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A collaboration between members of IRG-1 (Fakhraai, Lee, Turner) explored the properties of disordered packings in different environments. Specifically, they investigated the effects of extreme confinement on the thermal properties of polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle films. The films are formed using capillary-rise infiltration (CaRI) method in which polymer (polystyrene [PS]) is infiltrated into a nanoparticle film to form highly confined disordered solids (top panel).

The Janmey and Shenoy groups in IRG-2 studied multiaxial response of soft tissues (top left image). Measurements (Janmey) and a theoretical model (Shenoy) show that the tissue rheology emerges from an interplay between strain-stiffening polymer networks and the volume-conserving cells within them.

With few exceptions, polydispersity or molecular heterogeneity in matter tends to impede assembly Shape transformations of liquid droplets, for example, are readily understood on the basis of homogeneous material responses. Here, Yodh and Yang in IRG-3 studied drops filled with polydisperse nematic liquid crystal oligomers (NLCOs). They discovered that chain-length heterogeneity in the drops promotes reversible shape transitions to a rich variety of non-spherical morphologies with unique internal structure.

This collaboration between Dmochowski (Seed) and Kikkawa (IRG-3) addresses a  major challenge for molecular imaging with conventional MRI: the probes typically have low sensitivity and lack of responsiveness to local environment. The team developed a Co4 129Xe MRI sensor, which takes advantage of the high sensitivity of hyperpolarized 129Xe (~104 times greater signal than conventional MRI), and also has a very temperature-responsive 129Xe chemical shift.

A team at the Harvard MRSEC led by Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and Jennifer A. Lewis has created shape-shifting lattices by combining predictive design and multimaterial 4D printing.

This unique partnership between Navajo Technical University and the Harvard MRSEC builds enduring pathways for undergraduate Native American students into STEM by including traditional Navajo  perspectives and methods of scientific inquiry in materials science research and education.

Using a simple device structure, it has been shown that electrical control of optical properties can be achieved through electrochemical hydrogen gating, sourced from moisture in the air.

MRSEC investigators reported that a versatile toolkit of guanidinium organosulfonate hydrogen-bonded host frameworks can form inclusion compounds with complex “stubborn” molecules that cannot be crystallized or form suitable single crystals for X-ray diffraction analysis by themselves, enabling determination of their molecular structure.