Nanoscience and nanotechnology

MIT engineers have designed coiled “nanoyarn,” shown as an artist’s interpretation here. The twisted fibers are lined with living cells and may be used to repair injured muscles and tendons while maintaining their flexibility.

“Nanofiber yarn” makes for stretchy, protective artificial tissue

Twisted fibers coated with living cells could assist healing of injured muscles and tendons.

April 23, 2019

A gel-like yield stress fluid, top, moves as a plug without shearing in a tube with the new surface coating. At bottom, the same fluid is seen shearing while it flows in an uncoated tube, where part of the fluid gets stuck to the tube while part of it continues to flow.

How slippery surfaces allow sticky pastes and gels to slide

Engineered surface treatment developed at MIT can reduce waste and improve efficiency in many processes.

April 22, 2019

Left to right: Raoul Ouedraogo, Kate Byrd, Annie Weathers, and Eric Phelps make up the team at Lincoln Laboratory developing the nanoscale battery technology.

Smaller, faster, better: Nanoscale batteries may power future technology

Novel batteries are the first to use water-splitting technology at their core.

April 12, 2019

Visitors wear virtual reality headsets in the MIT.nano Immersion Lab.

The power of play

Video game developer NCSOFT joins with MIT.nano to apply the language of gaming to technology research and education.

April 3, 2019

“One.MIT,” a new art installation at MIT.nano, displays a 6-inch silicon wafer depicting an image of MIT’s Great Dome. The image was formed by etching the names of the more than 270,000 people associated with the Institute from 1861 to spring 2018.

“One.MIT” creates a monument — at the smallest scale

MIT.nano etches more than 270,000 names from the MIT community on a 6-inch wafer.

March 18, 2019

Each January, the Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC) brings together MIT faculty and students with industry partners to highlight cutting-edge research in research in microsystems, nanotechnology, and more. MARC is led and organized by a student committee (pictured here), with support from the staff of the Microsystems Technology Laboratories.

MARC 2019 shines a light on research in microsystems, nanotechnology, and more

Annual student-led conference connects MIT researchers and industry partners.

March 8, 2019

MIT researchers have devised a way to simultaneously image in multiple wavelengths of near-infrared light, allowing them to determine the depth of particles emitting different wavelengths.

New optical imaging system could be deployed to find tiny tumors

Near-infrared technology pinpoints fluorescent probes deep within living tissue; may be used to detect cancer earlier.

March 7, 2019

The image on the right shows a graphene sheet coated with wax during the substrate-transfer step. This method drastically reduced wrinkles on the graphene’s surface compared to a traditional polymer coating (left).

Smoothing out the wrinkles in graphene

Coating graphene with wax makes for a less contaminated surface during device manufacturing.

March 6, 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

MIT engineers have developed a way to deliver genes to the chloroplasts of plant cells. In these images, mesophyll cells (right) and epidermal cells (left) in an arugula leaf have been engineered to express a yellow fluorescent protein in their chloroplasts. Cell walls are stained red and chloroplasts are stained blue.

An easier way to engineer plants

MIT-led team uses nanoparticles to deliver genes into plant chloroplasts.

February 25, 2019

Solar cells made of perovskite have great promise, in part because they can easily be made on flexible substrates, like this experimental cell.

Unleashing perovskites’ potential for solar cells

New results show how varying the recipe could bring these materials closer to commercialization.

February 7, 2019

This illustration depicts the main elements of the system the team used: The multicolored slab at center is the metal layer being studied, the pale blue region at left is the electrolyte solution used as a source of hydrogen, the small blue dots are the hydrogen atoms, and the green laser beams at right are probing the process. The large cylinder at right is a probe used to indent the metal to tes...

Observing hydrogen’s effects in metal

Microscopy technique could help researchers design safer reactor vessels or hydrogen storage tanks.

February 4, 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

William Oliver says government research funding will have to be augmented with commercialization of quantum computing, and that will require trained scientists and engineers.

Q&A: The talent shortage in quantum computing

William Oliver says a lack of available quantum scientists and engineers may be an inhibitor of the technology’s growth.

January 23, 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

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