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During the summer of 2015, Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) participant Courtney Matulka of Millard Public Schools together with Seed Project leader Krista Adams and Professor-Student Pairs participant Sharmin Sikich of Doane College developed a video blog, or “vlog,” to highlight the cutting-edge research happening in the nanosciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Working with Nebraska MRSEC Education/Outreach Director Axel Enders, Matulka interviewed and filmed Nebraska MRSEC faculty and Professor-Student

Researchers at OSU's Center for Emergent Materials have established a novel route for growing precise layers of optoelectronic 2D materials directly onto wafers commonly used by the semiconductor industry. This route combines the epitaxial growth of a crystalling precursor lattice (CaGe2) with its conversion into a layered 2D material (GeH) phase.

Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are different from typical LCs used in displays, in part because they “live” in water and thus hold untapped potential for coupling LC phenomenology with biological media. Furthermore, CLCs twist very easily compared to bend and splay deformation, and the consequences of this giant elastic anisotropy are not well understood. Recently, Collings, Lubensky, Yodh & Johnson developed a new alignment layer for CLCs based on parylene (Fig. 1); it enabled homeotropic surface anchoring (i.e., perpendicular anchoring) [1].  

Whether metallic behavior can exist in 2D materials is a question that has troubled condensed matter physics for decades. Although originally thought impossible, evidence for such in ultra-clean high-purity doped inorganic semiconductor heterostructures based on materials such as Si and GaAs eventually changed the prevailing view. 

In a paper published in Nature Materials, researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill show that magnetic nanoparticles encased in oily liquid shells can bind together in water, much like sand particles mixed with the right amount of water can form sandcastles.

In their recent publication in Nature Materials, Research Triangle MRSEC professor Ashutosh Chilkoti and graduate fellow Felipe Garcia Quiroz created test motifs to identify the amino acid sequences that determine phase behavior in proteins. They demonstrate that proteins can be designed to exhibit tunable phase transitions, allowing significant control over assembly and disassembly processes.

Turning the Tables on Mentoring