Researchers at UPenn investigate the fracture behavior of disordered polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle films (PINFs). Here, the extent of polymer confinement in PINFs was tuned over three orders of magnitude NPs of varying size and polymers with varying molecular weight. The results show that brittle, low molecular weight (MW) polymers can significantly toughen NP packings, and this toughening effect becomes less pronounced with increasing NP size. 

Electronic  nematicity  is  a  correlated  electronic  state  in  solids  that spontaneously breaks rotational symmetry. This work found that in Fe1+yTe1-xSex,  one  of  the  most  strongly  correlated  iron-based superconductors,   electronic   nematicity   is   closely   linked   to magnetism,   and   its   fluctuations   may   be   responsible   for superconducting pairing.

Electrohydrodynamic ink jet printing has been used to print  CsPbBr3 nanocrystals into very small features, with spot sizes down to only a few hundred nanometers across. The nanocrystals survive the printing, and even spontaneously self-organize into superlattices.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

One exciting application of magnetic materials is the use of coherent magnonsas energy-efficient information carriers in spintronicsand magnonicsor as interconnects in hybrid quantum systems.