News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a computer model that can identify whether and how nanoparticles and proteins bind with one another – an important step toward being able to design antibiotics and antivirals on demand. The new model uses machine learning—the AI technique that powers the virtual assistant on your smartphone and ChatGPT. But instead of learning to process language, it learns to extrapolate how proteins and nanoparticles might interact, predict binding sites and the likelihood of binding between them. 

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a computer model that can identify whether and how nanoparticles and proteins bind with one another – an important step toward being able to design antibiotics and antivirals on demand. The new model uses machine learning—the AI technique that powers the virtual assistant on your smartphone and ChatGPT. But instead of learning to process language, it learns to extrapolate how proteins and nanoparticles might interact, predict binding sites and the likelihood of binding between them. 

Researchers from Columbia University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (Munich, Germany), the Korea Basic Science Institute (Cheongju, South Korea), the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (Daejeon, South Korea), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan, South Korea) have discovered the first fully photostable and photoswitchable nanoparticle. Using near-infrared light, the researchers darkened and brightened these nanoparticles over a thousand times in different ambient and aqueous environments with no signs of degradation. Also, the team demonstrated how the nanoparticles can be used to write – and rewrite – patterns onto 3D substrates, which could one day improve high-density optical data storage and computer memory.

Researchers from Columbia University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (Munich, Germany), the Korea Basic Science Institute (Cheongju, South Korea), the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (Daejeon, South Korea), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan, South Korea) have discovered the first fully photostable and photoswitchable nanoparticle. Using near-infrared light, the researchers darkened and brightened these nanoparticles over a thousand times in different ambient and aqueous environments with no signs of degradation. Also, the team demonstrated how the nanoparticles can be used to write – and rewrite – patterns onto 3D substrates, which could one day improve high-density optical data storage and computer memory.

Researchers from Purdue University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new treatment for a high-quality steel alloy that produced extraordinary strength and plasticity, two traits that, typically, must be balanced rather than combined. Even more intriguing are observations showing characteristics of what the researchers are calling a "nanolaminate" of ultra-fine metal grains the treatment created in a region extending from the surface to a depth of about 200 microns. A cross-section of a sample of the modified steel alloy shows that grain sizes increase from the surface, where the smallest ultra-fine grains are less than 100 nanometers in size, to the center of the material, where grains are 10 to 100 times larger.

Scientists from Rice University and the University of Helsinki in Finland have developed a highly flexible nanoelectrode designed for long-term implantation in the brain. The brain stimulation provided by the nanoelectrode was incredibly fine-grained, thanks to the very low current it can deliver. Electrodes that are currently used tend to be more rigid and larger, potentially causing tissue damage and scarring, if left in place for long periods. This nanoelectrode has been shown to remain in place for at least eight months in mice, with no scarring or tissue degradation.

By using computer simulations, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that cage structures made with nanoparticles could be a route toward creating organized nanostructures with mixed materials. The finding could open new avenues for photonic materials that manipulate light in ways that natural crystals can't. "We are developing new ways to structure matter across scales, discovering the possibilities and what forces we can use," said Sharon Glotzer, the scientist who led this study. 

A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that nearly any material can be turned into a device that continuously harvests electricity from humidity in the air. The secret lies in being able to pepper the material with nanopores less than 100 nanometers in diameter. “What we've done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud that produces electricity for us predictably and continuously so that we can harvest it," says Jun Yao, one of the four engineers involved in this study. 

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Beijing Institute of Technology have fabricated a novel device that could dramatically boost the conversion of heat into electricity. The new fabrication technique involves depositing hundreds of thousands of nanopillars of gallium nitride atop a silicon wafer. Layers of silicon are then removed from the underside of the wafer until only a thin sheet of the material remains. The interaction between the pillars and the silicon sheet slows the transport of heat in the silicon, enabling more of the heat to convert to electric current. 

Scientists at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have invented a low-cost, recyclable powder that kills thousands of waterborne bacteria per second when exposed to ordinary sunlight. The powder consists of nano-size flakes of aluminum oxide, molybdenum sulfide, copper, and iron oxide. After absorbing photons from the sun, the molybdenum sulfide/copper catalyst performs like a semiconductor/metal junction, enabling the photons to dislodge electrons. The freed electrons then react with the surrounding water, generating hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, which quickly kill the bacteria by damaging their cell membranes.