Materials science

New accident-tolerant fuel design, capable of providing additional layer of containment while packing three to four times the fuel mass per volume as compared to competing fuel forms with similar safety characteristics.

A layered approach to safety

Using 3D fabrication, researchers develop novel nuclear materials that optimize both accident tolerance and performance.

June 11, 2020

Afternoon light streams into MIT’s Lobby 7.

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2020

Institute ranks second in five subject areas.

March 3, 2020

A building modeled with the molecular dynamics-based structural modeling approach

An atomic-scale erector set

To predict building damage, Kostas Keremidis of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub is modeling structures as ensembles of atoms.

July 3, 2019

Researchers find evidence that heat moves through graphite similar to the way sound moves through air.

Exotic “second sound” phenomenon observed in pencil lead

At relatively balmy temperatures, heat behaves like sound when moving through graphite, study reports.

March 14, 2019

MIT researchers have developed a technique to grow 2-D materials directly onto patterned substrates (shown here) and then recycle the patterns for faster, simpler chip manufacturing.

Technique streamlines fabrication of 2-D circuits

Growing material directly onto substrates and recycling chip patterns should enable faster, simpler manufacturing.

March 4, 2019

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2019

Institute ranks within the top 2 in 17 of 48 subject areas.

February 26, 2019

A deceptively tough film protects the lobster’s belly as the animal scuttles across the rocky seafloor.

Lobster’s underbelly is as tough as industrial rubber

Membrane material’s properties could guide design of flexible body armor, new study suggests.

February 18, 2019

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have designed the first fully flexible, battery-free “rectenna” — a device that converts energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity — that could be used to power flexible and wearable electronics, medical devices, and sensors for the “internet of things.”

Converting Wi-Fi signals to electricity with new 2-D materials

Device made from flexible, inexpensive materials could power large-area electronics, wearables, medical devices, and more.

January 28, 2019

This illustration shows the 12 different forms that six-atom vacancy defects in graphene can have, as determined by the researchers. The pie chart shows the relative abundances that are predicted for each of these different forms.

Researchers catalog defects that give 2-D materials amazing properties

Theoretical analysis distinguishes observed “holes” from the huge list of hypothetically possible ones.

January 14, 2019

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have recorded the “temporal coherence” of a graphene qubit — how long it maintains a special state that lets it represent two logical states simultaneously — marking a critical step forward for practical quantum computing.

Physicists record “lifetime” of graphene qubits

First measurement of its kind could provide stepping stone to practical quantum computing.

December 31, 2018

Could a dry spaghetti noodle ever be coerced to break into only two pieces?

MIT mathematicians solve age-old spaghetti mystery

It’s nearly impossible to break a dry spaghetti noodle into only two pieces. A new MIT study shows how and why it can be done.

August 13, 2018

“It’s really essential for the nuclear sector, an industry that is struggling in the current economic climate, to incorporate lessons from other industries that successfully create, design, build, and distribute technology,” says Ka-Yen Yau.

From coolants to a carbon-constrained world

An early calling for clean energy propels undergraduate Ka-Yen Yau’s research on the next generation of nuclear technology.

March 15, 2018

MIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2018 QS World University Rankings

MIT ranked within top 5 in 19 out of 48 subject areas.

February 28, 2018

New software identified five different families of microstructures, each defined by a shared “skeleton” (blue), that optimally traded off three mechanical properties.

Automating materials design

With new approach, researchers specify desired properties of a material, and a computer system generates a structure accordingly.

February 2, 2018

MIT researchers have developed a new platform for microfluidics, using LEGO bricks. Shown here, fluid flows through tiny channels milled into the side walls of LEGO bricks.

Microfluidics from LEGO bricks

MIT engineers make microfluidics modular using the popular interlocking blocks.

January 30, 2018

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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