(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Vanderbilt University have developed advanced dialysis membranes using an atomically thin material called graphene. These innovative membranes leverage a protein-enabled sealing mechanism that works as follows: When proteins escape through larger pores, they react with molecules on the other side of the graphene membrane. This reaction triggers a sealing process, selectively closing larger pores while preserving smaller ones. This self-sealing capability ensures precise size-selective filtration and improves the membrane’s overall effectiveness. The defect-sealed membranes remained stable for up to 35 days and consistently outperformed state-of-the-art commercial dialysis membranes.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Scientists from Montana State University, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, North Carolina State University, the Honda Research Institute in San Jose, CA, and the National University of Singapore have enabled the emission of single photons of light in ultra small, two-dimensional, ribbon-shaped materials measuring one atom thick and tens of atoms wide – about a thousand times narrower than the width of a human hair. Although the ability to emit single photons was known to occur in large sheets of two-dimensional materials, the observation made in this study is the first demonstration that the ability to emit single photons also occurs in much smaller ribbon structures.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Northwestern University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology have found evidence that silver nanoparticles embedded in packaging used as an antimicrobial agent were able to seep into the dry food the packaging is meant to protect. The scientists created samples of silver nanoparticles and embedded them in polyethylene film wraps, which could hold various types of food items. They tested wheat flour, slices of cheese, ground rice, and spinach leaves. They found that the nanoparticles had made their way to all the foods, though to varying degrees. They found, for example, that there was far more contamination of the cheese than there was of the spinach leaves.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
University of Missouri scientists are unlocking the secrets of halide perovskites – a material that might bring us closer to energy-efficient optoelectronics. The scientists are studying the material at the nanoscale. At this level, the material is astonishingly efficient at converting sunlight into energy. To optimize the material for electronic applications, the scientists used a method called ice lithography, known for its ability to fabricate materials at the nanometer scale. This ultra-cool method allowed the team to create distinct properties for the material using an electron beam.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Stanford University, Rice University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have described how a type of quasiparticle, called a polaron, behaves in tellurene, a nanomaterial made up of tiny chains of tellurium atoms. A polaron forms when charge-carrying particles such as electrons interact with vibrations in the atomic or molecular lattice of a material. The researchers had hypothesized that as tellurene transitions from bulk to nanometer thickness, polarons change from large, spread-out electron-vibration interactions to smaller, localized interactions. Computations and experimental measurements backed up this scenario.