Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Engineering students tour of the MIT.nano construction site.

Learning from MIT.nano

An MIT class goes on a field trip — to the center of campus.

June 10, 2015

A scanning electron micrograph of the new microfiber emitters, showing the arrays of rectangular columns etched into their sides.

Unlocking nanofibers’ potential

Prototype boosts production of versatile fibers fourfold, while cutting energy consumption by 92 percent.

June 4, 2015

A new technique tunes friction between two surfaces, to the point where friction can vanish. MIT researchers developed a frictional interface at the atomic level. The blue corrugated surface represents an optical lattice; the red balls represent ions; the springs between them represent Coulomb forces between ions. By tuning the spacing of the ion crystal surface above to mismatch the bottom corrug...

Vanishing friction

In tuning friction to the point where it disappears, technique could boost development of nanomachines.

June 4, 2015

A new tool measures the distance between phonon collisions

Tabletop setup provides more nuanced picture of heat production in microelectronics.

June 1, 2015

An uncoated copper condenser tube (top left) is shown next to a similar tube coated with graphene (top right). When exposed to water vapor at 100 degrees Celsius, the uncoated tube produces an inefficient water film (bottom left), while the coated shows the more desirable dropwise condensation (bottom right).

Thin coating on condensers could make power plants more efficient

Graphene layer one atom thick could quadruple rate of condensation heat transfer in generating plants.

May 29, 2015

Seeking deeper understanding of how the brain works

Edward Boyden develops techniques to study the brain, and how it operates, in finer detail.

May 21, 2015

Copper substrate is shown in the process of being coated with graphene. At left, the process begins by treating the copper surface, and, at right, the graphene layer is beginning to form. Upper images are taken using visible light microscopy, and lower images using a scanning electron microscope.

How to make continuous rolls of graphene

New manufacturing process could take exotic material out of the lab and into commercial products.

May 21, 2015

Researchers have shown that a DC voltage applied to layers of graphene and boron nitride can be used to control light emission from a nearby atom. In these figures, graphene is represented by a maroon-colored top layer; boron nitride is represented by yellow-green lattices below the graphene; and the atom is represented by a grey circle. An applied DC voltage can drastically modify the graphene la...

Taking control of light emission

Researchers find a way of tuning light waves by pairing two exotic 2-D materials.

May 20, 2015

Designing better medical implants

Optimal size and shape allow implantable devices to last longer in the body.

May 18, 2015

Laser beams are precisely aligned before being sent into the vacuum chamber.

Researchers build new fermion microscope

Instrument freezes and images 1,000 individual fermionic atoms at once.

May 13, 2015

A suspended microchannel resonator (SMR) measures particles’ masses as they flow through a narrow channel. The original mass sensor consists of a fluid-filled microchannel etched in a tiny silicon cantilever that vibrates inside a vacuum cavity. As cells or particles flow through the channel, one at a time, their mass slightly alters the cantilever’s vibration frequency. This illustration depi...

Faster, smaller, more informative

Device can measure the distribution of tiny particles as they flow through a microfluidic channel.

May 12, 2015

Seeing gender

MIT neuroscientists pinpoint neurons that help primates tell faces apart.

May 8, 2015

In a two-step process, engineers have successfully sealed leaks in graphene. First, the team fabricated graphene on a copper surface (top left) — a process that can create intrinsic defects in graphene, shown as cracks on the surface. After lifting the graphene and depositing it on a porous surface (top right), the transfer creates further holes and tears. In a first step (bottom left), the team...

Plugging up leaky graphene

New technique may enable faster, more durable water filters.

May 8, 2015

MIT sensor detects spoiled meat

Tiny device could be incorporated into “smart packaging” to improve food safety.

April 14, 2015

A new film of carbon nanotubes cures composites for airplane wings and fuselages, using only 1 percent of the energy required by traditional, oven-based manufacturing processes.

Taking aircraft manufacturing out of the oven

New technique uses carbon nanotube film to directly heat and cure composite materials.