Highlights

New electron microscopy technique developed at UIUC show that magnetic order in antiferromagnetic Fe2As can be resolved at angstrom resolution for the first time.

By  employing  redox-active  and  redox-inactive  polymers  in  a mixed-dimensional   heterostructure   architecture,   Northwestern University    MRSEC    IRG-1    has    achieved    vertical    organic electrochemical  transistors  (vOECTs)  for  the  first  time.

Northwestern  University  MRSEC  IRG-2  has  developed  an efficient  theoretical  framework  based  on  high-throughput density functional theory calculations and machine learning methods  to  accelerate  the  discovery  of  heteroanionic materials.

The  Partnership  for  Research  and  Education  in Materials  between  Navajo Technical  University  and the   MRSEC   based   at   Harvard   focuses   on developing culturally-informed, sustainable pathways into materials science-related careers and advanced studies  for  Navajo  students.

A team at the Harvard MRSEC led by Bertoldi and Rycroft  has  developed  a  framework  to  design mechanical  metamaterials  with  target  nonlinear response. Neural networks were used to accurately learn  the  relationship  between  the  geometry  and nonlinear   mechanical   response   of   these metamaterials.

Here, diffusion of NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and cryogenic transmission electron spectroscopy were used to characterize porous cages in solution. A combination of the methods can be used to discriminate between assembled cages as opposed to decomposed or isomerized materials while dissolved in polar organic solvents, regardless of the metal cations used in their assembly.

The research focus involves understanding how to integrate van der Waals materials like Bi2Se3 with industrially-relevant semiconductor materials like GaAs(001) using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for THz applications, as well as determining the chemical composition and bonding type of the Bi2Se3/GaAs(001) interface using density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Field-effect transistor (FET)-based biosensors allow label-free detection of biomolecules by measuring their intrinsic charges. We previously reported the extremely low limit of detection on electrical field effect-based sensors using crumpled graphene. Here, we use FETs with a deformed monolayer graphene channel for the detection of various biomarkers.

We developed one-component, sequence-defined Ionizable Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimers (IAJDs) and their assemblies with mRNA. These Dendrimersome Nanoparticles (DNPs) were investigated for the delivery of mRNA for vaccines and nanotherapeutics.

A disordered material’s structure and macroscopic mechanical response are related in a non-trivial way. By studying a 2D jammed colloidal system under oscillatory shear, our study elucidates this link in the transition from elasticity to plasticity based on microstructural signatures.