This multifaceted MRSEC enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine, separations, and plastic electronics to security, renewable energy, and information technology. The UMN MRSEC manages an extensive program in education and career development. Center research activities are integrated with educational programs, providing interdisciplinary training of students and postdocs. The MRSEC is bolstered by a broad complement of over 35 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 UMN MRSEC benefits from an extensive suite of materials synthesis, characterization and computational facilities.

 

This IRG seeks to elucidate the critical issues of control and coherence in both individual and in collective-mode quantum systems, with the goal of manipulating and exploiting quantum coerence in materials over a large range of length scales, from individual quantum centers to macroscopically entangled materials.  The proposed research directly advance applications in quantum sensing, fabricate materials for quantum information as well as create the next generation of characterization tools for traditional materials.

 

IRG-2 builds and studies elastic quantum matter — materials with quantum properties that are ultra-sensitive to elastic strain , offering opportunities from all-mechanical control of magnetization and superconductivity to creation of phonon-magnon circuitry, dynamical Josephson junction arrays, and dynamically controlled catalysts.

Established in 1994, the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) at Princeton University is dedicated to pushing the frontiers of complexity in materials science - bringing together over 30 faculty from six departments in the natural sciences and engineering. Currently funded by the NSF (DMR-1420541), the PCCM supports three Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) and several seed projects. The current IRGs are focused on research in the newly discovered topological phases of electrons and materials, surface and dynamics in confined polymers, and the development of ultra-coherent quantum materials. In addition to forefront materials research, the center sponsors an active educational outreach program involving elementary, middle and high schools, as well as a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and teacher programs. Industrial collaboration is another important aspect of PCCM's research initiatives. 

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are efficient devices for producing electricity from a variety of gaseous fuels, including hydrogen, methane, and propane through a clean solid-state reaction.?е║ A typical SOFC consists of a porous nickel + yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) support layer and anode, YSZ electrolyte, and lanthanum strontium manganate (LSM) cathode.?е║ The efficiency of the SOFC depends in part on the morphology of the pore network, which serves as the conduit for fuel to reach the electrolyte and reaction products to escape, and the number of triple phase boundaries (TPBs) between pore, electrolyte, and anode phases.?е║ In particular, the tortuosity of the pore network limits transport and should be minimized while the number of TPBs should be maximized.?е║ Thermoreversible gelcasting (TRG) provides a convenient pathway to producing net-shaped, porous bodies such as SOFC supports.?е║ The pore networks of SOFC supports produced with this technique are evaluated using mercury intrusion porosimetry and X-ray computed tomography in order to optimize pore size and pore network morphology and tortuosity. Thermoelectric generators provide the ability to convert waste heat from industrial processes and transportation into electricity.?е║ Oxide-based thermoelectric generators have advantages over their more common metal counterparts due to their better temperature and environmental stability.?е║ Calcium cobaltite-based materials have high thermoelectric figures of merit at high temperatures.?е║ Using TRG, the material can be aligned in a chosen direction during component processing, producing anisotropic properties that improve the thermoelectric figure of merit in that direction.

Creating and studying new forms of quantum matter in atomically layered materials with particular focus on controlling electronic and excitonic phase transitions in such materials, and with potentially disruptive impact on energy and information technologies.

IRG2 represents an ambitious effort to understand, design, and synthesize materials containing distributed molecular elements that convert chemical energy into mechanical work.  Drawing on the myriad ways that biological systems have evolved to construct materials with specific responses to applied stimuli, this IRG aspires to achieve control of active materials and ultimately to create novel molecular assemblies for robust tunable shape change.  Success of this IRG would result in the identification of minimal combinations of elements capable of programmable amorphous shape changes, autonomous movement and collective behavior, and such a material could be tailored to environments and situations beyond the reach of biological systems.

This IRG focuses on both scientific challenges and technological opportunities that arise from controlling how much or how fast a soft interface forms or deforms, with systems ranging from nanoscale colloids to macroscopic field-activated suspensions.  By examining how stress variations at an interface can alter properties in the bulk and, conversely, how tailoring bulk paprameters can guide the interface dynamics, the research endeavors to establish the link between interface dynamics and the properties of the material as a whole.  Establishing such a link will open up opportunities for designing specific material responses and will provide a pathway towards innovative applications. 

The goal of this IRG is to use droplet-based microfluidics to fabricate new materials ranging from designer emulsions, to particle-based materials precisely constructed within droplets, to droplets with precisely tuned internal properties and shapes, to new methodologies for creating tailored fiber-based materials.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Purdue University focuses on heterostructure materials for electronic and photonic applications. The purpose of the Center is to develop enabling technologies in these areas of research with the long-term goal of facilitating the commercialization of new products using these technologies. The MRSEC is organized through two interdisciplinary research groups. The semiconductor misfit heterostructures group addresses problems associated with the development of semiconductor device technology using non-lattice-matched materials. The long term goal is to produce economically viable enabling technologies for fabricating photonic and electronic devices using unexplored semiconductor materials grown on non- lattice-matched substrates with optical and electrical properties matched to specific applications. The extrinsic control of heterostructure properties group focuses on important materials problems associated with light emitting and detecting devices fabricated from high-band gap semiconductors with composite semiconductor materials used for electronic, photonic and optoelectronic applications (especially nonlinear applications). The MRSEC supports programs for educational outreach and human resource development based on existing Purdue University efforts. Special focus is on the enhancement of programs for minority and women students. The MRSEC supports shared experimental facilities for the preparation, fabrication and characterization of heterostructure materials and devices. The center currently supports 10 senior investigators, 2 postdoctoral research associates, 1 technical staff member, 8 graduate students, and 10 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor Jerry Woodall