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3-D-printed gyroid models such as this one were used to test the strength and mechanical properties of a new lightweight material.

Researchers design one of the strongest, lightest materials known

Porous, 3-D forms of graphene developed at MIT can be 10 times as strong as steel but much lighter.

January 6, 2017

The 2017 IEEE Fellows from MIT are (clockwise from top left) Robert Cunningham, Dov Dori, Paul Juodawlkis, Daniel Oates, Steven Smith, Frank Robey, and Tomás Palacios.

Seven from MIT are named 2017 IEEE Fellows

Five Lincoln Laboratory staff members and two others from MIT honored for the advancement of engineering, science, and technology.

January 5, 2017

Sourcewater provides users with a list and interactive map of all available fresh and wastewater, treatment facilities, shippers, and other water-based services. Users can search based on price, location, water quality, and other parameters to reduce the distance, cost, and environmental impact of hauling water.

Startup offers “online booking” for industrial water

MIT alum’s website helps companies find, ship, and recycle water, reducing environmental impact.

January 4, 2017

MIT researchers have fabricated a stamp made from forests of carbon nanotubes that is able to print electronic inks onto rigid and flexible surfaces.

Printable electronics

New stamping technique creates functional features at nanoscale dimensions.

December 7, 2016

Images produced from computer simulations show the response of a graphene surface as a silicon tip slides over it. Relative forces of atomic friction on the surface are shown by colors: Red points are “pushing” sites that help propel the tip along the surface, while blue points are “pinning” sites of greater friction that inhibit the tip’s motion.

The science of friction on graphene

Sliding on flexible graphene surfaces has been uncharted territory until now.

November 23, 2016

PhD candidate Emily Tow (left) and postdoc David Warsinger co-led a study proposing new designs for reverse osmosis desalination that significantly exceed the energy efficiency of state-of-the-art techniques. An experimental prototype is behind them.

Batch desalination configuration bests standard reverse osmosis approach

Researchers develop a new way to create more clean water with less energy, thanks to clever timing.

November 18, 2016

To demonstrate the supercapacitor's ability to store power, the researchers modified an off-the-shelf hand-crank flashlight (the red parts at each side) by cutting it in half and installing a small supercapacitor in the center, in a conventional button battery case, seen at top. When the crank is turned to provide power to the flashlight, the light continues to glow long after the cranking stops, ...

New kind of supercapacitor made without carbon

Energy storage device could deliver more power than current versions of this technology.

October 10, 2016

From engineer to urban planner

Grad student Billy Ndengeyingoma helps improve affordable-housing design in Africa.

September 25, 2016

This computational illustration shows a graphene network structure below a layer of water.

How to power up graphene implants without frying cells

New analysis finds way to safely conduct heat from graphene to biological tissues.

September 23, 2016

“I try to guide my research by ... asking myself the question, ‘What can we do today that will have a lasting impact and be conducive to a sustainable human civilization?’” says Rohit Karnik, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Rohit Karnik seeks sustainable solutions through nanotechnology

Engineer’s designs may help purify water, diagnose disease in remote regions of world.

September 1, 2016

The process of making a stack of parallel sheets of graphene starts with a chemical vapor deposition process (I) to make a graphene sheet with a polymer coating; these layers are then stacked (II), folded and cut (III) and stacked again and pressed, multiplying the number of layers. The team used a related method the team to produce scroll-shaped fibers.

Borrowing from pastry chefs, engineers create nanolayered composites

Method to stack hundreds of nanoscale layers could open new vistas in materials science.

July 21, 2016

MIT postdoc Junwei Liu and collaborators are proposing a new random access memory (RAM) device architecture using ferroelectric tunneling RAM.

Charging up random access memory

Researchers demonstrate room-temperature ferroelectric states in ultra-thin films of tin and tellurium.

July 14, 2016

Emission spectra are a widely used method for identifying chemical compounds; the bright lines reveal the different frequencies of light that can be emitted by an atom. Here, a normal emission spectrum for an atom in a high-energy state (top) is compared to the emission from the same atom placed just a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) away from graphene that has been doped with charge carrie...

Study opens new realms of light-matter interaction

Some “forbidden” light emissions are in fact possible, could enable new sensors and light-emitting devices.

July 14, 2016

This illustration depicts the process of light emission from a sheet of graphene, which is represented as the blue lattice on the top surface of a carrier material. The light-colored arrow moving upwards at the center depicts a fast-moving electron. Because the electron is moving faster than light itself, it generates a shock wave, which spews out plasmons, shown as red squiggly lines, in two dire...

Researchers discover new way to turn electricity into light, using graphene

By slowing down light to a speed slower than flowing electrons, researchers create a kind of optical “sonic boom.”

June 13, 2016

These graphs, known as Riemann surfaces, describe the energy-momentum relationships of electrons in the surfaces of exotic new materials called topological semimetals.

Physicists predict previously unseen phenomena in exotic materials

Better understanding of topological semimetals could help usher in future electronics.

June 6, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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