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Director's Message:
This is the first edition of the MEdIAN - the Molecular Engineering Industrial Affiliates Newsletter. The geometric median is the point on a map where the distances to all the surrounding points are minimized. This is a metaphor for how I would like to operate and engage with our industrial partners.
This newsletter is meant to provide a glimpse of activities, opportunities, developments and insight that you and your company can leverage. This will include recent discoveries, student news, campus events, as well as a broader picture of relevant information that aligns with one or more of our corporate partners! I encourage you to reach out and tell me your priorities in terms of research interests, talent development, and resources, among other aspects. I would enjoy a chance to visit you at your facility or have you come down to campus for a tour.
To start - we are planning a
facilities open house of our materials characterization instrumentation facilities (FORUM) on Friday, May 3rd on campus. This will allow you to learn about some of our on campus capabilities and expertise, as well as get to know some of our talent. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Maria Kokkori from the Art Institute of Chicago, talking about materials science in art restoration. We will also have representatives from various groups across campus that you can meet, ask questions, have lunch, and network.
Additionally, I'd like to get a feel for the the regional industrial innovation landscape through a
quick 5-question survey. There will be a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card for those who fill out the survey and provide their contact information before March 1st!
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have!
Best,
Felix
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What is Molecular Engineering?
Molecular engineering
is an emerging field of study concerned with the design and testing of molecular properties, behavior and interactions in order to assemble better materials, systems, and processes for specific functions. This approach, in which observable properties of a macroscopic system are influenced by direct alteration of a molecular structure, falls into the broader category of “bottom-up” design.
Molecular engineering is highly interdisciplinary by nature, encompassing aspects of
chemical engineering
,
materials science
,
bioengineering
,
electrical engineering
,
physics
,
mechanical engineering
, and
chemistry
. There is also considerable overlap with
nanotechnology
, in that both are concerned with the behavior of materials on the scale of nanometers or smaller. Given the highly fundamental nature of molecular interactions, there are a plethora of potential application areas, limited perhaps only by one’s imagination and the laws of physics. However, some of the early successes of molecular engineering have come in the fields of immunotherapy, synthetic biology, and printable electronics.
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Internships
Are you looking for interns with a highly developed laboratory and/or computational skill set? We are encouraging our 3rd and 4th year PhD students who are curious about industrial positions to seek out internships with companies. Companies can help by providing contact points and a description of the position. Please send any questions or solicitations to
Felix
.
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Joining different kinds of materials can lead to all kinds of breakthroughs. It’s an essential skill that allowed humans to make everything from skyscrapers (by reinforcing concrete with steel) to solar cells (by layering materials to herd along electrons).In electronics, joining different materials produces “heterojunctions”—the most fundamental components in solar cells, LEDs or computer chips. The smoother the seam between two materials, the more easily electrons flow across it; essential for how well the electronic devices function. But they’re made up of crystals—rigid lattices of atoms, which may have very different spacing—and they don’t take kindly to being mashed together.
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In new research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, published in Science, scientists have identified a new catalyst that uses only about a quarter as much platinum as current technology by maximizing the effectiveness of the available platinum.
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Scientists and engineers conduct groundbreaking research every day at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. They explore a wide range of disciplines, helping to answer fundamental questions about our world and addressing our nation’s energy and security challenges. In 2018, the laboratory made major contributions to fields ranging from battery science to high-energy physics.
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Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago have developed a new system for delivering a malaria vaccine that shows promise in being much more effective than the current system. By developing a vaccine that targets specific cells in the immune system, they have seen a much greater immune and antibody response to the vaccine.
“When compared to the current malaria vaccine option, our results are extremely exciting,” said
Jeffrey Hubbell
, Eugene Bell Professor in Tissue Engineering and corresponding author on the paper. “This work could potentially have applications in vaccinations against complex infections and cancer.”
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The university and the nearby national labs recently hosted National Defense and a handful of other journalists at its Science of Innovation Summit. The goal was to spread the word about the technological prowess found in the Chicago area. It’s considerable but rarely mentioned as one of the nation’s innovation hubs.
Today, the University of Chicago operates Argonne on behalf of the Department of Energy. It is part of a hub that includes the nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where scientists are working to understand the very fabric of the universe. While that is basic research and seemingly of little concern to the defense world, that is not entirely correct. Researchers there are using what they learn about protons, electrons, atoms and neutrinos and applying it to quantum computing and quantum communications. These fields are in their infancy, but they are potential game-changers for national security.
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Many fleet managers are looking at alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies to reduce their environmental footprint and save money. The AFLEET Tool, and its newly launched web-based version, AFLEET Online, developed by the
U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory
, can help fleets optimize their purchasing decisions to do exactly that.
AFLEET — short for Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation—is a
free
, publicly available spreadsheet-based tool that calculates and compares the costs and environmental benefits of a broad range of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies. It also accommodates all vehicle types, from passenger cars and pickup trucks to buses and freight trucks.
"We're helping
decision makers
understand the environmental and cost impacts of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies for their specific applications. AFLEET and its new online companion version provide a comprehensive and easier way to make those decisions."—Andrew Burnham, Argonne environmental scientist.
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There are many creative tools a designer uses to think differently, but none is more counter-intuitive than “wrong thinking,” also called reverse thinking. Wrong thinking is when you intentionally think of the worst idea possible — the exact opposite of the accepted or logical solution, ideas that can get you laughed at or even fired — and work back from those to find new ways of solving old problems.
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The power of
serendipity is hot
in business circles. Silicon Valley campuses have been constructed to foster more “random collisions.” One key to creativity, many thinkers say, is unexpected interactions. “Create spaces where you’re wandering around and exposing yourself to new people,” John Hagel of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge
told me
in an interview. And venture capitalist Anthony Tjan and his colleagues conducted an
expansive survey of entrepreneurs
that revealed a quarter of them
self-identified as lucky
and traced their success to embracing serendipitous encounters.
All that is well and good – for people who don’t mind talking to strangers. But
as an introvert
, one of the situations I hate most is making small talk with people I don’t know. Here’s how I’ve managed to strike the balance between meeting new people – and being exposed to interesting new ideas – and not having to initiate awkward conversations.
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Now, a new study by a team of researchers led by
Rui Cao
, of Renmin University of China in Beijing, reports a copper porphyrin complex that can catalyse the water oxidation reaction at neutral pH, which is beneficial from an ease of use and safety standpoint, with an overpotential of 310mV. While this does not outperform conventional noble metal catalysts, it does represent a significant improvement in the performance of catalysts based on cheap and abundant elements. Previous copper catalysts have required much higher overpotentials and/or an alkaline pH.
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Designing novel materials of specific properties for a particular application requires simultaneously utilizing physical theory, advanced computational methods and models, materials properties databases and complex calculations. This approach stands in contrast to the traditional trial-and-error method of materials discovery.
CHiMaD
aims to focus this approach on the creation of novel hierarchical materials which exploit distinct structural details at various scales, from the atomic on up, to obtain enhanced properties. The center's research focuses on both organic and inorganic advanced materials in fields as diverse as self-assembled biomaterials, smart materials for self-assembled circuit designs, organic photovoltaic materials, advanced ceramics and metal alloys.
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This scenario is already potent enough in day-to-day life, however it is particularly potent in the business world. A failure to innovate in the business world can leave you limping behind competitors who are soaring because they decided to update their business model. This is particularly important in the modern world because of the huge technological advances; it would be, in my opinion, an outrageous decision to not innovate and include technology within a business model. Some companies, however, have failed to make such moves and have, therefore fallen off the top of the ladder.
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March 20, 2019 (WED)
Professor Alberto Salleo
(Stanford University) on the topic of novel materials and processing techniques for large-area and flexible electronic/photonic devices
April 10, 2019 (WED)
April 24, 2019 (WED)
Professor Jeffrey Moore
(UIUC) on the topic of the synthesis and study of large organic molecules and the discovery of new polymeric materials.
May 8, 2019 (WED)
May 22, 2019 (WED)
Professor Sven Rogge
(U. New South Wales) on the topic of the physics of qubit coupling with the environment to understand decoherence pathways and control.
June 5, 2019 (WED)
Professor Ralph Colby
(PSU) on the topic of molecular-level understanding of dynamics in interesting liquids.
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New composite advances lignin as a renewable 3-D printing material
Researchers combined a melt-stable hardwood lignin with conventional plastic, a low-melting nylon, and
carbon fiber
to create a composite with just the right characteristics for extrusion and weld strength between layers during the printing process, as well as excellent mechanical properties.
The work is tricky. Lignin chars easily; unlike workhorse composites like acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) that are made of petroleum-based thermoplastics, lignin can only be heated to a certain temperature for softening and extrusion from a 3-D-printing nozzle. Prolonged exposure to heat dramatically increases its viscosity—it becomes too thick to be extruded easily.
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In the 1970s, researchers attempted to create rechargeable fluoride batteries using solid components, but solid-state batteries work only at
high temperatures
, making them impractical for everyday use. In the new study, the authors report at last figuring out how to make the fluoride batteries work using liquid components—and liquid batteries easily work at room temperature.
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MatSciRN is an open platform that provides a venue for researchers to showcase early stage versions of their research, to share them in an open and free environment, and to speed up the dissemination of their research. It also provides readers access to groundbreaking work before it has been published. MatSciRN actively welcomes all papers in any area of materials science that authors wish to share. For the past several years, SSRN has been at the forefront of providing an open-access repository for sharing papers in progress, and MatSciRN is the first SSRN network dedicated solely to materials science.
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Although manufacturers everywhere are looking ahead to prepare for the changes, the biggest hurdle to successfully hailing in the age of IoT is an acute lack of cybersecurity. Without effective security measures, hackers could cause immeasurable damage to the world’s factories, homes and cities, simply by exploiting weak points in the linked web of sensors and controllers. In fact, we have already
witnessed the consequences
of poor IoT security firsthand. And if
Gartner’s prediction
of 20 billion connected IoT devices by 2020 comes true, engineers can soon anticipate attacks of a much larger scale.
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As of July 2017, 2,400 commercial hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles were moving across U.S. roads, with many more coming. Buses, forklifts, ground support equipment, and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are the most common hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles, while major auto companies are introducing passenger vehicles in the U.S and Asia. Moreover, stationary fuel cells are gaining traction as emergency power sources at hospitals, replacing traditional diesel-powered equipment.
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For the first time ever, an international team of researchers imaged the microscopic state of negative capacitance. This novel result provides researchers with fundamental, atomistic insight into the physics of negative capacitance, which could have far-reaching consequences for energy-efficient electronics.
The team, led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, describes their results in a paper published in the January 14 issue of
Nature
.
Capacitors are simple devices that can store an
electrical charge
. Their capacitance, or ability to store
electrical energy
, is determined by how much the capacitor's charge changes when it is connected to a
voltage
source, like a battery. Negative capacitance occurs when a change in charge causes the net voltage across a material to change in the opposite direction; so that a decrease in voltage leads to an increase in charge.
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Different ways to explore interactions with the IME:
- senior design projects
- internships
- materials characterization /device fabrication facilities
- participation in FORUM events
- consulting activities
- Ask Felix!
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3D Printing Health Risks Identified by UL and Georgia Tech
UL Chemical Safety and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have now published two of the most extensive studies on the topic to date. Focusing on desktop 3D printers, the partners found that the machines produce UFPs during operation that can be inhaled and brought deep into the pulmonary system. They also found over 200 VOCs, including irritants and carcinogens.
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Scientists have designed a triangle-shaped molecule to make the first rechargeable aluminium battery that works with cations, getting one step closer to cheap and powerful batteries that could outperform lithium-ion systems.
The battery – which can be recharged thousands of times – is the first to run on aluminium complex cations. This solves a conundrum in existing aluminium-ion systems: they work with complex anions and consume a lot of electrolyte.
Today, many portable devices are powered by lithium-ion batteries. But despite their popularity, such batteries are still expensive and
may present safety issues
. Aluminium devices are a promising alternative because the element – the anode material in such batteries – is
the third most abundant in the Earth’s crust
. It is not only cheap but also less reactive than lithium, which makes it safer.
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Fusion Energy: Materials In Direct Contact With An Artificial Sun
As of today, there is still no net electricity contribution from nuclear fusion in our power grids. What are the challenges that separate our current status from a time, where a significant fraction of the grid base load is provided by fusion power plants? What are the provisions that the nuclear fusion community has chosen to account for the bad reputation of anything connected to the word ‘nuclear’? In the following, these questions will be addressed.
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Engineers at Caltech and ETH Zürich in Switzerland have created a method to systematically design metamaterials using principles of quantum mechanics.
Their work could pave the way for wider use of metamaterials in more mainstream applications by creating a purpose-driven framework for their design.
Metamaterials are engineered materials that exploit the geometry of their internal structure to manipulate incoming waves. For example, a metamaterial that manipulates
electromagnetic waves
might bend light in an unusual way to create a cloaking device. Meanwhile, a wafer-thin acoustic metamaterial might reflect incoming sound waves to soundproof a room.
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Stronger, lighter, greener
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A new magnet technology invented at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE)
Argonne National Laboratory
could help drive the nation’s transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric and hybrid power more rapidly, at lower cost and in a more environmentally friendly way.
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You are welcome to park for free on certain streets if you can find it. The closest parking lot to the Eckhardt Research Center is the North parking lot.
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