Skip to content Skip to navigation

Program Highlights

Size Dependence of Multi-Exciton Generation

First principles modeling demonstrates  that the efficiency of Multi-Exciton Generation (MEG) increases as quantum dot size decreases resolving a major controversy.  The results were highly visible. 

Mechanical pressure can be used to resuscitate the beating “heart” of a polymer gel

Polymer gels undergoing a self-oscillating chemical reaction have been previously shown to pulsate autonomously while exhibiting periodic color changes. Van Vliet and Balazs have now demonstrated that a non-oscillating, quiescent gel can be “resuscitated” by applying mechanical pressure to the material. By varying the conditions of the reaction, the amplitude and

Materials for High Speed Fiber Optoelectronics

MRSEC researchers have developed the materials necessary to embed GHz speed electronic photodetectors into micron diameter channels in optical fibers.

Nanomotors Mimic Bacterial Motion

An international team studying the motion of  both bacteria and similar-sized artificial  catalytic nanomotors has found that they transfer momentum to their surroundings in a  similar way, despite their very different  propulsion mechanisms.

A Strong Ferroelectric Ferromagnet

Ferroelectric ferromagnets are a holy grail of materials research, since they would enable electrically  switchable magnetism with diverse potential applications in information technology, sensing and new  “e

Folding sheets are a form of soliton

MRSEC scientists and collaborators have shown [1] that the localized buckling of a compressed thin sheet, important for molecular interfaces, [2] has the same mathematical origin

Sweeping out electrons with carbon nanotubes to achieve high efficiency solar cells

Luping Yu, Dmitri Talapin and collaborators from the University of Chicago MRSEC are working to develop highly efficient bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.  They have recently

Theoretical and Experimental Characterization of Structures of MnAu Nanoclusters

Highly-symmetrized MnAu nanoalloys may possess high magnetic moments for potential application. The magnetic properties of MnAu nanoclusters exhibit strong dependence on the cluster sizes and morphologies.

Pages