The reason microplastics are all around and even in us is because petroleum-based plastics last for hundreds of years. In our lifetimes they simply don’t go away. But degradable plastics, made from plants, do. Research at UCSD has now proven that those earth-friendly plastics disappear in a matter of a few months. Researchers ground up plant-based plastics into very small bits and tested them in several natural environments.

In the world of materials science, researchers are constantly seeking new ways to create more efficient, durable, and adaptable materials. One promising avenue is the study of bottlebrush block polymers, a unique class of macromolecules that self-assemble into intricate nanostructures. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been at the forefront of this research, uncovering new possibilities for these polymers and their applications.

Yishu Wang has been elected as one of three new general members to the SNS-HFIR User Group (SHUG) Executive Committee (EC) starting January 1, 2026. SHUG consists of all persons interested in using the neutron scattering facilities at Oak Ridge. It provides input to the management on user concerns, provides a forum for keeping the entire community informed of issues and progress at these facilities, and serves as an advocacy group for neutron scattering science at these facilities.

Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Pinshane Huang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering and MRSEC IRG1 Leader has been recognized by Physics World as being responsible for one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2025.

Join DMR Division Director Germano Iannacchione and DMR program directors for our monthly office hour and Q&A session.

The Conference Across MRSEC-PREM Schools is a student-led initiative to bring MRSEC-PREM students, faculty, and industry together to help improve students’ research, academic, and professional skills. The conference was founded as a result of a growing need to network with students from other institutions and learn about their work.

Electrolyte gating uses ions to reversibly modify La0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ, changing oxygen content and electrical, magnetic, and optical properties at 1–2 V. The team achieved ~100-cycle endurance with humidity control and 4 nm films switching in ~0.7 s. Prospects include tunable optics/photonics; future work targets diffusion and surface chemistry; collaborations.

This multifaceted MRSEC enables important areas of future technology, ranging from applications of electrical control over materials to scale-invariant shape-filling amphiphile network self-assembly. The UMN MRSEC manages an extensive program in education and career development. The MRSEC is bolstered by a broad complement of over 20 companies that contribute directly to IRG research through intellectual, technological, and financial support. International research collaborations and student exchanges are pursued with leading research labs in Asia and Europe.

The goal of IRG-2 is to discover and exploit scale-invariant shape-filling amphiphile (SFA) motifs to assemble robust, functional network phases and to understand how processing impacts their properties.

The goal of IRG-1 is to understand the mechanisms, capabilities, and applications of electrostatic and electrochemical gating and to gain electrical control over a wide range of electronic phases and functions.