Highlights

Doyle has discovered a new way to thermally-induce gelation of nanoemulsions. They developed a platform wherein colloidal gelation is controlled by tuning repulsive interactions.

Here we explain the molecular engine of droplet motion that gives rise to their persistent random walk. This result allows us to tune their swimming speed and turning frequency over a range that is much broader than that of solid active particles.

MRSEC investigators reported that a versatile toolkit of guanidinium organosulfonate hydrogen-bonded host frameworks can form inclusion compounds with complex “stubborn” molecules that cannot be crystallized or form suitable single crystals for X-ray diffraction analysis by themselves, enabling determination of their molecular structure.

The d parameters are a convenient parametrization for surface-related, quantum corrections. We  establish  a  systematic  approach  to measure the d parameter dispersion of a general two-material interface.

Using a simple device structure, it has been shown that electrical control of optical properties can be achieved through electrochemical hydrogen gating, sourced from moisture in the air.

This unique partnership between Navajo Technical University and the Harvard MRSEC builds enduring pathways for undergraduate Native American students into STEM by including traditional Navajo  perspectives and methods of scientific inquiry in materials science research and education.

A team at the Harvard MRSEC led by Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and Jennifer A. Lewis has created shape-shifting lattices by combining predictive design and multimaterial 4D printing.

In the Fall of 2019, the LRSM installed a uniquely equipped focused ion beam / scanning electron microscope from the TESCAN corporation. The instrument has a high flux xenon source, allowing rapid sample removal. It is equipped with two novel accessories, a cryogenic transfer system and a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (ToF-SIMS). These two capabilities will allow the development of novel methods for the microanalytical characterization of soft matter and soft/hard matter interfaces.

“Experimenta con PREM” is a summer high school program organized by PREM-UPR (Univ. of Puerto Rico [PR]) faculty. Led by Wallace and Licurse, Penn participates annually by creating workshops and staffing those workshops with LRSM post-docs and grad students. This year at Penn, our volunteer facilitators (grad students Genesis Quiles-Galarza and Adriana Santiago-Ruiz) designed a series of materials science focused experiments and demos for 29 high school students.