Research Highlights

Fall 2023 IRG1 Highlight

Straightforward and rapid modification techniques allow for the use of porous coordination cages in network solids, flexible adsorbents, and stimuli-responsive, peptide-based materials.

Fall 2023 IRG2 Highlight

Theoretical prediction of strong coupling between the THz excitations in a topological insulator (TI) and an antiferromagnet (AFM). Provides potential hybrid material platform for optoelectronic device applications in the THz frequency domain.

Spring 2023 IRG1 Highlight

The ability to thermally trigger a conformational change and collapse in a constituent resilin-like protein (RLP) provides the opportunity to build, and eventually move, a bundlemer nanostructure.

Spring 2023 IRG2 Highlight

This work demonstrates that the TI vdW material Bi₂Se₃ can be grown as a single-crystalline single-orientation film on semiconductor substrates with appropriate substrate pre-treatment conditions.

Spring 2023 IRG1 Seed Highlight

The ability to thermally or pH trigger a collapse of elastin-like peptide (ELP) and intein linkage affords the opportunity to synthesize bundlemer building blocks via E. coli expression without the need for chromatographic (column) purification.

Spring 2023 IRG2 Seed Highlight

Employing quantum sensors based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, we studied the two-dimensional (2D) magnets Fe₅GeTe₂ (FGT) and co-substituted FGT (CFGT). Our studies reveal that magnetism persists in thin flakes of these materials, down to 16 nm thick, at room temperature and above.

Fall 2022 IRG1 Highlight

Here, diffusion of NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and cryogenic transmission electron spectroscopy were used to characterize porous cages in solution. A combination of the methods can be used to discriminate between assembled cages as opposed to decomposed or isomerized materials while dissolved in polar organic solvents, regardless of the metal cations used in their assembly.

Spring 2022 IRG2 Seed Highlight

Experimental study of two-dimensional (2D) magnet Fe₅GeTe₂ (FGT) using quantum sensors based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond reveals magnetism in FGT thin flake (down to 21 nm thick) even at room temperature.

Fall 2022 IRG2 Highlight

The research focus involves understanding how to integrate van der Waals materials like Bi₂Se₃ with industrially-relevant semiconductor materials like GaAs(001) using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for THz applications, as well as determining the chemical composition and bonding type of the Bi₂Se₃/GaAs(001) interface using density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Spring 2022 IRG1 Highlight

The resarch focus of this effort involved computationally designing a homotetrameric helical bundle to have a variety of net charges. The charged bundle variants showcase how charge state can be controlled for a common peptide structure, as well as the properties of the fibril nanomaterials constructed by the peptide building blocks.

Fall 2021 IRG2 Highlight

Experimental studies combined with theoretical calculations of spin dynamics across a wide frequency range from ~10 GHz to several THz in a novel amorphous ferromagnet (FM)/3D topological insulator (TI) (FeGaB/BiSb) system that is scalable and provides a promising platform for spin-electronic devices.

Fall 2021 Outreach Highlight

UD CHARM and Princeton’s PCCM coordinated with the Chicago MRSEC to host three virtual events (Soft Matter for All, Rising Stars, and a Professional Development Workshop) to highlight early career, high-impact research and ignite discussion for graduate students and postdocs pursuing academic and non-academic career paths.

Fall 2021 IRG1 Highlight

Peptide bundle building blocks and desired metal-organic framework nodes have been functionalized with azide-alkyne copper click functionalities. The use of the copper catalyzed azide-alkyne (CuAAc) click chemistry in metal organic frameworks is, in and of itself, a novel endeavor.

Spring 2021 Outreach Highlight

MRSEC faculty at Princeton University and the University of Delaware co-hosted a virtual symposium celebrating early-career researchers in Soft and Biological Matter with a focus on those from underrepresented groups.