Carbon materials

A team at MIT has found an unexpected discovery about water: Inside the tiniest of spaces — in carbon nanotubes whose inner dimensions are not much bigger than a few water molecules — water can freeze solid even at high temperatures that would normally set it boiling. The finding might lead to new applications such as ice-filled wires.

Inside tiny tubes, water turns solid when it should be boiling

MIT researchers discover astonishing behavior of water confined in carbon nanotubes.

November 28, 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

MIT aerospace engineers have found a way to bond composite layers, producing a material that is substantially stronger and more resistant to damage than other advanced composites. The improvement may lead to stronger, lighter airplane parts.

Carbon nanotube “stitches” strengthen composites

Method to reinforce these materials could help make airplane frames lighter, more damage-resistant.

August 2, 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

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

MIT researchers have developed low-cost chemical sensors, made from chemically altered carbon nanotubes, that enable a smartphone or other wireless devices to detect trace amounts of toxic gases.

Wireless, wearable toxic-gas detector

Inexpensive sensors could be worn by soldiers to detect hazardous chemical agents.

June 30, 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

An electron microscopy image shows many examples of nanoscrolls. The insert zooms in on a single nanoscroll and reveals its conical nature.

For stronger, lighter, cheaper materials, scroll up

Researchers create perfect nanoscrolls from graphene’s imperfect form.

April 12, 2016

Researchers used the spin of light to guide the flow of optical information. Shining right-circularly polarized light on nanoribbons made of special 2-D materials enables light to flow forward on one edge and backward on the other edge. Changing the polarization of the light causes the guided modes to reverse directions.

New way to control particle motions on 2-D materials

Study points the way to new photonic devices with one-way traffic lanes.

March 21, 2016

In Profile: Pablo Jarillo-Herrero

Experimental physicist explores the wild frontiers of graphene and other ultrathin materials.

February 24, 2016

Researchers used the MIT and Tim the Beaver logos to show photoluminescence emissions from a monolayer of molybdenum disulfide inlayed onto graphene. The arrow indicates the graphene-MoS2 lateral heterostructure, which could potentially form the basis for ultrathin computer chips.

New chip fabrication approach

Depositing different materials within a single chip layer could lead to more efficient computers.

January 27, 2016

In this image, the middle "explosion" is a cloud of hot electrons, inside graphene, that bounce off one another as they reach equilibrium and spread out. The red spheres are those electrons that are energetic enough to escape the hot cloud in less than 30 femtoseconds and generate an electric current. MIT researchers have developed a technique to access and control these ultrafast processes.

Physicists control electrons at femtosecond timescales

Results may help improve efficiency of solar cells, energy-harvesting devices.

January 22, 2016

The atomic-force microscopy (AFM) image on the left demonstrates the physical binding between fibrinogen proteins and single walled carbon nanotubes. The right shows a trace of the AFM image with the fibrinogen in green and nanotubes in light blue.

Synthetic antibody detects proteins

New nanosensors recognize fibrinogen; may detect insulin, other biomarkers as well.

January 13, 2016

By using plasmons to “wiggle” a free electron in a sheet of graphene, researchers have developed a new method for generating X-rays. In this image of one of their simulations, the color and height represent the intensity of radiation (with blue the lowest intensity and red the highest), at a moment in time just after an electron (grey sphere) moving close to the surface generates a pulse.

A new way to make X-rays

MIT researchers have found a phenomenon that might lead to more compact, tunable X-ray devices made of graphene.

November 23, 2015

Materials Processing Center Director Carl V. Thompson addresses the annual Materials Day Symposium, "Quantum Materials," at MIT on Oct. 14.

Quantum materials: A new paradigm for computing?

Diamond spintronics and graphene-based infrared detectors are among leading-edge technologies reported at annual Materials Day Symposium at MIT.

November 6, 2015

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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