Highlights

Bimetallic gold/platinum nanorod motors spontaneously move towards hydrogen peroxide fuel when they are placed in a fuel gradient, the first time this behavior has been seen outside of the biological world.
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Semiconductors with narrow energy gaps have electronic properties, including a high mobility and strong spin-orbit coupling, that are advantageous for electronic device applications. The switching speed of a field-effect transistor and the sensitivity of a geometrical magnetoresistor are improved by a high carrier mobility. In addition to these traditional devices, we are studying devices […]

Understanding the locations of atoms as they are deposited on a surface is critical for growing interfaces of electronic device quality.

Direct, real-space 3-D observation of shear transformation zones in a glass. A colloidal glass is used to mimic the behavior of atomic and molecular glasses. Upon application of an external shear strain, there are highly localized regions of much higher strain, where particles move irreversibly. These are illustrated in the Figure, where the high-strain regions are colored red.

Recent work at the Northwestern University MRSEC has shown that aluminum nanoparticles fabricated using a process known as nanosphere lithography (NSL) display plasmons throughout the UV-vis region.

Semiconductor nanowires grown with metal nanocatalysts are new materials that provide a basis for transformative improvements in diverse technologies including thermoelectrics and photovoltaics.

A collaboration between researcher supported by the DOE and NSF-MRSEC’s at UC Santa Barbara and UMASS Amherst, and IBM has led to a revolutionary chip breakthrough that promises to be used in every future microelectronic device.