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Program Highlights for year 2009

One-way photonic behavior

Research funded in part by the MIT MRSEC has led to a discovery of one-way photonic behavior. A team made up of MIT physicists Zheng Wang, research scientist in MIT's Research Laboratory

Self-Repairable Polyurethane Networks

Polyurethanes have many properties that qualify them as high performance polymeric materials, but they still suffer from mechanical damage. We report the development of polyurethane networks that exhibit self-repairing characteristics upon exposure to ultraviolet light. The network consists of an oxetane-substituted chitosan precursor incorporated into a two-component polyurethane.

Educational, Outreach, & Partnerships at GEMSEC

A rainbow of activities..

All to enhance students’, teachers’ and public’s recognition & appreciation..

of the state-of-the-art Science and Technology at the materials/bio interface;

.. for Students to seek career in Science and Engineering

Synthesis, Assembly and Fabrication of Molecular Materials for Technology and Medicine Using Genetically Engineered Solid-Binding Peptides

The “life” in organisms is due to the specific molecular interactions of proteins, called molecular recognition, that leads to a self-assembly and a large diversity of functions in biology; Emulating biology, in Molecular Biomimetics, GEMSEC is developing novel protocols towards materials and systems based on proteins, engineered in our labs;

Flexible fiber cameras

A team of researchers, led by Yoel Fink of the MIT MRSEC, has developed light-detecting fibers that can be woven together to create a flexible, basic camera. These fibers are each less than a millimeter in diameter,

Portable Electron Microscope for K-12 Science Lessons

Graduate students at the University of Arkansas bring cutting edge technology to local middle school students and allow them to explore the world of nanoscience in real-time.

Electronic phase transition in graphene in a magnetic field

Graphene is comprised of a single layer of C atoms in a hexagonal lattice array.  The electronic state of graphene is of great interest because the electron energy increases linearly with momentum, just like for photons and neutrinos.  This is called a massless, Dirac dispersion.  The nature of the electronic state at zero energy (the “Dirac point”) in a strong magnetic field H is curr

Discovery of a Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 with a Single Surface Dirac Cone

In an ordinary insulator, such as diamond, the occupied electronic states are separated from unoccupied states by a large energy “gap”. The gap prevents current flow when an electric field is applied. Recent research has uncovered a new class of insulators, called topological insulators, in which electrons can bypass the energy gap by moving in surface states. The energy vs.

High-energy batteries using genetically-engineered viruses

Professor Belcher previously engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire.

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