 'gradient copolymers', which can be made to exhibit a well-defined composition gradient along the polymer backbone.?е║?е║ Equilibrium and non-equilibrium approaches are being developed for the dispersion of nanoparticles, including single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets, and design principles for obtaining assemblies with the desired structure and properties are being investigated.

The new Multi-scale Surface Engineering with Metallic Glasses IRG addresses the grand challenge of how to control surface properties through topographical structuring at multiple length scales. Examples include tailoring biocompatibility, reactivity, friction, adhesion, and wetting to efficiently functionalize surfaces for a wide range of new applications and devices. To this end, nano-imprinting and blow molding, whose application to metallic glasses has been pioneered at Yale, are utilized to create hierarchically structured metal surfaces on length scales ranging from atomic distances to ≈10 μm. The IRG’s intellectual merit is rooted in gaining a fundamental understanding of the deformation of metallic glasses on these length scales and on using this knowledge to create hierarchical surface patterns, often inspired by nature, to achieve and exploit unusual surface properties. The broader impacts of the research will be felt in novel devices, in the understanding and utilization of size-dependent properties, in pushing the limit in imprinting density beyond current constraints, and in efficient and versatile processes to functionalize metallic surfaces. This research program provides undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and teachers with unique training that allows them to understand complex phenomena on scales ranging from atoms to cm.

Magnetic Heterostructures uses advanced materials synthesis, novel measurement techniques and innovative theoretical approaches to explore spin transport across interfaces and in confined geometries. A particular focus of this work is the physics and materials science of transport and dynamics in hybrid systems in which ferromagnets are integrated with other materials, including semiconductors and normal metals. This research will impact upon the development of new magnetic sensors as well as non-volatile memory and magnetic storage media.

The Center for Photonic and Multiscale Nanomaterials (C-PHOM) is a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, established in 2011. The center’s research activity is focused on two Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRG’s): wide-bandgap nanostructured materials for quantum light emitters and advanced electromagnetic metamaterials and near-field tools. The center is housed primarily at the University of Michigan; the Metamaterials IRG is a partnership between the University of Michigan and Purdue University. Other participating institutions include the University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Wayne State University, and the City College of New York.