(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from Rice University, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shed light on how the extreme miniaturization of thin films affects the behavior of relaxor ferroelectrics — materials with noteworthy energy-conversion properties used in sensors, actuators, and nanoelectronics. The findings reveal that as the films shrink to dimensions comparable to internal polarization structures within the films, their fundamental properties can shift in unexpected ways. More specifically, when the films are shrunk down to a precise range of 25–30 nanometers, their ability to maintain their structure and functionality under varying conditions is significantly enhanced.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers from Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, CT, and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway, NJ, have shown that microplastic and nanosplastic particles in soil and water can significantly increase how much toxic chemicals plants and human intestinal cells absorb. Using a cellular model of the human small intestine, the researchers found that nano-size plastic particles increased the absorption of arsenic by nearly six-fold compared with arsenic exposure alone. The same effect was seen with boscalid, a commonly used pesticide. Also, the researchers exposed lettuce plants to two sizes of polystyrene particles – 20 nanometers and 1,000 nanometers – along with arsenic and boscalid. They found the smaller particles had the biggest impact, increasing arsenic uptake into edible plant tissues nearly threefold compared to plants exposed to arsenic alone.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, as well as Northern Illinois University have discovered that superconducting nanowire photon detectors, which are used for detecting photons (the fundamental particles of light) could potentially also function as highly accurate particle detectors, specifically for high-energy protons used as projectiles in particle accelerators. The ability to detect high-energy protons with superconducting nanowire photon detectors has never been reported before, and this discovery widens the scope of particle detection applications.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed ultra-thin materials, called metasurfaces, that can amplify and interact with light regardless of its polarization. The metasurfaces are made of tiny nanoantennas that can both amplify and control light in very precise ways and could replace conventional refractive surfaces in eyeglasses and smartphone lenses. The polarization-independent metasurfaces have what’s known as a high quality factor, which means they trap light over a narrow band of resonant frequencies for a long time, generating a strong response to external stimuli.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Northwestern University have defined a method to tailor a sponge that is coated with nanoparticles to specific Chicago pollutants and then to selectively release them. In its first iteration, the sponge platform was made of polyurethane and coated with a substance that attracted oil and repelled water. The newest version is a highly hydrophilic (water-loving) cellulose sponge coated with nanoparticles tailored to other pollutants. The scientists found that by lowering the pH, metals flush out of the sponge. Once copper and zinc are removed, the pH is then raised, at which point phosphate comes off the sponge. Even after five cycles of collecting and removing minerals, the sponge worked just as well, and the resulting water had untraceable amounts of pollutants.