Category: Research Highlights

Natural conductive wires from bacteria are one-dimensional chains of cytochromes – heme containing proteins. To mimic their structure and make synthetic conductive wires, we design heme binding peptide bundles to use as building blocks of self-assembling wires: •Design of heme binding sequences with reactive bioconjugate chemical group. •These designed peptides bind heme and arrange them…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-2: Bioinspired heme binding peptide fibers

•We introduce a neural network kinetics (NNK) scheme that predicts and simulates diffusion-induced chemical and structural evolution in complex concentrated chemical environments. •The framework is grounded on efficient on-lattice structure and chemistry representation combined with neural networks, enabling precise prediction of all path-dependent migration barriers and individual atom jumps. •Using this method, we study the…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-1: Neural Network Kinetics: Exploring Diffusion Multiplicity and Chemical Ordering in Compositionally Complex Materials

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow, an electrokinetic phenomenon resulting from an applied oscillatory potential in solution, drives lateral assembly of plasmonic nanoparticles (NP) in response to an electric field gradient on an electrode-liquid interface. •Results provide insight on how frequency of oscillatory electrical stimuli and local perturbations on electrodes affects can drive EHD flow. •Metal enhanced fluorescence…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-2: Electrically Tuned Dissipative Assembly of Nanoparticles in Colloidal Solution

This paper reports: •Kinetically trapped self-assembly of a compartmentalized network of liquid droplets from small-molecule precursors •Liquid-liquid phase separation accompanied by silanol hydrolysis, condensation, and zwitterionic self-association •Hierarchical structure increases toughness and enables underwater adhesion Impact: •Relatively simple means to access complex hierarchical structures comprising liquid compartments. •New design rules for achieving complex liquid structures…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-2: Elastic Network of Droplets for Underwater Adhesives

1174 CSH-equivalents (70 % & 100 % converted to CSSC) are cylindrically restrained (Fig. 1) Water is present in the fiber, especially near the center (Fig. 2) π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding both contributes to fiber stability (Fig. 3) CSSC prefers open conformations throughout the fiber (Figs. 4) Yuanming Song, Justin Mulvey, J. Alfredo Freites, Joseph Patterson, Douglas…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-2: All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of CSH-CSSC fibers (Tobias Group)

The Anton Paar AFM  is a compact system with a large sample stage that enables users to detect surface topography down to atomic steps. This AFM not only provides basic surface imaging in both contact tapping mode and contact mode but also several advanced modes such as Magnetic force microscopy (MFM), Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy…Continue Reading 2024 Shared Facilities: Anisotropy-Driven Crystallization of Dimensionally Resolved Quasi-1D Van der Waals Nanostructures

The realization of hybrid chiral and non-reciprocal excitations necessitates the development of new atomically-precise chiral solid state crystals and the understanding of the fundamental optical/electronic states that arise from the resulting structures M. Arguilla, W. Ho, I. Krivorotov, E.M.Y. Lee, J. Romhanyi, R. Wu (UC Irvine) Cordova, D. L. M.,…, Wu, R., Arguilla, M. Q., Advanced…Continue Reading 2024 Seed: CryoEM finds complexity in structural evolution of active materials

Synthetic active materials are designed to mimic complex biological materials such as microtubules. Here, we studied a chemically driven active material using cryo electron microscopy which allowed us to see the structures these materials form at very high resolution. We found that active materials can form specific types of structures, in this case ordered arrays…Continue Reading 2024 IRG-2: CryoEM finds complexity in structural evolution of active materials

• In IRG-1, Luo and co-workers have discovered a new class of solid electrolytes: compositionally complex perovskite oxides (CCPOs). • This collaborative study with Pan, Ong, Bowman, and MRSEC students further investigate the fundamental composition-processing-interface-microstructure-property relationship in these CCPOs. • Specifically, (Li0.375Sr0.4375)(Ta0.375Nb0.375Zr0.125Hf0.125)O3-d (LSTNZH) CCPO has achieved >270% increase in the ionic conductivity in comparison with the…Continue Reading 2023 IRG-1: Compositionally complex perovskite oxides: Discovering a new class of solid electrolytes with interface-enabled conductivity improvements

A New Class of Solid Electrolytes Discovered Compositionally complex ceramics (CCCs), including high-entropy ceramics, provide a vast compositional space for new materials discovery beyond the classical doping strategy in stoichiometric compounds. Recently, researchers from UC San Diego and UC Irvine in the Center for Complex and Active Materials (CCAM) discovered a new class of compositionally…Continue Reading A New Class of Solid Electrolytes Discovered