Materials Science and NanoEngineering

Flash Joule

VIPs help open national security research accelerator labs

U.S. Army Futures Command Lt. Gen. Thomas Todd III and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, joined Rice President David Leebron, Provost Reggie DesRoches and Army and Rice dignitaries for the Oct. 30 opening ceremony of the Rice University National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA) laboratories in Dell Butcher Hall.

Rice University researchers have expanded their theory on converting graphene into 2D diamond, or diamane. They have determined that a pinpoint of pressure can trigger connections between layers of graphene, rearranging the lattice into cubic diamond. (Credit: Illustration by Pavel Sorokin)

Rice finds path to nanodiamond from graphene

Rice University researchers expand their theory on converting graphene into 2D diamond, or diamane.

Artist's impression of aluminum nanocatalysts of different shapes

Shape matters for light-activated nanocatalysts

Points matter when designing nanoparticles that drive important chemical reactions using the power of light, according research from Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics.

A graph that maps the capacity of batteries to cathode thickness and porosity shows a laborious search based on numerical simulations (black square) and a new Rice University algorithm (red dot) return nearly the same result. Rice researchers say their calculations are at least 100,000 times faster. (Credit: Fan Wang/Rice University)

Fast calculation dials in better batteries

A simpler and more efficient way to predict performance will lead to better batteries, according to Rice University engineers.

Welch Foundation

Largest gift in Rice history establishes The Welch Institute

The Robert A. Welch Foundation announces the largest single gift in the history of Rice University, $100 million, to establish The Welch Institute for world-leading advanced materials research.

Scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) uncovered new clues in the protein CPEB3 as part of their dogged pursuit of the mechanism that allows humans to have long-term memories. Researchers at Rice University modeled the binding structures of actin and associated proteins they believe are responsible for the formation of longterm memory. Here, the beta hairpin form of zipper sequence is a potential core for the formation of intramolecular beta she

Protein ‘chameleon’ colors long-term memory

Researchers model the binding structures of actin and associated proteins they believe are responsible for the formation of longterm memory.

A photo and infographic of the RAMBO system

Rice’s RAMBO-II: A sequel better than the original

First-of-its-kind spectrometer is getting stronger magnets, wider range of lasers.

The cross-section of a fiber produced at Rice University contains tens of millions of carbon nanotubes. The lab continually improves its method to make fibers, which tests show are now stronger than Kevlar. Courtesy of the Pasquali Research Group

No limit yet for carbon nanotube fibers

Rice University researchers report advances in their quest to make the best carbon nanotube fibers for industry.

PPP

People, papers and presentations Aug 10, 2021

Eden King, the Lynnette S. Autry Professor of Psychological Sciences at Rice, has been named a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's Blue Ribbon Commission on Racial Equity, which aims to improve racial equity in the workplace.

Martí named fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

crystal shapes of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides as imaged with a scanning electron microscope

Study: Mapping crystal shapes could fast-track 2D materials

Materials scientists at Rice University and the University of Pennsylvania are calling for a collective, global effort to fast-track the mass production of 2D materials like graphene and molybdenum disulfide.

Ming Tang

Rice lab helps power electric car research

Rice University researchers will contribute to a new project to make better batteries for electric vehicles.

A model by Rice University scientists shows how two positively charged spheres attached to springs are attracted to the electric field of light. Due to the motion of the spheres, the spring system scatters light at different energies when irradiated with clockwise and anticlockwise trochoidal waves. (Credit: Link Research Group/Rice University)

Cartwheeling light reveals new optical phenomenon

Researchers at Rice University have discovered details about a novel type of polarized light-matter interaction with light that literally turns end over end as it propagates from a source.

Rice University physicists discover that plasmonic metals can be prompted to produce “hot carriers” that in turn emit unexpectedly bright light in nanoscale gaps between electrodes. The phenomenon could be useful for photocatalysis, quantum optics and optoelectronics. (Credit: Illustration by Longji Cui and Yunxuan Zhu/Rice University)

Rice lab’s bright idea is pure gold

Physicists discover plasmonic metals can produce “hot carriers” that emit unexpectedly bright light in nanoscale gaps between electrodes.

Rice scientists found certain combinations of weakly bound 2D materials let holes and electrons combine into excitons at the materials’ ground state. Courtesy of the Yakobson Research Group

Excitons form superfluid in certain 2D combos

Mixing and matching computational models of 2D materials led scientists at Rice University to the realization that excitons can be manipulated in new and useful ways.