Keith Brown

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It's #FreePaperFriday, and I'd like to follow up on last week's post about work in Purdue University School of Materials Engineering on experimental measurements of the properties of molecular crystals. Know what else we do here at Purdue? We also use computational tools to study these complex materials systems, and the complexity in the molecules, the need to consider atoms and molecules in the simulations, and the low symmetry structures make them just as tricky to simulate as to test experimentally. But hard doesn't stop Boilermakers. So, for today here's a new paper from Prof. Alejandro Strachan and Dr. Brian Lee at Purdue with their collaborators James Larentzos and John K Brennan at the Army Research Laboratory where they develop new computational force field methods to coarse grain the simulation of the crystalline material RDX, allowing simulations of structures in both crystalline and amorphous conditions and showing you can scale these up from a few molecules to particulate solids. https://lnkd.in/gk9tQk6z

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Interesting progress! SLAC-led group to pursue energy-efficient electronics in new major project The new major research project, funded by the U.S. Department of @Energy (DOE), aims to explore novel methods for constructing microelectronic components using spin waves rather than traditional electron flow. Spin waves, which are energy waves created by the modulation of magnetic moments in atoms, offer a potential alternative to copper interconnects by moving information without charge currents, potentially reducing energy loss and heat generation. The research team, led by @Stanford's Yuri Suzuki and including researchers from @SLAClab, @Cornell, @MorganStateU, @NorthwesternU, @OhioState, @UCIrvine, @uiowa, and @UTAustin, will leverage SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source, the world’s most powerful X-ray laser. The LCLS's ultrafast X-ray pulses are crucial for measuring and detecting spin waves. The center aims to demonstrate the practicality of using spin waves in microelectronics for components such as interconnects, amplifiers, and switches, thereby enhancing energy efficiency. This research could change how microelectronics are made and contribute to advancements in various technology sectors including clean energy, communications, and healthcare. The four-year DOE grant will provide $14.4 million to this multi-institutional Center for Energy Efficient Magnonics.

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Excited to see this #NSFfunded work published! As part of our ongoing research efforts, we are devising strategies for designing and developing liquid crystal-based optical sensors with tunable sensitivity and selectivity of response to a range of analytes. In this paper, in collaboration with David Lynn at UW-Madison, we report on LC-in-water emulsions that are stabilized using amphiphilic gold nanoparticles and retain their ability to respond to amphiphilic analytes for periods up to 1 year after preparation. We show that these materials provide a promising platform for developing LC droplet-based sensors with long-term colloidal stability, as well as opportunities to tune the sensitivity and selectivity of the response to target aqueous analytes. Link to publication: https://lnkd.in/ebCUs6PV University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez University of Wisconsin-Madison National Science Foundation (NSF) #NSFfunded #PREM #CMaT #LiquidCrystals #nanoparticles #sensors

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#TechniqueTuesday A Look at the Materials Characterization Lab's Analytical Capabilities In this presentation, Anthony Richardella an assistant research professor at Penn State, speaks on the topic, "101 Ways to Measure Film Thickness." If you have a film you probably need to know its thickness. Film thickness measurements are important to everything from polymers to epitaxial 2D materials, but choosing the optimal technique is often not straightforward.  We will discuss some advantages and complications of several methods available at Penn State.  Techniques to be highlighted include:  #Xray methods, #SEM, #TEM, #OpticalMethods, and other destructive and non-destructive techniques. Are there really 101 ways?

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Penn State’s Center for Three-Dimensional Ferroelectric Microelectronics Manufacturing (3DFeM), led by Susan Trolier-McKinstry, Penn State’s Evan Pugh University Professor and Flaschen Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering, maintains the best and most complete set of facilities in the world for the deposition, characterization and integration of ferroelectric materials — materials that are useful in applications such as memory storage devices, capacitors and sensors because of their ability to maintain polarization even after an external field is removed. https://lnkd.in/ekXggEEE #ferroelectrics #piezoelectrics #memorystorage #devices #capacitors #sensors

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Yesterday, Michael Tony and Kang Xu, published a new Science paper entitled "solvent mediated oxide hydrogenation in layered cathodes". https://lnkd.in/ggzQpKC7 I am excited not only because of the discovery of new discharge mechanism in battery but also because this science paper supports my assumption of hydrogenation as a battery discharge route. My work was published in Chem Comm 2018 54 4152 and attached here for your reference.

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Materials are at the center of everything. The newest Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows at the Andlinger Center, Amy Honnig Bassett and Yifan Rao, are working with faculty who are also associated with PMI. Honnig Bassett is working with Emily Davidson and Rod Priestley. She will combine her background – graduate research at Rowan University developing resins with high temperature resistance for use as flame retardants – with the expertise of the Davidson and Priestley labs in polymer synthesis and characterization to explore the molecular design of new polymers with the desired set of properties. Rao is working with Glaucio Paulino and Minjie Chen. During her fellowship, Rao will merge Paulino’s specialty in the mechanics of materials and structures with Chen’s expertise in power electronics to develop integrated mechanical, electrical, and magnetic systems for rapid and remote control of these origami-inspired systems. The goal of Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship program at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment is to attract promising doctoral graduates who will accelerate important areas of energy and environmental research. Read more about Honnig Bassett and Rao here: https://lnkd.in/e8K2tDSP

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In this video co-presentation, Jeff Shallenberger, a research faculty, MCL Associate Director, and Manager of Surface Analysis, and Maxwell Wetherington, Assistant Research Professor specializing in Molecular Spectroscopy at the Materials Research Institute, Penn State, speak on the topic, "Spectroscopic Methods for Electronic Property Characterization at the MCL." This talk introduces how MCL now offers a range of analytical techniques that can be used to determine the key electronic properties of your device or material system. These properties include band gap (Eg), work function (WF), valence band maximum (VBM), ionization energy (IE), electron affinity (EA), conduction band minimum (CBM), and carrier concentration. We have techniques for studying electronic defect states in the band gap which can impact device performance and for those making heterojunctions, we can determine valence and conduction band offsets. This talk will provide an overview of these parameters, how they can be measured within MCL, and details about sample requirements and limitations. #TechniqueTuesday Watch here: https://okt.to/42FbR0

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It's #FreepaperFriday, and from Purdue University School of Materials Engineering we have a new offering in the rapidly growing area of MXenes. Prof. Babak Anasori assembled a strong team of students and off campus collaborators (Annabelle Bedford, Brian C. Wyatt, Srinivasa Kartik Nemani, Wyatt Highland, Matthew Boebinger, Raymond Unocic, Zachary Hood, Shiba P Adhikari, Paweł Piotr Michałowski, Murali Gopal Muraleedharan, PhD, Paul Kent) have recently published a paper in Nature Communications to identify the importance of alkaki cations in creating these 2D materials, in particular how they occupy vacancies and defect sites that would otherwise degrade the stability in applications tied to batteries and high temperature coatings. https://lnkd.in/gMdnB8gY

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Penn State is leading efforts to reestablish the U.S. as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing. Leveraging its history of cross-disciplinary collaboration and traditional strength in materials science, the university aims to address the significant supply chain risks posed by the concentration of high-end chip manufacturing in Asia. This initiative is crucial for reducing dependency on foreign manufacturing and ensuring the resilience of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. MASH Semiconductors Hub, Daniel Lopez, Susan Trolier-McKinstry, Vijaykrishnan Narayanan, Andrew Read Read the article featured in the Penn Stater Magazine: https://lnkd.in/enMvdBJi #CHIPSAct #semiconductorsupplychain #semiconductors #workforcedevelopment

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Happy to share that our new publication is now online! I worked on the reviewers' responses during my internship in Chicago, and I'm excited to finally see this one published! This paper explores the relationship between nanofiller dimensionality and dielectric properties in polymer nanocomposites! We found that incorporating different carbon-based nanofillers interestingly affects dielectric permittivity and breakdown strength. These insights are crucial for designing materials for flexible electronics and capacitive energy storage devices.

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Department Head of Sensory and Sensorimotor Systems, Zhaoping Li: "I am extremely delighted that my Ph.D. supervisor John J. Hopfield is being awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for foundational discoveries that enable machine learning in artificial neural networks! It is heart-warming that the physics community is recognizing his pioneering contributions that are fundamentally changing the world. His Hopfield network has shaped many physicists to combine physics, biology, psychology, and neuroscience approaches to understand the brain. I am immensely grateful for his priceless mentoring, and for his uplifting encouragement to my V1 Saliency Hypothesis many years before its recognition. Here is an interesting anecdote: during my Ph.D. study in 1980s, he suggested that I look into the olfactory system, and said that it was interesting that olfactory neurons had been shown to exhibit oscillatory activities. This was remarkable for two reasons, firstly, the Hopfield network does not display oscillatory neural activities, secondly, this was way before olfaction became a popular research topic." #nobelprize #physics #artificialintelligence #machinelearning

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I'm happy to share that our research on "Strain and Electric Field Effects in MoS₂/WS₂ vdW Heterostructures" has been published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds. We explored how strain and electric fields impact these 2D materials, which could lead to advancements in optoelectronic devices. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g749YJnr #Research #2DMaterials #Nanotechnology #Optoelectronics #Innovation #Science #MaterialScience

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Very nice work out from collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison demonstrating the utility of modulated longitudinal coupling for reading out solid-state qubits. Check it out👇. https://lnkd.in/eCFr58eA We’ve been working on these concepts since at least 2016 so nice to see the ideas validated in real life. This approach to readout not only promises to enhance readout speed and fidelity but allows you to design quantum computer architectures where the qubit has a very small frequency relative to the readout circuit (or vice versa!) which is really important for new types of protected qubits headed your way. https://lnkd.in/e35MBH4K https://lnkd.in/ehsTBqZV https://lnkd.in/eT88P_i5

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In PRL's latest forward-looking Essay, Jun Ye and Peter Zoller argue for using quantum sensing and atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) techniques to proble fundamental physics. For example, quantum clocks could probe gravity, looking for permanent electric dipole moments of elementary particles can probe physics beyond the standard model, and quantum sensors could help us understand strongly interacting many-body systems. Essay: Quantum Sensing with Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Platforms for Fundamental Physics https://lnkd.in/gm4b2BEr (Open Access)

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This is a very comprehensive review/concept paper that highlights state-of-the-art and challenges of #neuromorphic and #memorymatter active #hydrogel systems. Great work led by Jiongyi Yan, with myself, James Armstrong and Adam Perriman on the team. We thank the support of the European Research Council (ERC) and #UKRI. The paper is #openaccess #biobased #metamaterials

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