Understanding how atoms move is fundamental to making and using materials. Atoms on the surface of some glasses move at nearly the same rate as atoms on the inside. But for other glasses, surfaces atoms move a million times faster.

The UD MRSEC team is developing and employing a suite of novel experimental characterization techniques that provide important insights into hybrid materials, in which unique properties arise due to interactions between material constituents.

Burdick and Shenoy have designed synthetic actively remodeling networks using electrospun fibers containing reactive groups that form covalent crosslinks at sites where fibers are brought together by localized strains. This approach uses the fibers of  hyaluronic acid modified with either hydrazides (red) or aldehydes (green).

The Harvard MRSEC is partnering with Navajo Technical University to develop robust pathways to scientific careers for Native American students. The partnership strives to bring to the forefront scientific traditions and innovations of indigenous peoples.

In response to a campus-wide initiative to prevent a surge in COVID19 infections, the Center piloted a special (in-person) RIMSE Spring Break Research Experience to encourage undergraduate students to remain on campus during the 2021 Spring Break.

Liquefied gas electrolytes enable low temperature operation due to their low freezing point. However, their high vapor pressure poses a safety concern. Can confinement of these gas electrolytes in a nanoscale material enhance electrochemical performance while minimizing the hazards?

Researchers have developed programmable DNA origami building blocks that self-assemble into icosahedral shells, with programmable sizes. The shells can be functionalized with antibodies, enabling them to engulf and neutralize natural viruses.

A collaboration between the University of Chicago MRSEC groups of Jaeger, Patel, and Rowan showed that the complex modulus of a dense suspension of microparticles can be increased exponentially over several orders of magnitude by applying interval training during oscillatory shear, leading to a structural memory. 

Small (nanometer-sized) crystals of multi-component, complex metal oxides have useful properties for applications in electronics, optics, sensors, and mechanical actuators. In order to realize this potential, engineers need to be able to put tiny crystals exactly where they are needed and to control the orientation of the crystal’s lattice.

Semiconductors, which have electrical properties in between metals and insulators, are the building blocks of devices like transistors that fuel computer technology. New semiconducting materials that could outperform existing ones are continuously sought in science and engineering, with oxides being one contender. In recent work in the University of Minnesota MRSEC, researchers studying one such oxide semiconductor - barium tin oxide - made the startling discovery of a completely new type of “line defect”.