Research Highlights

Our previous work revealed that the (Co,Cu,Mg,Ni,Zn)1-xNaxO system exhibits an electrically conductive layered grain boundary phase at high-temperature processing conditions (Figure A). This boundary phase is a P2 type NaxCoO2 layered structure that has not been...

Grain boundaries (GB), which can significantly hinder Li-ion transport, are the bottleneck of improving solid electrolytes’ ionic conductivity. The atomic structure and electrostatic characteristics of GBs thus become pivotal areas of study in materials science. In...

By increasing the sintering temperature to 1400 °C, the microstructure and chemical distribution of the HENA is significantly optimized. (Fig.1a-b, d-e) By introducing additive Zr into the HENA (sintered at 1400 °C), the microstructure and the compositional...

To design improved conductive and bio-compatible nanowires,we aim to understand their electronic structure and electron transfer mechanism, focusing on structure-property relationships. Over the last year, these calculations: •Elucidated the relationship between...

Certain peptides self-assemble fibers that exhibit long-range charge transport. Thermal fluctuations have been implicated as important in this emergent property.1 We adapted our interpretable machine learning (ML) platform2 to understand how thermal fluctuations...

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:...

•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...

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...

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...

1174 CSH-equivalents (70 % & 100 % converted to CSSC) are cylindrically restrained (Fig. 1) Radius (r) = 27 Å, as informed by Cryo-EM measurements (Patterson group) The composition of the 70% conversion system is informed by previously published...

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...

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 Developed the...

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....

• 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...

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,...

•The new Nion HERMES 200 is an aberration corrected, monochromated scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) equipped with space- and angle-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), which is the first at a University Shared Facility. •Due to the broad...

• Photosensitive resins containing magnetic nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and used to 3D print composite magnets via Digital Light Processing. The 3D printed cubes displayed in the figure (top) clearly exhibit magnetic response (bottom), with magnetic...

Achievements: • Demonstration of topological phase transitions induced in HfTe5 by uniaxial strain• Demonstration of a new technique to control heterostrain in vdW multilayers via AFM nanomanipulation• Demonstration of photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM)...

This Work Reports: • The first example of a fully electrically fueled dissipative self-assembly system.• The active systems can be sustained over a long period of time.• The system does not generate any chemical waste.• The active assembly can be spatiotemporally...

High-throughput atomistic models were used to study interfacial segregation in a NbMoTaW refractory complex concentrated alloy.  Hundreds of bicrystals and hundreds of thousands of atomic grain boundary sites were tested.  Nb was found to be the dominant...