Northwestern University IRG-1 has identified novel protein building blocks that form high-aspect ratio structures with genetic-level programmability and tunability.

A recent paper published in *Science* highlights the advancements made by the IRG2 team in energy transport using superatomic materials. They developed new materials like Re₆Se₈Cl₂ that allow for faster transport than traditional silicon. Their research includes creating rod-shaped photodetectors that can effectively move "acoustic polarons" over long distances without losing energy. These findings pave the way for new, faster types of transistors that could significantly improve charge transport in electronic devices.

Researchers in the Irvine and Talapin groups at the University of Chicago MRSEC used nanoparticle membranes discovered by the Jaeger and Lin groups to develop a platform for studies of homo= and heteroepitaxy in nanocrystal assemblies.

Researchers have successfully intercalated a stable monolayer of lead (Pb) into an experimental setup involving EG/SiC using a method that allows for detailed study of extremely thin heavy metal films. This technique enables higher coverage and better results than traditional methods. Notably, the lead layers show unique structural features and improved spin properties, indicating potential for new applications in spin transport phenomena. This finding highlights the promising use of Pb in creating innovative materials for future technologies.

Researchers have developed a new method to create single crystals of a unique one-dimensional helical crystal called GaSI. This crystal has a distinctive "squircle" shape, combining square and circular features, which affects its properties. It also has a band gap of 3.7 eV and introduces a non-centrosymmetric unit cell, which leads to notable second harmonic generation. This work is significant for advancing our understanding of chiral materials and their optical and electronic behaviors.

The shape-dependent optical properties of metal nanostructures have motivated efforts to correlate nanoparticle structure with plasmonic behavior. In particular, gold bipyramids (BPs) are of interest due to their sharp tips that lead to strong localized field enhancement and high sensitivity to the surrounding environment. However, despite their potential, relatively few reports have studied the optical properties of sub-100 nm BPs due to their relatively low synthetic yields. To overcome this issue, density

Recently, novel methods based on materials informatics and machine-learning models have emerged to assist the search for materials with improved properties in industrially relevant applications. To apply this approach in heteroanionic materials discovery, NU-MRSEC IRG-2 has reported a computational investigation of a series of ternary HetMs with tunable band gaps from machine-learning and crystal structure prediction.

  Lithium-oxygen batteries have a great potential to enhance the gravimetric energy density of fully packaged batteries by 2-3 times that of lithium-ion cells, thus greatly increasing the range of electric vehicles.

This Northwestern University MRSEC seed project is designing and building molecules to bridge the QD-MoS2 interface, thus enabling control over this ultrafast charge transfer. These photoswitchable molecules can be rapidly toggled between two different states using different colors of light.