Program Highlights
April 11, 2011
Special types of plastic gels that can be induced chemically to undergo self-oscillating changes in shape and color have been known for many years. Van Vliet and Balazs have now found that the oscillations of these self-beating gels can be controlled by their shape and size, as well as by externally applied forces.
April 11, 2011
The continued evolution of portable electronic devices and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) requires multi-functional microscale energy sources that have high power, high energy, long cycle life, and the adaptability to various substrates. Nanostructured thin-film lithium-ion batteries and electrochemical capacitors (ECs) are among the most promising energy storage devices that can meet these demands. 
Following up on their recent creation of light-sensitive fibers,
Professors Yoel Fink and Joannopoulos and their research teams have
developed fibers that can detect ("hear") and produce sound ("sing").
August 23, 2010
Buehler and co-workers of the MIT MRSEC IRG-II have
found that the key to silk's pound-for-pound toughness, which exceeds
that of steel, is its beta-sheet crystals, the nano-sized cross-linking
domains that hold the material together.
August 23, 2010
As a new approach, Belcher and Ceder of the MIT MRSEC IRG-I have explored a biological way to create new charge storage materials for lithium ion batteries by using a virus as a scaffold to template the growth and assembly of nanoscale electrode materials.
May 27, 2010
Initiative-I
researchers of
the MIT MRSEC have developed a new process for attaching drug-loaded
nanoparticles onto the surfaces of
living stem cells. These
biodegradable particles, 100-200 nm in diameter, slowly release drug
compounds
that stimulate stem cells and promote their survival and proliferation.
A research team led by Professors Christine Ortiz, Krystyn Van Vliet,
and Paula Hammond of IRG-II have designed and characterized an
electrochemically responsive polymer nanocomposite thin film with
control over film thickness and mechanical properties. Specifically,
they have used layer-by-layer assembly to create a thin film containing
cationic linear poly(ethyleneimine) (LPEI) and anionic Prussian Blue
(PB) nanoparticles.
A team of researchers, led by Yoel Fink of the MIT MRSEC, has developed light-detecting fibers that can be woven together to create a flexible, basic camera. These fibers are each less than a millimeter in diameter, and consist of several nested layers of light-detection materials. The fibers measure the intensity of the light illuminating them and convert it to an electrical signal, which is then fed into a computer that creates an algorithm to assimilate the data and create a black-and-white image on a screen. 