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Recently, novel methods based on materials informatics and machine-learning models have emerged to assist the search for materials with improved properties in industrially relevant applications. To apply this approach in heteroanionic materials discovery, NU-MRSEC IRG-2 has reported a computational investigation of a series of ternary HetMs with tunable band gaps from machine-learning and crystal structure prediction.

  Lithium-oxygen batteries have a great potential to enhance the gravimetric energy density of fully packaged batteries by 2-3 times that of lithium-ion cells, thus greatly increasing the range of electric vehicles.

This Northwestern University MRSEC seed project is designing and building molecules to bridge the QD-MoS2 interface, thus enabling control over this ultrafast charge transfer. These photoswitchable molecules can be rapidly toggled between two different states using different colors of light.

This image is a photograph of a pattern of copper ions in a hydrogel. Anodizing a penny (copper) in contact with a negatively charged polyelectrolyte hydrogel creates the pattern. These patterned regions have several interesting implications: 1. It creates patterns of ions (so-called ‘ionoprinting’) that are stable in water.  Patterned ions may be useful as tools for studying biology (e.g., Ca ions are critical in biology).

Researchers at Wisconsin MRSEC have created a new technique using an electron microscope to observe how molecules in organic semiconductors align when heated. They found that even slight temperature increases led to better molecular arrangement, with larger, straighter sections forming. This improvement occurs as heat allows molecules to shift into more organized positions. The team's work may lead to better control over molecule movement, paving the way for advances in organic and inorganic materials for various technologies.

Researchers at UMN MRSEC have explored the self-assembly of ABC bottlebrush block terpolymers, which could lead to new material designs. Unlike traditional diblock bottlebrushes, these new structures showed interesting formations like core-shell cylinders and an unusual rectangular pattern. They found that by changing the molecular weight, they could achieve a variety of sizes. This work opens up exciting possibilities for creating materials with unique structures and sizes for uses in photonic crystals and metamaterials.

In collaboration with the Research Triangle MRSEC, a team from NC State University was awarded a grant from the NSF-MRI program for the purchase of an extreme-resolution scanning

Recent research on oxide electrochemical transistors from the UMN MRSEC has significantly improved their performance, particularly in cycling endurance. A collaboration led to record durability in ion-gel transistors using La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_3-d (LSCO), enhancing previous limits drastically. By applying operando FTIR spectroscopy, researchers gained insights into the factors affecting performance, such as humidity and device design. These advancements open up potential uses for LSCO in areas like thermal camouflage and thermoregulation.

A recent study by Hojin Kim and Samantha Livermore shows that dense suspensions can be trained to respond differently to stress levels, similar to how living organisms train for better performance. By applying shear stress, these materials can develop “memories” that affect their mechanical properties, becoming either stiffer or softer with repeated impacts. This innovative approach suggests potential applications for materials that can adapt and change their viscosity or energy dissipation on demand.