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By Maria R. Lucas

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Cellulose nanocrystals — bio-based nanomaterials derived from natural resources such as plant cellulose — are valuable for their use in water treatment, packaging, tissue engineering, electronics, antibacterial coatings and much more. Though the materials provide a sustainable alternative to non-bio-based materials, transporting them in liquid taxes industrial infrastructures and leads to environmental impacts.

By Sam Sholtis

Nanoparticles are complex materials smaller than 100 nanometers, or about the size of a virus, but they have a large range of potential applications, from medicine to energy to electronics. Now, hundreds of new nanoparticles with previously unknown features have been produced using an innovative experimental approach.

By Jamie Oberdick

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sometimes friction is good, such the friction between a road and a car’s tires to prevent the vehicle from skidding. But sometimes friction is bad – if you did not put oil in that very same car, there would be so much friction in the bearings of the engine the car could not operate. 

By Jamie Oberdick

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — You are reading this because of materials.  

By Ashley WennersHerron

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC)’s Joint University Microelectronics Program 2.0 (JUMP 2.0), a consortium of industrial partners in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has announced the creation of a $32.7 million, Penn State-led Center for Heterogeneous Integration of Micro Electronic Systems (CHIMES).

By Mariah R. Lucas

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Heparin has long been used as a blood thinner, or anticoagulant, for patients with blood clotting disorders or after surgery to prevent complications. But the medication remains difficult to dose correctly, potentially leading to overdosing or underdosing.

By Adrienne Berard

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — From a distance, they looked like clouds of dust. Yet, the swarm of microrobots in author Michael Crichton’s bestseller “Prey” was self-organized. It acted with rudimentary intelligence, learning, evolving and communicating with itself to grow more powerful.

By Mariah Lucas

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The popularity of wearable electronics has induced demand for their parts, including power sources such as triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Such power sources must be both stretchy and high-performance, holding up under various deformation conditions over hours of use.