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

Date Published
(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Researchers have discovered a way to apply nanoparticles to plant leaves so that they travel through the plant all the way to the root. This is the first time that anyone has systematically studied how nanoparticles move through the leaf, into the plant, to the root, and exude into the soil.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

Scientists have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically thin sheets that unexpectedly spiral like a nanoscale card deck. The surprising structures may yield unique optical, electronic and thermal properties, including superconductivity, the researchers say.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

Scientists have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically thin sheets that unexpectedly spiral like a nanoscale card deck. The surprising structures may yield unique optical, electronic and thermal properties, including superconductivity, the researchers say.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation)

Researchers have made a strange and startling discovery: Nanoparticles that are engineered with DNA in colloidal crystals behave just like electrons. Not only has this finding upended the current, accepted notion of matter, it also opens the door for new possibilities in materials design.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation)

Researchers have made a strange and startling discovery: Nanoparticles that are engineered with DNA in colloidal crystals behave just like electrons. Not only has this finding upended the current, accepted notion of matter, it also opens the door for new possibilities in materials design.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Physicists shed light on a novel Mott state observed in twisted graphene bilayers at the “magic angle.” The novel Mott state favors ferromagnetic alignment of the electron spins, meaning that the spins of pairs of electrons are aligned parallel to each other, even though these electrons strongly repel each other – a phenomenon unheard of in conventional Mott insulators, in which the spins of two electrons sitting next to each other are anti-parallel.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Physicists shed light on a novel Mott state observed in twisted graphene bilayers at the “magic angle.” The novel Mott state favors ferromagnetic alignment of the electron spins, meaning that the spins of pairs of electrons are aligned parallel to each other, even though these electrons strongly repel each other – a phenomenon unheard of in conventional Mott insulators, in which the spins of two electrons sitting next to each other are anti-parallel.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Solar panels and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) require a cover material that repels water, dirt, and oil while still letting plenty of light through. Researchers have created a flexible optical plastic that has all of those properties, finding inspiration in a surprising place: the shape of Enoki mushrooms.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Solar panels and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) require a cover material that repels water, dirt, and oil while still letting plenty of light through. Researchers have created a flexible optical plastic that has all of those properties, finding inspiration in a surprising place: the shape of Enoki mushrooms.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers have demonstrated an advanced manufacturing process that produces, in a single step, nanostructured rods and tubes directly from high-performance aluminum alloy powder while also achieving a significant increase in product ductility (how far a material can stretch before it breaks). This is good news for sectors such as the automotive industry, where the high cost of manufacturing has historically limited the use of high-strength aluminum alloys made from powders.