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Experiments (top) showing near zero-net magnetization of MnAu2Al following plastic deformation and simulations (bottom) of low energy displacive pathways enabled by local spin orderings.

A single parent diblock copolymer can be purified by automated chromatography to give libraries of well-defined, low dispersity block copolymers on multi-gram scale.

 Researchers at the Soft Materials Research Center of the University of Colorado have made hybrid bio-semiconductor nano-necklaces consisting of strings of nanometer size quantum dots (QDs) tethered by nano-length DNA chains.  When the necklaces are connected between electrodes and illuminated, the alignment of the energetic states of the QDs and DNA

A collaboration (Wells, Shenoy) in IRG 2 studied the mechanisms of mechanical plasticity in collagen networks resulting from contractile forces produced by cellular aggregates placed within them. The Wells group used fibroblast spheroids seeded atop collagen gels to study the plasticity of collagen fiber networks due to cell-induced forces. Second harmonic generation imaging and spectral analysis enabled quantification of the alignment of fibers between a pair of contractile cell clusters.

Current TEM cameras acquire images in a few milliseconds. The new camera will ultimately acquire images in just 8 microseconds, which will enable researchers to study fast processes in materials like atoms rearranging in a flowing liquid and to probe the smallest structures in materials. 

This highlight demonstrates the combination of colloidal nanocrystals with uniquely developed ligands for the use of gelation assembly. Through this combined experimental, computational and theoretical work provided a platform for controlling and designing the properties of reversible colloidal assemblies.

The Illinois MRSEC implemented its middle school outreach program “Musical Magnetism” for the third year starting in Feb. 2021, in a six-week, virtual format. The program engages middle school students in materials science demos as they practice creative expression with a science theme. The program reached 50 7th and 8th graders at Franklin STEAM Academy, a school with majority URM students.

Hosted by Prof. Rolando Valdés Aguilar and graduate student Brandi Wooten, CEM Podcasts were started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to inform and bring the MRSEC community together.

Understanding how atoms move is fundamental to making and using materials. Atoms on the surface of some glasses move at nearly the same rate as atoms on the inside. But for other glasses, surfaces atoms move a million times faster.

The UD MRSEC team is developing and employing a suite of novel experimental characterization techniques that provide important insights into hybrid materials, in which unique properties arise due to interactions between material constituents.