Highlights

Novel double moiré system realized in a four-layer twist- controlled graphene structure. These double moiré twist-controlled structure goes beyond the single moiré structures generally investigated in twisted bilayer graphene or transition metal dichalecogenides. The results show that demonstrate that electronic confinement in multilayer graphene stacks can be compactly realized by changing the twist angles, in contrast to traditional band engineering that employ dissimilar materials. Furthermore, near the magic angle the flat bands host correlated insulators, which suggests that the proximity of one flat band does not suppress the correlated insulating states in the other flat band.

Metal Oxide nanocrystals that incorporate dopants (impurities) can display intense absorption bands known as localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) that can transduce light into heat. Using a series of time-resolved measurements with femtosecond resolution together with a theoretical heat transfer model, we have quantified timescales over which tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals heat their environment following light absorption.

Here, we developed a method to generate a synthetic cortex at the membrane of synthetic cells upon blue light illumination. This is important since it allow us to control the mechanical properties of synthetic cells reversibly. When incorporated into a synthetic tissue, this method would enable mechanical patterning and defining the 3D morphology of tissue with light.

In this study,we focus on the adsorption and desorption of metal adatoms, which can modulate the electrical resistivity by several orders of magnitude. We develop material-based relationships of the adsorp-tion energy with electronic and atomic structure descriptors by examining the effects of various transition-metal adsorbates on the surface of TMDs. Our results reveal that adsorption energies of transition metals exhibit consistent trends across different TMDs (MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, WSe2)and can be explained using simple descriptors of the atomic and electronic structure. We propose several models to describe this adsorption process, providing a deeper understanding of a crucial step in the resistive switching mechanism based on the formation and dissolution of point defects.

In nature, actin bundling is a key capability that enables cells to apply substantial forces to overcome obstacles. Similarly, in the design of actin-based materials, the ability to bundle semi-rigid filaments into bundles of higher rigidity is a key step toward building more complex architectures. For this reason, developing a toolbox for controlling bundling is an important goal of our IRG. The approaches we have developed for controlling the bundling of actin filaments on a microscopic level allow us to construct actin-based materials with tunable mechanical properties.

The artist residency program at the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials enables artists to work with CDCM faculty to create contemporary art installations that demonstrate emerging science and technology, bringing fundamental concepts in science to the public in very tangible, engaging ways.

Connecting Research and Education At TExas (CREATE) is a partnership program established between UT Austin and Austin Community College (ACC) whose goal is to increase retention of community college students in STEM. CREATE works to achieve this goal by building relationships between ACC students and UT Austin researchers through a fall/spring seminar series held at ACC that features UT faculty speakers and a 9-week summer research program that pairs ACC students with research mentors at UT Austin.

Flat bands have been associated with excoct effects in materials, such as strong correlations, superconductivity, or the fractional quantum Hall effect. In bulk materials they are difficult to be isolated form other electronic states. In addition, they are often at non-accessible energies. In this work, Schoop and Bernevig collaborated to access flat bands in a new material using soft-chemical modification of a known materials.

The 2024 Holiday Science Lecture “Science by Candlelight” was held at Princeton University on December 7, 2024 with over 530 people attending two lectures at McDonnell Hall. Howard Stone led the lecture, and was joined by Julia Mikhailova, Angie Miller (chemistry department demonstrator) and other PCCM researchers (including graduate students and postdocs).

The Harvard MRSEC engages K-12 teachers and students through the science of everyday materials. Led by former HS teacher Strangfeld, the MRSEC hosts workshops for teachers and K-12 students that are modeled on the undergraduate Science and Cooking course developed by Weitz and Brenner, which is now led by Sörensen. In February 2025, Strangfeld and Sörensen, with the help of MRSEC researchers, piloted a 4-day program at Harvard for high school students during school break.