August 2022

‌ ‌ ‌

About MRL

Teachers make Frankensteel during materials camp at MIT

Teachers work to create a Frankensteel at a recent MIT Materials Genome Camp. Left to right are: James Roy, Darren Greschuk, Jessica Tickle, Jody Matta, and Theresa Rousseau. Photo by Julian Rackwitz.

Experiments can be recreated in their high school labs

Ten high school teachers spent a week at MIT in July designing and making Frankensteel, a self-healing material inspired by the villain in the Terminator 2 movie. The teachers worked with Thermo-Calc, computational software used to predict materials structures. They used it to design four different versions of Frankensteel. Read more

Team IDs simple way to significantly increase lifetimes of fuel cells, other key devices

MIT Professor Harry Tuller and Postdoctoral Fellow Han Gil Seo in the lab. The two and colleagues report a simple way to significantly increase the lifetimes of fuel cells and other key devices. Photo by: Hendrik Wulfmeier

Work solves decades-old problem

In research that could jump-start work on a range of technologies including fuel cells, key to storing solar and wind energy, MIT researchers have found a relatively simple way to increase the lifetimes of these devices: changing the “pH” of the system. Fuel and electrolysis cells made of materials known as solid metal oxides are of interest for several reasons. For example, in the electrolysis mode, they are very efficient at converting electricity from a renewable source into a storable fuel like hydrogen or methane that can be used in the fuel cell mode to generate electricity when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. They can also be made without using costly metals like platinum. However, their commercial viability has been hampered, in part, because they degrade over time. Metal atoms seeping from the interconnects used to construct banks of fuel/electrolysis cells slowly poison the devices. Read more

MIT team reports giant response of semiconductors to light and explains atomic origins of phenomenon

MIT graduate student Jiahao Dong with the nanoindentation machine used in recent MIT work on the response of semiconductors to light. Credits: Photo: Elizabeth Thomson/Materials Research Laboratory

The materials’ stiffness increases up to 40 percent, in a reversible effect, the researchers report in a study that also explains the phenomenon's atomic origins.

In an example of the adage “everything old is new again,” MIT engineers report a new discovery in semiconductors, well-known materials that have been the focus of intense study for over 100 years thanks to their many applications in electronic devices. The team found that these important materials not only become much stiffer in response to light, but the effect is reversible when the light is turned off. The engineers also explain what is happening at the atomic scale, and show how the effect can be tuned by making the materials in a certain way — introducing specific defects — and using different colors and intensities of light. Read more

In other news

Large MIT presence at international conference on solid state ionics

Designing zeolites, porous materials made to trap molecules

A new concept for low-cost batteries

Scientists propose novel way to speed up light-activated drug discovery

Events Calendar

The Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series MIT Conference on Mining, Environment and Society, September 7-9 (virtual) - Economies are undergoing a transition from conventional to renewable sources of energy. What does this mean for future resource needs? Professors Antoine Allanore and Elsa Olivetti will be among the speakers who will examine the challenges and explore opportunities to collaborate for solutions. Learn more and register For updated information on other events, please keep checking our website or the MIT Events Calendar.

Join the MRL Collegium

We invite your company to become a member of the MRL Industry Collegium. As a member, your company will receive: premium access to member only briefing materials and information via our website periodic publications and research activity highlights invitations to workshops, conferences and symposia support for research staff visits on-campus facilitation of corporate meetings and events customized interactions with MIT students

To join the collegium contact: Mark Beals Associate Director, MRL 617-253-2129 mbeals@mit.edu https://mrl.mit.edu 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 617-253-5179 mit-mrl@mit.edu