(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Imagine a T-shirt that could monitor your heart rate or blood pressure. Or a pair of socks that could provide feedback on your running stride. This futuristic idea is getting closer to reality, thanks to new research from Washington State University. Scientists there have developed a more durable and comfortable way to print electronic materials onto fabrics, creating “smart” textiles. Unlike earlier attempts that relied on stiff or rigid components sewn or glued onto fabrics, this new method uses a direct ink 3D printing technique. Researchers printed a solution containing carbon nanotubes and a biodegradable polyester onto two types of fabric. This solution bonded well with the fibers, making the printed materials wash-friendly and able to hold up through abrasion.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed silk iron microparticles and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and then chemically bonded the silk microparticles with the nanoparticles. The microparticles were designed to deliver drugs to sites in the body, and the drugs were towed by the microparticles like a trailer is towed by a car. “You can think of it like towing cargo – we created the [micro]particles to carry drugs, and the nanoparticles are the tow hook,” said Mostafa Bedewy, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Now that the researchers have found a way to magnetically guide the silk microparticles with the nanoparticles, the next step will be to load them with therapeutic cargo. This research opens the door to a wide range of future applications – from targeted cancer therapies to regenerative treatments for cardiovascular disease.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
For more than 100 years, scientists have used a method called crystallography to determine the atomic structure of materials, but this technique only works well when researchers have large, pure crystals. For a powder of nanocrystals, the method only hints at the unseen structure. Now, scientists at Columbia Engineering have created a machine learning algorithm that can observe the pattern produced by a powder of nanocrystals to infer their atomic structures. The scientists began with a dataset of 40,000 crystal structures and jumbled their atomic positions until they were indistinguishable from random placement. Then, they trained a deep neural network to connect these almost randomly placed nanocrystals with their associated X-ray diffraction patterns. Lastly, the algorithm was able to determine the atomic structure from nanocrystals of various shapes in the powder.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. National science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
In 2023, researchers at Caltech developed a smart bandage that can provide real-time data about chronic wounds and accelerate the healing process by applying medication or electrical fields to stimulate tissue growth. Now, the researchers have shown that an improved version of their bandage can continually sample fluid, which the body sends to wound sites as part of the inflammatory response. The bandage is composed of a flexible, biocompatible polymer strip that integrates a nanoengineered biomarker sensor array, which is disposable for hygiene and single-use applications. The system also includes a reusable printed circuit board that handles signal processing and wireless data transmission to a user interface, such as a smartphone.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a way to create a metamaterial that is both strong and stretchy. (A metamaterial is a synthetic material with microscopic structures that give it exceptional properties.) The key to the new material’s dual properties is a combination of stiff microscopic struts and a softer woven architecture. The researchers printed samples of the new metamaterial, each measuring in size from several square microns to several square millimeters. They put the material through a series of stress tests, in which they attached either end of the sample to a specialized nanomechanical press and measured the force it took to pull the material apart. They found their new material was able to stretch three times its own length. The researchers say the new design can be applied to other materials and create stretchy ceramics, glass, and metals. This work was performed, in part, through the use of MIT.nano’s facilities.