MRS Bulletin Materials News Podcast

Prachi Patel of MRS Bulletin interviews Benjamin C.-K. Tee of the National University of Singapore about an interfacial design for stretchable electronics that uses three-dimensional helical copper micro-interconnects embedded in an elastic rubber substrate. Read the article in APL Materials.TranscriptPRACHI PATEL: Metals are excellent at conducting electricity but not the best at being stretched or bent. For electronics that can b... Read more

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Alex Hexemer of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and Daniela Ushizima and Shuai Liu of the University of California, Berkeley about their design of multiple Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to classify nanoparticle orientation in a thin film by learning scattering patterns. Read the article in MRS Communications. Transcript SOPHIA CHEN: Materials researchers come from ar... Read more

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Barbara Mazzolai and Edoardo Sinibaldi of the Italian Institute of Technology about their robot made from two types of polymers, enabling it to extend and retract like the tendrils of a plant. Read the article in Nature Communications. TranscriptSOPHIA CHEN: Barbara Mazzolai is designing robots inspired by plants. Recently, she and her research team at the Italian Institute of Technology have ... Read more

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Barbara Mazzolai and Edoardo Sinibaldi of the Italian Institute of Technology about their robot made from two types of polymers, enabling it to extend and retract like the tendrils of a plant. Read the article in Nature Communications. TranscriptSOPHIA CHEN: Barbara Mazzolai is designing robots inspired by plants. Recently, she and her research team at the Italian Institute of Technology have ... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field. Read the abstract in Science (doi:10.1126/science.aau5701).TranscriptWelcome t... Read more

Prachi Patel of MRS Bulletin interviews Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University about the use of his polymer pen lithography technique combined with an ink spray-coating method to ultimately create a megalibrary of nanoparticles that speeds up the discovery of new materials. Read the abstract in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).TranscriptPATEL: Mirkin and his colleagues are trying to dramatically speed up mater... Read more

Omar Fabián of MRS Bulletin interviews Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz of the Technical University of Denmark about the use of silk to fabricate eco-friendly electronics. Read the article in Advanced Science.TranscriptFABIÁN: We have an electronic waste problem. While the development of recyclable plastics has helped curb that problem, currently only about 15% of e-waste is actually recycled. So how can we make a bigger dent? Materials r... Read more

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Zhenan Bao of Stanford University about her research team’s development of a biomimetic soft electronic skin (e-skin) composed of an array of capacitors capable of effectively measuring and discriminating shear force in real time. Read the abstract in Science Robotics. CHEN: Zhenan Bao is a professor at Stanford University whose research team developed this robot. She says the key design ... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the article in Nature Communications (doi:10.1038/s41467-018-07951-y). Tra... Read more

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Jared DeCoste, a researcher with the US army, about the research team's work to counter the effect of mustard gas. First, the researchers alter E. coli’s DNA to produce an abundance of the molecule protoporphyrin IX. They then mix the protoporphyrin IX with another type of molecule called a metal-organic framework, which then behaves like an absorbent microscopic sponge that detoxifies sulfur ... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the abstract in Nature Energy (doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0278-x).TranscriptWe... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the abstract in Nature Energy (doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0278-x).TranscriptWe... Read more

An artificial neuron made from vanadium dioxide precisely mimics the behavior of normal and faulty neurons in the brain. This could have important implications for neuroscience. Read the abstract in Frontiers in Neuroscience. TranscriptPATEL: Our brains conduct information through electrical signals. Little voltage spikes that neurons pass around. And the frequency of those little spikes encodes information. But disorders like depr... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the abstract in Nature Energy (doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0220-2). TranscriptW... Read more

A silicon chip with 4 million microscopic mirrors is used to shine UV light in a 3D pattern based on a digital MRI image of the spinal cord wound in rats. The light falls onto a mixture of poly(ethylene) glycol and gelatin methacrylate, which solidifies into the shape of the wound. TranscriptPRACHI PATEL: Welcome to MRS Bulletin’s Materials News Podcast, providing breakthrough news & interviews with researchers on the hot topic... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the abstract in Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/s41563-018-0164-8).Tran... Read more

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field. Read the abstract in Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/s41563-018-0154-x).Transcri... Read more