Channel Title: Materials Research Society Channel Description: The Materials Research Society (MRS) is an international organization of almost 14,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government, and a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology to improve the quality of life. MRS sponsors two major annual Meetings offering approximately 95 topical symposia, attracting over 12,000 attendees annually. The Society recognizes professional and technical excellence, conducts symposium tutorials, and encourages technical interaction among college students through University Chapters, and among materials professionals through regional Sections. MRS promotes communication exchange through publications— • MRS Bulletin • Journal of Materials Research (JMR) • MRS Communications • MRS Energy & Sustainability • MRS Advances • Other publications related to current research activities <video> Discover the Future of Materials Science at the 2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit! Description: Join us at the 2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit, where innovation meets discovery! Dive into the latest advancements in materials research, connect with leading scientists and industry experts, and explore cutting-edge technologies shaping the future. Whether you're a researcher, engineer, or student, this exhibit is your gateway to groundbreaking insights and networking opportunities in the world of materials science. 🔬 Event Details: 📅 Date: December 1-6, 2024 📍 Location: Boston, MA Don't miss out on keynote sessions, technical symposia, and interactive exhibits from top organizations from around the world. Elevate your knowledge, expand your network, and be part of the global materials community. Subscribe to our channel for more updates, and visit https://www.mrs.org/fall2024 to register today! #F24MRS #MaterialsScience #innovation #Research #exhibit </video> <video> MRS Advances Editor in Chief David Bahr Description: </video> <video> Episode 16: Researchers fabricate monolithic selenium/silicon tandem solar cell Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Rasmus Neilsen from the Technical University of Denmark about his fabrication of a monolithic selenium/silicon tandem solar cell. The selenium forms the top cell of the tandem device, with silicon used as the bottom cell. Selenium-based single-junction solar cells have traditionally used fluorine-doped tin oxide. In this work indium-tin oxide was used as a transparent conductive layer that is easier to deposit and its use is more widespread. Neilsen and his research team controlled the thickness of the carrier-selective contacts in the silicon solar cell that protects the silicon layer from the processes used to deposit subsequent layers on top, thus enabling them to deposit the top cell directly onto the substrate. This work was published in a recent issue of PRX Energy (https://journals.aps.org/prxenergy/abstract/10.1103/PRXEnergy.3.013013) .  </video> <video> Episode 22: Additive manufacturing enhances toughness in formable cementitious materials Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Reza Moini of Princeton University about his group’s development of an enhanced additive manufacturing technique to fabricate cementitious materials with excellent fracture toughness. They based their design of the material on the double-helical or double-bouligand structure of coelacanth fish scales that resist deformation. In order to fabricate the material, Moini’s research team used a two-component robotic additive manufacturing process. The extrusion system was controlled using specialist algorithms. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51640-y) . </video> <video> Esther Amstad: Novel ways of creating stable emulsions Description: Markus Buehler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and editor of the Impact section of MRS Bulletin, publishing new research, interviews Esther Amstad of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne about her group’s work on creating stable emulsions, using novel chemistry, materials, and design principles. Emulsions are used, for example, in food, certain drug and cosmetic formulations, agriculture, and as paints. Key to the successful use of emulsions is a good drop stability. Appropriate surfactants are often selected based, in part, on their hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB), which determines their solubility. Amstad’s group determined how the HLB value of perfluorinated block-copolymer-based surfactants influences the emulsion stability, providing guidelines for an economical, benign, and targeted synthesis of appropriate perfluorinated surfactants that efficiently stabilize water-in-perfluorinated oil emulsions. Amstad demonstrates that water-in-perfluorinated oil drops are most stable if the HLB value of the surfactants is around 2.5. This work is published in MRS Bulletin https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-024-00704-x. </video> <video> Episode 15: Torsional force microscopy reveals the moiré superlattices Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Mihir Pendharkar of Stanford University about characterizing electronic properties of twistronics materials. Twistronics refers to a type of electronic device consisting of two-dimensional materials layered at a relative twist angle, forming a new periodic structure known as moiré superlattices. Pendharkar and colleagues studied different configurations of graphene layered with hexagonal boron nitride. Determining the twist angle of any particular sample is extremely time-consuming. By developing a characterization technique called torsional force microscopy, Pendharkar and colleagues have reduced the time to a matter of hours. This work was published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2314083121) .  </video> <video> Episode 20: Amino-silane treatment extends perovskite performance Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Yen-Hung Lin of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology about his work to eliminate defects in perovskite solar cells. Lin’s group treated the perovskites with a category of molecules known as amino-silanes, which bind vacancies in the perovskites, preventing recombination of the electrons and holes. The amino-silane treatment retained the device’s performance at 95% power conversion efficiency for more than 1500 hours. This work was published in a recent issue of Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado2302) .  </video> <video> Eleftheria Roumeli: Green adhesion for the built environment Description: Markus Buehler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and editor of the Impact section of MRS Bulletin, publishing new research, interviews Eleftheria Roumeli of the University of Washington about her group’s work with Ulva seaweed as an adhesive to enable cohesion and strength in hot-pressed wood panels. Upon hot-pressing, powdered Ulva flows in between the wood particles, generating a matrix which provides strong binding. At an Ulva concentration of 40 wt.%, the composites reached an average elastic modulus of 6.1 GPa, and flexural strength of 38.2 MPa (compared to 4.7 GPa and 22.6 MPa, respectively, for pure wood compressed at the same pressing conditions). This work is published in MRS Bulletin https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-024-00734-5. </video> <video> Episode 21: Hierarchical ceramics resist crack propagation Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews postdoctoral research fellow Rohit Pratyush Behera and Prof. Hortense Le Ferrand of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore about their design of a strong and tough ceramic that absorbs energy, inspired from biology. They borrowed microscopic designs found in a mollusk, a mantis shrimp, and the enamel casing surrounding human teeth. The researchers stacked round discs of aluminum oxide particles in horizontal layers in a helical structure, then encased the structure in an extra protective layer made of alumina nanoparticles. The aluminum oxide in the discs is designed to respond to an external magnetic field, modifying the orientation of the discs layer by layer, consequently adjusting the properties of the ceramic composites. This work was published in a recent issue of Cell Reports Physical Science (https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00424-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666386424004247%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) . </video> <video> Episode 23: Frontal polymerization controls materials properties Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Nancy Sottos, the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign (UIUC), and Justine Paul, a former student at UIUC who now holds a position at DuPont, about their work with frontal polymerization. By mimicking patterns in biological materials such as shells, their research group took a multidisciplinary approach to control crystalline patterning, which ultimately enabled them to control mechanical properties of polymers. By applying heat, they made slight changes in the chemical reactions to achieve specific crystalline patterns. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07951-7) . </video> <video> Career journey spotlight: Ottman Tertuliano Description: MRS Bulletin science correspondent Priscila Cavassin of the University of Bern interviews Ottman Tertuliano, AMA Family Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania about his current research in biomaterials and his career journey. Tertuliano received the 2018 MRS Graduate Student Award (Gold) and the Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award for showing particular promise as a future teacher and mentor. Tertuliano talks about what challenges he faced in his research and during his career as a materials researcher, about how to find someone to champion his work, and about how the MRS awards impacted his career. </video> <video> Career journey spotlight: Ramu Banavath Description: MRS Bulletin science correspondent Priscila Cavassin of the University of Bern interviews Ramu Banavath, a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, about his current research with biosensors and his career journey. Banavath talks about what it means to find someone to champion your work, and about what challenges he faced in his research and during his career as a materials researcher. </video> <video> Episode 17: Metamaterial tailors thermal emission Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Coskun Kocabas from The University of Manchester in the UK about his development of a metamaterial that can tailor thermal emission. Rather than using a periodic system, which most topological materials employ, his research team borrowed a concept from laser design and created an optical cavity using a dielectric medium sandwiched between two layers that act as mirrors: a metal substrate and a top layer of platinum. The top layer serves as a thermal emitter, and the thickness of the top layer defines the topological property that regulates thermal emissivity. This work was published in a recent issue of Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0534) .  </video> <video> Episode 19: 4D-STEM measures thermal properties of 2D materials Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Michael Pettes, deputy group leader and staff scientist at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies in Los Alamos National laboratory about a characterization technique that employs a four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscope (4D-STEM) paired with complex computational data analysis to directly measure the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of monolayer epitaxial tungsten diselenide. The standard technique for directly measuring the TEC involves X-ray diffraction, but 2D materials are too thin. 4D-STEM uses a patterned electron probe which enables diffraction positions to be accurately mapped in real space. This method overcomes the challenges of indirect measurements and spatial resolution. This work was published in a recent issue of ACS Nano (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.4c02996?ref=pdf) .  </video> <video> Episode 18: Glassy gels exhibit numerous mechanical properties Description: In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Michael Dickey of North Carolina State University about the discovery and mechanical properties of glassy gels. Dicky credits his postdoc Meixiang Wang who, while studying ionic liquids, created the first glassy gel. Dicky’s group found that the mechanical properties of their glassy gel include shape memory, self-healing, and adhesion. While other materials may demonstrate comparable toughness and stretchiness, the glassy gel offers an advantage because of its simple curing process. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07564-0) .  </video>

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The Materials Research Society (MRS) is an international organization of almost 14,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government, and a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology to improve the quality of life. MRS sponsors two major annual Meetings offering approximately 95 topical symposia, attracting over 12,000 attendees annually.

The Society recognizes professional and technical excellence, conducts symposium tutorials, and encourages technical interaction among college students through University Chapters, and among materials professionals through regional Sections.

MRS promotes communication exchange through publications—
• MRS Bulletin
• Journal of Materials Research (JMR)
• MRS Communications
• MRS Energy & Sustainability
• MRS Advances
• Other publications related to current research activities

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