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

Date Published
(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Engineers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City have discovered a way to produce more electricity from heat than thought possible by creating a silicon chip that converts more thermal radiation into electricity. This discovery could lead to devices such as laptop computers and cellphones with much longer battery life and solar panels that are more efficient at converting radiant heat to energy.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created synthetic proteins that form honeycomb-like structures on the atomic surface of mica. This work could enable the design of new biomimetic materials with customized colors, chemical reactivity or mechanical properties, or to serve as scaffolds for nanoscale filters, solar cells, or electronic circuits.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created synthetic proteins that form honeycomb-like structures on the atomic surface of mica. This work could enable the design of new biomimetic materials with customized colors, chemical reactivity or mechanical properties, or to serve as scaffolds for nanoscale filters, solar cells, or electronic circuits.

(Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Samueli School of Engineering have developed an ultra-sensitive light-detecting system that could enable astronomers to view galaxies, stars and planetary systems in superb detail. The system works at room temperature—an improvement over similar technology that only works in temperatures nearing 270 degrees below zero Celsius, or minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit.

(Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Samueli School of Engineering have developed an ultra-sensitive light-detecting system that could enable astronomers to view galaxies, stars and planetary systems in superb detail. The system works at room temperature—an improvement over similar technology that only works in temperatures nearing 270 degrees below zero Celsius, or minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

In work that could lead to new applications for a new class of nanomaterials known as MXenes, researchers from Texas A&M University have discovered a simple and inexpensive way to prevent the materials' rapid degradation.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

In work that could lead to new applications for a new class of nanomaterials known as MXenes, researchers from Texas A&M University have discovered a simple and inexpensive way to prevent the materials' rapid degradation.

(Funded by the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency)

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have developed a new technique that could enable future advancements in quantum technology. The technique squeezes quantum dots, tiny particles made of thousands of atoms, to emit single photons (individual particles of light) with precisely the same color and with positions that can be less than a millionth of a meter apart.

(Funded by the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency)

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have developed a new technique that could enable future advancements in quantum technology. The technique squeezes quantum dots, tiny particles made of thousands of atoms, to emit single photons (individual particles of light) with precisely the same color and with positions that can be less than a millionth of a meter apart.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research)

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a highly compact, portable camera that can image polarization in a single shot. The miniature camera — about the size of a thumb — could find a place in the vision systems of autonomous vehicles, onboard planes or satellites to study atmospheric chemistry, or be used to detect camouflaged objects.