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The electronic properties of thin films with thicknesses of only a single molecular layer have in the past typically been far worse than thicker films of the same material.

This work represents the first unambiguous confirmation that very large charge densities can be achieved on the surface of organic crystals by using electrolyte gates. 

Researchers explore approaches to increase the toughness of disordered materials that are otherwise prone to fail in a catastrophic, brittle fashion.

Addition of rubber particles to epoxy thermosets has been successful for toughening these brittle materials.

  The term “defect” suggests something to be avoided.  However, our team has developed an extensive toolkit to control the locations, shapes, and detailed geometry of so-called topological defects in liquid crystals, the same sorts of materials used in the $100bn/year display industry.  Our goal is to harness these defects to use them as cues for further directed- and self-assembly, as lenses and optical elements, and as building blocks for hierarchical materials.

Here, three IRG2 PP developed a combination of experiments with 3D active fluids confined in microfluidic channels and a minimal hydrodynamic model to show that size of the channel determines the emergent lengthscale of the growing deformations. These findings will advance our understanding of active nemato-hydrodynamics and the pathways to 3D active turbulence at low Reynolds number.

Researchers from Wisconsin MRSEC have shown that stretching a two-dimensional material called CrSBr significantly changes its magnetoelastic properties, which link magnetism and physical strain. They created a tiny mechanical device to measure this effect and found that the magnetoelastic coupling could be increased by 50% through stretching. These findings open up new possibilities for highly sensitive magnetic sensors and more efficient electronics that could adjust based on strain.

MRSEC researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that introducing geometric disorder in mechanical metamaterials leads to distributed damage during failure, resulting in significantly enhanced fracture toughness with minimal loss of strength. This finding challenges the traditional reliance on periodic unit cell geometries in architected materials.

Dendrimers are highly branched molecules. Amphiphilic glycodendrimers have been synthesized for the first time. These macro-molecules have tunable carbohydrate head groups and hydrophobic tails. The precise architecture of the dendrimers facilitates assembly of precise structures, including vesicles (glycodendrimersomes). These novel vesicles display biological activity, including fusion and coalescence in response to lectins.

Researchers demonstrated that by applying electric fields to a two-dimensional gallium layer, they could detect a permanent dipole moment. This breakthrough, shown through microreflectivity, confirms earlier predictions about non-centrosymmetric bonding in 2D metals. The technique, called AC electric double layer gating, effectively modulates the material's properties, paving the way for new insights into the electronic structure and electro-optic characteristics of ultra-thin materials.