Special types of plastic gels that can be induced chemically to undergo self-oscillating changes in shape and color have been known for many years. Van Vliet and Balazs have now found that the oscillations of these self-beating gels can be controlled by their shape and size, as well as by externally applied forces. With change in chemistry, the gels can oscillate on their own from red to blue or green to yellow, for many hours. When these gels are made small enough (

Solar water splitting converts solar energy into chemical fuels that can be easily stored and transported. Silicon is already used on a large scale for photovoltaics, but it is unstable in the electrolytes used for water oxidation.

The Northwestern University MRSEC supports a diverse suite of international collaborations and outreach activities. For example, the Center provided support for 10 students and postdoctoral research associates to attend the 9th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AMRS) on December 11-14, 2017 in Gaborone, Botswana.

A novel category of hydrogel material has been developed (Hawker, Kramer)that form spontaneously in  water through complexation of polyelectrolyte endblocks of PEG-based triblock polyelectrolytes—inspired by Waite’s mussel adhesion studies. SANS (Kramer) and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)-enhanced NMR; (Han) reveal that these complexes form dense, yet fluid, coacervate core domains with significant ordering.

Joining different materials can lead to all kinds of breakthroughs. In electronics, this produces heterojunctions — the most fundamental components in solar cells and computer chips. The smoother the seam between two materials, the better the electronic devices will function.