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

Researchers from the University of Michigan, the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, and Harvard University have discovered that the electrical conductivity of three layers of graphene, in a twisted stack, is similar to that of “magic angle” bilayer graphene. Stacking three layers of graphene introduced an additional twist angle, creating non-repeating patterns, at small-angle twists – unlike bilayer graphene which forms repeating patterns. “This discovery makes fabrication easier, avoiding the challenge of ensuring the precise twist angle that bilayer graphene requires,” said Mohammad Babar, the first author of the study.

University of Missouri researchers have developed a novel 3D printing and laser process to manufacture multi-material, multi-layered sensors, circuit boards, and even textiles with electronic components. The researchers built a machine that has three different nozzles: one nozzle adds ink-like material, another uses a laser to carve shapes and materials, and a third nozzle adds functional materials to enhance the product’s capabilities. The manufacturing process starts by making a basic structure with a regular 3D printing filament. Then, a laser converts some parts into laser-induced graphene. Finally, more materials are added to enhance the functional abilities of the product.

Until now, scientists believed there was a limit to the sharpness of the separation of solutes in water or other fluids that they could achieve with a porous membrane, not only because of variations in pore size but also because of a phenomenon called hindered transport – the internal resistance of the fluid as a solute tries to go through a pore. Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago have shown that by using an isoporous membrane, in which all the pores are the same size (approximately 10 nanometers), and by giving the solutes multiple chances to get through the pores, it is possible to surmount hindered transport limitations. 

Researchers from Cornell University have used solubility rather than entropy to overcome thermodynamic constraints and create high-entropy oxide nanocrystals at lower temperatures. High-entropy materials are formed by mixing five or more elements within the structure of a crystal.

Scientists from the University of Utah have found a way to deliver drugs to a specific area of the body by using nanocarriers activated by ultrasound waves. The nanocarriers are minuscule droplets with a hollow outer shell composed of polymer molecules. Within the shell is an inner core of hydrophobic molecules that are mixed with an equally hydrophobic drug of interest. To release the drug, the researchers send ultrasound waves, which are thought to cause the hydrophobic molecules to expand, stretching out the droplet's shell. The drug then diffuses out to the cells, organs, or tissues where it is required.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego and Duke University have engineered nanosized cubes that spontaneously form a two-dimensional checkerboard pattern when dropped on the surface of water. Each nanocube is composed of a silver crystal with a mixture of hydrophobic (oily) and hydrophilic (water-loving) molecules attached to the surface. When a suspension of these nanocubes is introduced to a water surface, they arrange themselves such that they touch at their corner edges. This arrangement creates an alternating pattern of solid cubes and empty spaces, resulting in a checkerboard pattern.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2024 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience to Robert S. Langer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Armand Paul Alivisatos (University of Chicago), and Chad A. Mirkin (Northwestern University) "for pioneering work integrating synthetic nanoscale materials with biological function for biomedical applications." Says Bodil Holst, Chair of the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience Committee, “Langer, Alivisatos and Mirkin are science pioneers. Building from fundamental research and scientific curiosity they have become inventors and major founders of the nanomedicine field.” 

Researchers from Georgia Tech have developed a way to improve a type of immunotherapy, called adoptive T-cell therapy, that is used to fight infections or cancer. In adoptive T-cell therapy, a patient's T-cells – a type of white blood cell that is part of the body's immune system – are extracted and modified in a lab and then infused back into the body, so they can seek and destroy infection or cancer cells. The new approach involves using nanowires to deliver therapeutic microRNAs to T-cells. A microRNA is a molecule that when used as a therapeutic, works like a volume knob for genes, turning their activity up or down to keep infection and cancer in check.

This video (with related transcript) describes the recent expansion of the semiconductor manufacturing sector in the United States and how community colleges and universities are providing the relevant training to help fill semiconductor manufacturing jobs. The video focuses on Arizona and features Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is building a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, AZ, as well as Arizona State University, Rio Salado College, and Maricopa Community College. 

Researchers from North Carolina State University; Stanford University; the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; and the University of Geneva have, for the first time, demonstrated that a specific class of oxide membranes can confine, or "squeeze," infrared light. The thin-film membranes (which are 100-nanometer-thick) confine infrared light far better than bulk crystals, which are the established technology for infrared light confinement. "We've demonstrated that we can confine infrared light to 10% of its wavelength while maintaining its frequency – meaning that the amount of time that it takes for a wavelength to cycle is the same, but the distance between the peaks of the wave is much closer together,” said Yin Liu, one of the scientists involved in this study. “Bulk crystal techniques confine infrared light to around 97% of its wavelength."