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Program Highlights

UTK Knoxville MRSEC Partners with the National Society of Black Physicists to Bring Conference into the Laboratories

The National Society of Black Physicists recently held their Annual Conference, the largest academic meeting of minority physicists in the US in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Meet a Scientist Day: hands-on demos for preK-8 students

An outreach event led by CHARM postdocs and grad students drew almost 200 attendees in partnership with a local library. Students aged preK-8 participated in seven hands-on demonstration booths, including several booths that focused on materials science principles.

Phonon-mediated strong coupling between a three-dimensional topological insulator and a two-dimensional antiferromagnetic material

This research effort, carried out by the University of Delaware's MRSEC, provides a potential hybrid material platform for optoelectronic device applications in the THz frequency domain.

Rapid Modification of Porous Cages with Click Chemistry

The University of Delaware MRSEC has shown, for the first time, that click chemistry can be used to functionalize multiple families of porous cages.

Capillary forces and biomolecular condensates: Structure and function

Princeton researchers have demonstrated the physical principles of capillarity, including examples of how capillary forces structure multiphase condensates and remodel biological substrates. As with other mechanisms of intracellular force generation (e.g. molecular motors), capillary forces can influence biological processes. Identifying the biomolecular determinants of condensate capillarity represents an exciting frontier, bridging soft matter physics and cell biology.

Unlocking High Capacity and Fast Na+ Diffusion of HxCrS2 by Proton-Exchange Pretreatment

Princeton researchers have demonstrated that acid pre-treatment of NaCrS2 to form a new phase (named HxCrS2) results in significant improvements to the material’s performance as a sodium battery electrode.

Proximity-induced superconductivity in epitaxial topological insulator/superconductor heterostructures

The search for an unusual form of superconductivity known as topological superconductivity has attracted a great deal of attention of the quantum materials community because of its fundamental novelty and potential applications in fault-tolerant quantum computing technology.

Electrocaloric Effect of Perovskite High Entropy Oxide Films

Pb(Hf0.2Zr0.2Ti0.2Nb0.2X0.2)O3, a high-entropy perovskite, undergoes an entropy-driven phase transformation when X=Mn while X=Al always contains minor second phases in bulk ceramics.

Frustrated self-limiting assembly of trumpets

Triangular monomers with positive curvature in one direction and negative curvature in another assemble into trumpet shaped objects predicted to have precise self-limited lengths due to frustration-induced stress.

Active composite materials

Active composites obtained by merging   a   conventional   soft   matter actin    gel    with    energy    consuming microtubule   bundles   that   generate active   stresses   leads   to   emergent properties not present in the individual systems.

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