Conformal metasurface coating eliminates crosstalk and shrinks waveguides
Materials Research Institute
Use our integrated materials research facilities to turn your product from concept to prototype
The properties of materials can behave in funny ways. Tweak one aspect to make a device smaller or less leaky, for example, and something else might change in an undesirable way, so that engineers play a game of balancing one characteristic against another. Now a team of Penn State electrical engineers have a way to simultaneously control diverse optical properties of dielectric waveguides by using a two-layer coating, each layer with a near zero thickness and weight.
An international team of researchers, including scientists from Shinshu University (Japan) and the director of Penn State’s ATOMIC Center, has developed a graphene-based coating for desalination membranes that is more robust and scalable than current nanofiltration membrane technologies. The result could be a sturdy and practical membrane for clean water solutions as well as protein separation, wastewater treatment and pharmaceutical and food industry applications.
A new, lightweight composite material for energy storage in flexible electronics, electric vehicles and aerospace applications has been experimentally shown to store energy at operating temperatures well above current commercial polymers, according to a team of Penn State scientists. This polymer-based, ultrathin material can be produced using techniques already used in industry.
October 17-18 is Materials Day! Featuring experts from government, industry, and academia in informal break-out sessions across two days, Materials Day 2017 will tackle topics that matter, from advanced, sustainable manufacturing to materials for next generation healthcare. Be sure to mark your calendar!
Advancing ManufacturingDiscovery in materials science can be through new structures, new properties, new composites, and new understanding of materials from properties to the synthetic pathways. The ability to take this knowledge and scale to large-scale processes and production enables the discovery to have a viable societal impact, provide new products and new devices, and to develop new competitive business.
The world needs crops with better root systems that can produce food with less water and fertilizer. Understanding how to optimize root structure and function entails complex computational, mathematical and biophysical challenges.
From there to here…Atomic Things are Everywhere
Recent advances in cryo-EM have brought us into a new era where atomic structures are feasible. Successful cryo-EM consists of three components: sample preparation, data collection, and processing. Penn State has invested in a state of the art temperature and humidity controlled prep room to prepare samples and acquired a new Titan Krios microscope that collects atomic resolution data. We are equipped with the computer resources to process cryo-EM data into high resolution maps. So what do you need to get an atomic resolution map? Can you take advantage of this revolutionary new technique? Will your sample work? This talk will present the criteria for a good input sample required for an atomic resolution 3D structure.
Penn State’s investment in its interdisciplinary research institutes, including the Materials Research Institute (MRI), has created a culture of strong collaborations across disciplines. At Penn State, many researchers have the support of both their academic departments and the university-wide institutes, such as MRI. By encouraging crosscutting research, MRI and its sister institutes open up traditional silos of knowledge to the stimulus of other viewpoints and new ideas. This mingling of disciplines, often called “convergence,” brings together the physical and life sciences with engineering and computation to solve the most complex problems facing society today and in the future.
2DLM
ICAT
ATOMIC
CIMP-3D
Energy Institute
HESE
CNS MRSEC
PSIEE
Institute for Cyberscience
CDP
Every organization has different priorities and resources. Directors of the MRI facilities recognizes this and help your company leverage our labs in various ways.
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