Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Scientists tune polymer material’s transparency

Material may offer cheaper alternative to smart windows.

January 22, 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

New finding may explain heat loss in fusion reactors

Solving a longstanding mystery, MIT experiments reveal two forms of turbulence interacting.

January 21, 2016

This diagram shows how an electrical voltage can be used to modify the oxygen concentration, and therefore the phase and structure, of strontium cobaltites. Pumping oxygen in and out transforms the material from the brownmillerite form (left) to the perovskite form (right).

Switchable material could enable new memory chips

Small voltage can flip thin film between two crystal states — one metallic, one semiconducting.

January 20, 2016

For both his master’s and his doctoral theses, Michael Watts (pictured) developed a photonic circuit that could align the polarizations of light traveling through an optical chip.

Local boy makes good

Michael Watts took two decades to make the 20-mile trip from suburban Hingham to tenure at MIT.

January 19, 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

“I think the flexibility of having the opportunity to discover what you're interested in, to pursue these things, and to create a space for yourself where you can feel comfortable was what drove me to MIT,” Larissa Senatus says.

Larissa Senatus learns about the world by doing

Mechanical engineering major hopes to bring hands-on learning opportunities home to Haiti.

January 13, 2016

A donkey grazes in a pasture near solar panels at Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream in Sunapee, New Hampshire.

Concentrating dawn-to-dusk solar energy

MOSAIC award spurs MIT research into concentrator solar cells that can run in shade and full sun with power control and wavelength separation.

January 11, 2016

A proof-of-concept device built by MIT researchers demonstrates the principle of a two-stage process to make incandescent bulbs more efficient. This device already achieves efficiency comparable to some compact fluorescent and LED bulbs.

A nanophotonic comeback for incandescent bulbs?

Researchers combine the warm look of traditional light bulbs with 21st-century energy efficiency.

January 11, 2016

This diagram illustrates the principle behind the proposed energy-harvesting system. Two metal electrodes made of lithium-alloyed silicon form a sandwich around a layer of electrolyte, a polymer that ions (charged atoms) can move across. When the sandwich is bent, unequal stresses cause lithium ions to migrate across the electrolyte, producing a compensating electron current that can be harnessed ...

Harnessing the energy of small bending motions

New device could provide electrical power source from walking and other ambient motions.

January 6, 2016

Clearing the way for Floquet-Bloch states

Team demonstrates pure quantum-mechanical mixture of electrons and photons in the solid topological insulator bismuth selenide.

January 4, 2016

Researchers have discovered how some organisms can safely process oxalate, which is found in many fruits and vegetables. This discovery could lead to new ways to lessen the harmful effects that can occur when oxalate builds up in humans, who cannot metabolize this molecule.

A healthy breakdown

Researchers discover how some organisms process oxalate, a molecule that can harm humans.

December 28, 2015

Researchers have produced a working optoelectronic chip that computes electronically but uses light to move information. The chip has 850 optical components and 70 million transistors, which, while significantly less than the billion-odd transistors of a typical microprocessor, is enough to demonstrate all the functionality that a commercial optical chip would require.

Optoelectronic microprocessors built using existing chip manufacturing

High-performance prototype means chipmakers could now start building optoelectronic chips.

December 23, 2015

3 Questions: Martin Culpepper on making the future makers

MIT students want to make things. Meet the “Maker Czar” who’s helping them.

December 22, 2015

A patterned and cylindrical structure made up of carbon nanotubes.

New device uses carbon nanotubes to snag molecules

Nanotube “forest” in a microfluidic channel may help detect rare proteins and viruses.

December 21, 2015

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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