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The main goal of this research is to reveal the atomic-scale origin of the low grain-boundary (GB) resistance in Li0.375Sr0.4375Ta0.75Zr0.25O3 (LSTZ0.75) perovskite solid electrolyte and to provide insights on overcoming the ubiquitous bottleneck of high GB resistance in other oxide solid electrolytes.

A team at the Harvard MRSEC led by Aizenberg and Bertoldi has developed a dynamic design strategy to achieve topological transformations of two-dimensional polymeric cellular lattices in a reversible and controllable manner through exposure to different liquids.

Hybrid light-emitting devices based on organic semiconductors and inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals are of great interest for applications in optical displays and solid-state light sources.

MRSEC investigators team-up to create an adult coloring book. The coloring book, “Phases of Matter,” designed to help the general pubic understand physics and phase behavior.

The NU-MRSEC has supported Joint Undertaking for an African Materials Institute (JUAMI), which is the largely NSF-funded program aimed at fostering connections between young researchers in the US and those in Eastern Africa.

The CEM Student Internal Advisory Council advises CEM in the interests of students and postdocs and organizes technical and team-building events. 

In transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) monolayers, there are two inequivalent valleys (energy extrema points in the band structure) related by time-reversal symmetry. Fundamental optical excitations, or excitons (bound electron-hole pairs) are formed at these valleys.

A novel strategy offers new opportunities to program dynamic behaviors in synthetic polymeric systems, leading to scalable synthesis of “smart” nanosystems. Novel PMMA strand-exchange, inspired by DNA nanotechnologies, enables dynamic behaviors in synthetic polymeric systems. Polymer assembly produces spherical or wormlike micelles, which can be reversibly switched between different morphologies.

IRG-3 researchers Yodh, Kikkawa and Collings made a significant discovery about the behavior of liquid crystals (LCs) in droplets exposed to a magnetic field. LCs are unique materials that flow like liquids but also have some order (orientational order) like crystals. In this study, the researchers focused on a specific type of LC phase called a nematic. Field-induced “switching” of nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) in planar geometries is the basis of LC displays. Here, NLCs were put in spherical drops with special molecules (surfactants) on the drop surface that align the molecules, or NLC director, perpendicular to the droplet surface and force a topological hedgehog defect to form at the drop center. Field-induced switching in this case differs fundamentally from the planar cells due to confinement geometry and the topological defect.

IRG-2 developed a symmetry-based approach that uses only few inputs, to carry out an efficient yet systematic search for topological magnons in magnetic insulators. Robust against disorders and decoherence, they serve as potential platforms for magnon-based spintronic devices.