Materials science engineers often struggle to design materials that are strong in all directions, as strengthening them for one type of load can create weaknesses for another. To address this, Binghamton University Assistant Professors Mir Jalil Razavi and Dehao Liu are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop composite materials with specific mechanical properties. Their project, supported by a $313,087 grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to create a deep-learning model that customizes the microarchitecture of these materials based on physical laws.

“When we look at materials now, we usually tune mechanical properties in one direction,” Razavi said. “For example, they can absorb the shock in ‘x’ direction, but they don’t pay attention to what will happen to the ‘y’ or ‘z’ direction. While we strengthen in one direction, maybe we’ll compromise their mechanical properties in the other directions.”

“Imagine trying to mix two types of materials,” Liu said. “One is very solid and stiff. One is very soft, like if you mix stone and gel and then glue them together. How can you design the distribution of the stone and the gel? They can show different mechanical properties at different directions.”

Razavi and Liu will develop thousands of mechanical computational models to train deep learning algorithms in designing composite materials tailored to specific needs. They will decide which suggestions are most promising, and their collaborator, Associate Professor Yanyu Chen from the University of Louisville (Kentucky), will validate the best combinations through additive manufacturing (3D printing), X-ray imaging and stress testing.

“With this research, the goal would be that you give the material properties you are seeking in that different direction, and I inversely fabricate the material for you,” Razavi said.

The idea for the project originated from Razavi’s research on the human brain. He hopes to chart the formation of brain folds as faster-growing grey matter (the outer layer where higher-level thinking is done) grows on top of white matter (the inner layer that communicates between different gray matter areas and between the gray matter and the rest of the body).

“Because brain tissue has different fiber tracts, it shows different mechanical properties in different directions,” he said. “When we want to fully characterize brain tissue, we need multiple loading cases to analyze that.”

The Binghamton team believes this machine learning research could revolutionize materials design and enable the rapid development of new materials with tailored properties for a wide range of applications, such as designing lighter structures, effective shock absorbers and aerospace components.

“It could be used not just in advanced areas like the brain, but also everyday materials like helmets and shoes,” Liu said. “If your shoes don’t feel comfortable, you can design your own personal pair using materials with different mechanical properties.”

For more information: Binghamton University

“The world’s first human application of a graphene-based BCI highlights the transformative impact of graphene-based neural technologies in medicine. This clinical milestone opens a new era for BCI technology, paving the way for advancements in both neural decoding and its application as a therapeutic intervention,” said Carolina Aguilar, CEO and Co-Founder of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics.

INBRAIN’s BCI platform leverages the exceptional properties of graphene, a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms. Despite being the thinnest known material to science, graphene is stronger than steel and possesses a unique combination of electronic and mechanical properties that make it ideal for neurotechnology innovation.

“We are capturing brain activity in areas where traditional metals and materials struggle with signal fidelity. Graphene provides ultra-high density for sensing and stimulating, which is critical to conduct high precision resections while preserving the patient’s functional capacities, such as movement, language or cognition,” said Dr. David Coope, the neurosurgeon who performed the procedure.

“After extensive engineering development and pre-clinical trials, INBRAIN’s first-in-human study will involve 8-10 patients, primarily to demonstrate the safety of graphene in direct contact with the human brain,” said Kostas Kostarelos, Ph.D., Co-Founder, INBRAIN Neuroelectronics. “The study will also aim to demonstrate graphene’s superiority over other materials in decoding brain functionality in both awake and asleep states.”

“The integration of graphene and AI with advanced semiconductor technology has allowed INBRAIN to pioneer a new generation of minimally-invasive BCI therapeutics designed for the personalized treatment of neurological disorders,” said Jose A. Garrido, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of INBRAIN and ICREA Professor at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

The study is powered by INBRAIN’s graphene-based Intelligent Network Decoding & Modulation (BCI-Tx) Platform, which has received Breakthrough Device Designation for Parkinson’s disease from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. INBRAIN’s BCI-Tx platform leverages graphene’s unique properties to deliver ultra-high signal resolution and adaptive neuroelectronic therapy, enabling real-time decoding of biomarkers and precise modulation of cortical and subcortical structures at the micrometer scale for neural network rebalancing.

For more information: INBRAIN Neuroelectronics

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a groundbreaking advanced microscopy tool that can precisely place individual atoms, enabling the creation of new materials with unique properties for quantum computing and communication devices that cannot be produced by conventional methods.

“By working at the atomic scale, we also work at the scale where quantum properties naturally emerge and persist,” said Stephen Jesse, a materials scientist who leads this research and heads the Nanomaterials Characterizations section at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, or CNMS. “We aim to use this improved access to quantum behavior as a foundation for future devices that rely on uniquely quantum phenomena, like entanglement, for improving computers, creating more secure communications and enhancing the sensitivity of detectors.”

To accomplish improved control over atoms, the research team created a tool they call a synthescope for combining synthesis with advanced microscopy. The researchers used a scanning transmission electron microscope, or STEM, transformed into an atomic-scale material manipulation platform. The synthescope will advance the state of the art in fabrication down to the level of the individual building blocks of materials. This new approach allows researchers to place different atoms into a material at specific locations; the new atoms and their locations can be selected to give the material new properties.

“Classical computers use bits, which can be either 0 or 1, and do calculations by flipping these bits,” said ORNL’s Ondrej Dyck, a materials scientist contributing to the research. “Quantum computers use qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time. The qubits can also become entangled, with one qubit connected to the state of another. This entangled system of qubits can be used to solve certain problems much faster than classical computers. The tricky part is keeping these delicate qubits stable and working correctly in the real world.

“One strategy to tackle these challenges is to build and operate at the scale where quantum mechanics exist more naturally—at the atomic scale. We realized that if we have a microscope that can resolve atoms, we may be able to use the same microscope to move atoms or alter materials with atomic precision. We also want to be able to add atoms to the structures we create, so we need a supply of atoms. The idea morphed into an atomic-scale synthesis platform—the synthescope.”

That is important because the ability to tailor materials atom-by-atom can be applied to many future technological applications in quantum information science, and more broadly in microelectronics and catalysis, and for gaining a deeper understanding of materials synthesis processes. This work could facilitate atomic-scale manufacturing, which is notoriously challenging.

“Simply by the fact that we can now start putting atoms where we want, we can think about creating arrays of atoms that are precisely positioned close enough together that they can entangle, and therefore share their quantum properties, which is key to making quantum devices more powerful than conventional ones,” Dyck said.

Such devices might include quantum computers — a proposed next generation of computers that may vastly outpace today’s fastest supercomputers; quantum sensors; and quantum communication devices that require a source of a single photon to create a secure quantum communications system.

By using an electron beam, or e-beam, to remove and deposit the atoms, the ORNL scientists could accomplish a direct writing procedure at the atomic level.

“The process is remarkably intuitive,” said ORNL’s Andrew Lupini, STEM group leader and a member of the research team. “STEMs work by transmitting a high-energy e-beam through a material. The e-beam is focused to a point smaller than the distance between atoms and scans across the material to create an image with atomic resolution. However, STEMs are notorious for damaging the very materials they are imaging.”

The scientists realized they could exploit this destructive “bug” and instead use it as a constructive feature and create holes on purpose. Then, they can put whatever atom they want in that hole, exactly where they made the defect. By purposely damaging the material, they create a new material with different and useful properties.

“We’re exploring methods to create these defects on demand so we can place them where we want to,” Jesse said. “Since STEMs have atomic-scale imaging capabilities, and we work with very thin materials that are only a few atoms in thickness, we can see every atom. So, we are manipulating matter at the atomic scale in real time. That’s the goal, and we are actually achieving it.”

For more information: Nano Letters

Image: This artistic rendering shows a way to make materials atom-by-atom. The electron beam ejects a carbon atom from graphene, and a different atom bonds at the vacancy.

Scientists at Oxford University have developed a groundbreaking approach to generating solar electricity without silicon-based panels. Their innovation involves coating a new, ultra-thin, and flexible light-absorbing material onto everyday objects like rucksacks, cars, and mobile phones. This material uses a multi-junction technique to stack multiple light-absorbing layers into one solar cell, capturing a broader spectrum of light and generating more power from the same amount of sunlight.

This new material has been independently certified to achieve over 27% energy efficiency, matching the performance of traditional silicon photovoltaics for the first time. The certification from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) precedes the publication of the researchers’ study later this year.

“During just five years experimenting with our stacking or multi-junction approach, we have raised power conversion efficiency from around 6% to over 27%, close to the limits of what single-layer photovoltaics can achieve today,” said Dr Shuaifeng Hu, Post Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University Physics. “We believe that, over time, this approach could enable the photovoltaic devices to achieve far greater efficiencies, exceeding 45%.”

This compares with around 22% energy efficiency from solar panels today (meaning they convert around 22% of the energy in sunlight), but the versatility of the new ultra-thin and flexible material is also key. At just over one micron thick, it is almost 150 times thinner than a silicon wafer. Unlike existing photovoltaics, generally applied to silicon panels, this can be applied to almost any surface.

‘By using new materials that can be applied as a coating, we’ve shown we can replicate and out-perform silicon while also gaining flexibility. This is important because it promises more solar power without the need for so many silicon-based panels or specially built solar farms,’ said Dr Junke Wang, Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Postdoc Fellow at Oxford University Physics.

The researchers believe their approach will continue to reduce solar costs and make it the most sustainable form of renewable energy. Since 2010, the global average cost of solar electricity has fallen by almost 90%, making it almost a third cheaper than that generated from fossil fuels. Innovations promise additional cost savings as new materials, like thin-film perovskite, reduce the need for silicon panels and purpose-built solar farms.

The researchers are among 40 scientists working on photovoltaics led by Professor of Renewable Energy Henry Snaith at Oxford University Physics Department. Their pioneering work in photovoltaics and especially the use of thin-film perovskite began around a decade ago and benefits from a bespoke, robotic laboratory.

Their work has strong commercial potential and has already started to feed through into applications across the utilities, construction, and car manufacturing industries.

For more information: University of Oxford

Image: Dr Shuaifeng Hu, Post Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University Physics, examining the new thin-film perovskite material. Image credit: Martin Small.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia, led by Professor Philip Evans and PhD student Kenny Cheng, accidentally discovered a super-black material that absorbs almost all light, potentially useful in fine jewelry, solar cells, and precision optical devices. While experimenting with high-energy plasma to make wood more water-repellent, they found that applying the technique to the cut ends of wood cells turned the surfaces extremely black. Measurements by Texas A&M University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy confirmed that this material reflects less than one percent of visible light, absorbing nearly all the light that strikes it.

Instead of discarding this accidental finding, the team shifted their focus to designing super-black materials, contributing a new approach to the search for the darkest materials on Earth.

“Ultra-black or super-black material can absorb more than 99 percent of the light that strikes it – significantly more so than normal black paint, which absorbs about 97.5 percent of light,” explained Dr. Evans, a professor in the faculty of forestry and BC Leadership Chair in Advanced Forest Products Manufacturing Technology.

Super-black materials are increasingly sought after in astronomy, where ultra-black coatings on devices help reduce stray light and improve image clarity. Super-black coatings can enhance the efficiency of solar cells. They are also used in making art pieces and luxury consumer items like watches.

The researchers have developed prototype commercial products using their super-black wood. They initially focused on watches and jewelry but plan to explore other commercial applications in the future.

The team named and trademarked their discovery Nxylon (niks-uh-lon), after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night, and xylon, the Greek word for wood.

Most surprisingly, Nxylon remains black even when coated with an alloy, such as the gold coating applied to the wood to make it electrically conductive enough to be viewed and studied using an electron microscope. This is because Nxylon’s structure inherently prevents light from escaping rather than depending on black pigments.

The UBC team have demonstrated that Nxylon can replace expensive and rare black woods like ebony and rosewood for watch faces, and it can be used in jewelry to replace the black gemstone onyx.

“Nxylon’s composition combines the benefits of natural materials with unique structural features, making it lightweight, stiff and easy to cut into intricate shapes,” said Dr. Evans.

Made from basswood, a tree widely found in North America and valued for hand carving, boxes, shutters and musical instruments, Nxylon can also use other types of wood such as European lime wood.

Dr. Evans and his colleagues plan to launch a startup, Nxylon Corporation of Canada, to scale up applications of Nxylon in collaboration with jewellers, artists and tech product designers. They also plan to develop a commercial-scale plasma reactor to produce larger super-black wood samples suitable for non-reflective ceiling and wall tiles.

“Nxylon can be made from sustainable and renewable materials widely found in North America and Europe, leading to new applications for wood. The wood industry in B.C. is often seen as a sunset industry focused on commodity products—our research demonstrates its great untapped potential,” said Dr. Evans.

For more information: The University of British Columbia 

Image: UBC forestry researchers have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light. From left, Dengcheng Feng, Kenny Cheng, Dr. Philip Evans and Sara Xu. Credit: UBC Forestry/Ally Penders