Materials Science News

Prototypes designed and built by Kay et al. contain several layers of channels, each of which contain fluids with various optical properties; by pumping the fluids in and out of the channels, the system can optimize the type, quantity and distribution of light passing through. Image credit: Raphael Kay / Adrian So.

Researchers Create Squid-Inspired ‘Liquid Windows’

Feb 1, 2023 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has developed a multilayered fluidic system that can reduce the energy costs of heating, cooling and...

The dandelion-inspired, wind-dispersed robot. Image credit: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere University.

Researchers Create Dandelion-Inspired Robot Controlled by Power of Light and Wind

Jan 30, 2023 by News Staff

The robot’s design is inspired by the seed of dandelion, resembling several biomimetic features, i.e., high porosity, lightweight, and separated vortex...

Schematic and applications of the liquid-solid phase transition of MPTM. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.12.003.

Shape-Shifting Robot Can Turn into Liquid and Escape Cage

Jan 26, 2023 by News Staff

Researchers from the Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Carnegie Mellon University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Zhejiang University...

Graphic showing how a cone slowly builds up in an elastomer film, then inverts to launch the film high into the air over the span of less than a second. Image credit: Hebner et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ade1320.

Newly-Developed Material Can Leap High into Air Like Grasshopper

Jan 19, 2023 by News Staff

The novel rubber-like material developed by University of Colorado Boulder researchers responds a bit like how grasshoppers jump by storing and releasing...

$Optical manufacture of stretchable color-changing materials at the macroscale: (a) structural color patterns are recorded as periodic refractive index variations in the photo-elastomer via standing waves that result from exposure to a projected light pattern that reflects off the mirror backing; (b) the resulting structural color matches the spectral distribution of the exposure pattern; when the material is stretched or compressed, the periodicity of the recorded photonic structure changes, causing a predictable and reversible color change. Image credit: Miller et al., doi: 10.1038/s41563-022-01318-x / MIT Communication Initiatives.$

Scientists Create Chameleon-Like, Color-Shifting Materials

Aug 3, 2022 by News Staff

Materials scientists at MIT have unlocked a rich and easily controlled material design space, previously unattainable using any competing technique, by...

Clark et al. show that a double graphene liquid cell makes it possible to monitor with atomic resolution the dynamics of platinum adatoms on the monolayer in an aqueous salt solution. Image credit: Clark et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05130-0.

Physicists Capture Images of Single Atoms ‘Swimming’ in Liquid

Jul 28, 2022 by News Staff

Using a transmission electron microscope and a double graphene liquid cell, physicists at the UK’s National Graphene Institute have monitored the dynamics...

Graphene related materials are extensively used to reinforce polymers. Image credit: Empa / Chortarea et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129053.

Study: Dust of Graphene-Related Materials Is Not Harmful

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

Graphene-related materials (GRMs) are often used to reinforce polymers. In small concentrations of up to 5% (weight), they can significantly enhance the...

Schematic overview of the mechanism of action of the implemented snake venom proteins. Ecarin, a procoagulant snake venom protein bypasses the activation of series of clotting factors via intrinsic and extrinsic clotting pathway and directly activates prothrombin to thrombin thereby producing a fibrin blood clot. Once the clot is formed, clot breakdown (fibrinolysis) is initiated by the activation of plasminogen mainly by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), forming active plasmin which proteolytically acts on the fibrin blood clot. Textilinin, an antifibrinolytic snake venom protein binds to plasmin with high specificity and inhibits the action of plasmin, stabilizing the fibrin blood clot. Image credit: Yegappan et al., doi: 10.1002/adhm.202200574.

Researchers Create Snake Venom Hydrogel that Rapidly Stops Uncontrolled Bleeding

Jun 20, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-developed rapid wound sealant is composed of two snake venom proteins: ecarin, which rapidly initiates blood clotting, and textilinin, which...

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) technology and design principle of super hygroscopic polymer films (SHPFs): (a) key steps of AWH technology; (b) geographic distribution of world average annual relative humidity; regions with less than 40% relative humidity are indicated from brown to red (warm color) regions; (c) material design of SHPFs for AWH at low relative humidity; (d) qualitative comparison of different materials in terms of core requirements for practical application of AWH. Image credit: Guo et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30505-2.

Super Hygroscopic Polymer Film Can Harvest Water from Arid Air

May 31, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a low-cost polymer film made of renewable biomass and hygroscopic salt that can extract...

Han et al. developed the smallest-ever remote-controlled walking robot. Image credit: Han et al., doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.abn0602.

Scientists Create World’s Tiniest Remote-Controlled Walking Robot

May 27, 2022 by News Staff

Just 0.5 mm wide, the tiny walking robot developed by Northwestern University’s Professor John Rogers and his colleagues can bend, twist, crawl, walk,...

Scientists Synthesize Crystalline Gamma-Graphyne

May 23, 2022 by News Staff

Graphynes are two-dimensional carbon allotropes similar to the wonder material graphene that is optically transparent and mechanically flexible, and yet...

This system, containing Synechocystis blue-green algae, powered a microprocessor continuously for a year using nothing but ambient light and water. Image credit: Paolo Bombelli.

Renewable Bio-Photovoltaic Cell Created

May 12, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have created a bio-photovoltaic energy harvester system using a species of photosynthetic blue-green algae called Synechocystis on an aluminum...

Han et al. developed an ultra-thin loudspeaker that can turn any rigid surface into a high-quality, active audio source. Image credit: Felice Frankel.

Ultra-Thin, Lightweight Loudspeaker Created

Apr 27, 2022 by News Staff

The flexible, thin-film loudspeaker, developed by MIT researchers, weighs only 2 g, is 120 microns thick, and can generate high-quality sound no matter...

Jaws of Glycera dibranchiata are composites of protein, melanin, and both mineral and ionic copper; to date, nanomechanical tests have correlated the ionic copper and melanin with hardness and wear resistance, but the function of protein is uncertain. Wonderly et al. characterize a Gly- and His-rich protein called multi-tasking protein (MTP) and, using recombinant protein, show that it performs six distinct functions critical for jaw formation and performance, namely (1) recruiting 22 equiv of Cu2+, (2) mediating a liquid-liquid phase separation of the MTP-copper complex, (3) catalyzing the oxidation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa) to melanin, (4) templating the interfacial polymerization of melanin, (5) integrating melanin and itself into thin films and fibers, and (6) providing intermolecular cohesion through Cu bridging. MTP achieves all these by assuming unprecedented roles as a building block, organizer, and fabricator -- a processing feat of considerable relevance to the autonomous production of other polymer composites, blends, and/or networks. Image credit: Wonderly et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.04.001.

Study: Bloodworms Use Copper Harvested From Marine Sediments to Form Their Unique Jaws

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

Bloodworms Glycera dibranchiata are known for their unusual jaws, which are made of protein (∼50% w/w), ionic and mineralized copper (up to 10%), and...

The green fuel (alcohol) is represented by the green-colored droplets at the top of the image, which upon interacting with curcumin enveloped gold nanoparticles, efficiently yield energy (white-colored sparks at the bottom of the image). Image credit: Sri Sai Prasad Nayak / Lakshman Ventrapragada.

Scientists Use Curcumin to Create Highly Efficient Electrode

Apr 19, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers from India and the United States has combined curcumin, a molecule that was first extracted from the roots of Curcuma longa (turmeric),...

A thermophotovoltaic cell (size 1 x 1 cm) mounted on a heat sink designed to measure the TPV cell efficiency. Image credit: Felice Frankel.

Researchers Develop Highly Efficient Heat Engine

Apr 14, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-developed heat engine is a thermophotovoltaic cell that captures high-energy photons from a white-hot heat source and converts them into electricity...

Yan et al. designed an acoustic fabric, woven with a fiber that is designed from a piezoelectric material that produces an electrical signal when bent or mechanically deformed: (a) the tympanic membrane is a four-layer construct composed of circumferentially and radially oriented high-modulus collagen fibers, which are key for sound conduction; the tympanic membrane motion is ultimately transmitted to the cochlea through the ossicular chain, wherein short cilia fibers convert pressure waves into electrical signals (ionic), which are picked up by the nervous system; (b) in the acoustic fabric, high-modulus Twaron yarns and cotton yarns are oriented at right angles, mimicking the construction of the tympanic membrane; this construction converts faint audible frequency sound pressure waves into low-order mechanical vibration modes; within that same medium, a single strand of piezoelectric elastomeric fiber transducer is woven, leading to a synergistically coupled fabric, where sound transduction is a collective effect; this results in a fabric capable of operating as a sensitive microphone that detects weak sound signals (for example, human speech) as low as 10-7 atm. Image credit: Yan et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04476-9.

Newly-Developed ‘Acoustic Fabric’ Converts Sounds into Electrical Signals

Mar 18, 2022 by News Staff

Fabrics, by virtue of their composition and structure, have traditionally been used as acoustic absorbers. Inspired by the auditory system, a team of engineers...

Use of the reverse phosphorolysis action of acholetin phosphorylase (AchP) provides an efficient method to enzymatically synthesize acholetin, which is a new biodegradable polymeric material. Image credit: Macdonald et al., doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c01570.

Scientists Create New Type of Biodegradable Polymeric Material

Mar 16, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and elsewhere has identified a bacterial enzyme that can make a new type of polysaccharide,...

2DPA-1 is a 2D polymer that self-assembles into sheets and could be used as a lightweight, durable coating for car parts or cell phones, or as a building material for bridges or other structures. Image credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT.

Scientists Create Ultrastrong Polymeric Material

Feb 3, 2022 by News Staff

The new 2D polymer, named 2DPA-1, is stronger than steel and as light as plastic; it self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which form...

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