News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Date Published
(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

A team of physicists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has provided reliable information about which new materials might have desirable properties for a range of applications and could exist in a stable form in nature. The team used cutting-edge computer modeling techniques to predict the properties of 2D materials that have not yet been made in real life.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

A team of physicists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has provided reliable information about which new materials might have desirable properties for a range of applications and could exist in a stable form in nature. The team used cutting-edge computer modeling techniques to predict the properties of 2D materials that have not yet been made in real life.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense)

Physicists at Princeton University have used a material known as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to explore how interacting electrons can give rise to rise to surprising phases of matter. By layering two sheets of graphene on top of each other, with the top layer angled at precisely 1.1 degrees, the Princeton researchers produced topological quantum states of matter, which are intriguing classes of quantum phenomena. Topological quantum states first came to the public's attention in 2016 when three scientists – Princeton's Duncan Haldane, who is Princeton's Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics and Sherman Fairchild University Professor of Physics, together with David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in uncovering the role of topology in electronic materials.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense)

Physicists at Princeton University have used a material known as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to explore how interacting electrons can give rise to rise to surprising phases of matter. By layering two sheets of graphene on top of each other, with the top layer angled at precisely 1.1 degrees, the Princeton researchers produced topological quantum states of matter, which are intriguing classes of quantum phenomena. Topological quantum states first came to the public's attention in 2016 when three scientists – Princeton's Duncan Haldane, who is Princeton's Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics and Sherman Fairchild University Professor of Physics, together with David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in uncovering the role of topology in electronic materials.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Scientists at Rice University have found that nature’s ubiquitous weak force (Van der Waals) is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems. Without applying any other force, the scientists saw that the silver nanosheets acquired permanent bumps where none existed before.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Scientists at Rice University have found that nature’s ubiquitous weak force (Van der Waals) is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems. Without applying any other force, the scientists saw that the silver nanosheets acquired permanent bumps where none existed before.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technology, called Artificial Chemist 2.0, that allows users to go from requesting a custom quantum dot to completing the relevant R&D and beginning manufacturing in less than an hour. The technology is completely autonomous and uses artificial intelligence and automated robotic systems to perform multi-step chemical synthesis and analysis.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technology, called Artificial Chemist 2.0, that allows users to go from requesting a custom quantum dot to completing the relevant R&D and beginning manufacturing in less than an hour. The technology is completely autonomous and uses artificial intelligence and automated robotic systems to perform multi-step chemical synthesis and analysis.

(Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

In a step toward making more accurate and uniform 3-D-printed parts, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a method of measuring the rate at which microscopic regions of a liquid raw material harden into a solid plastic when exposed to light. NIST's custom atomic force microscope, with a nanometer-scale, cylinder-shaped tip, revealed that the complex process of curing resins, as they react under light to form polymers, requires controlling how much of the light's energy goes into forming the polymer and how much the polymer spreads out, or diffuses, during 3-D printing.

(Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

In a step toward making more accurate and uniform 3-D-printed parts, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a method of measuring the rate at which microscopic regions of a liquid raw material harden into a solid plastic when exposed to light. NIST's custom atomic force microscope, with a nanometer-scale, cylinder-shaped tip, revealed that the complex process of curing resins, as they react under light to form polymers, requires controlling how much of the light's energy goes into forming the polymer and how much the polymer spreads out, or diffuses, during 3-D printing.