Mechanical Engineering: Research Guide

Found in everything from kitchen appliances to sustainable energy infrastructure, stainless steels are used extensively due to their excellent corrosion (rusting) resistance. They're an important material in many industries, including manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, nuclear power and chemical processing.

A research team led by Prof. Wang Zhenyang at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel 3D-printed graphene/polymer double-layer composite featuring high anisotropic thermal conductivity.

Over the past decades, electronics engineers developed increasingly small, flexible and sophisticated sensors that can pick up a wide range of signals, ranging from human motions to heartrate and other biological signals. These sensors have in turn enabled the development of new electronics, including smartwatches, biomedical devices that can help monitor the health of users over time and other wearable or implantable systems.

From microscopic robots that can carry and deliver drugs inside the human body to tiny particles that can detect and break down microplastics, an emerging field called active matter is looking toward the microscale to solve some of the world's biggest problems.

A research team has developed an innovative biomimetic dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) nanoprobe for detecting early-stage liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Ultrasound imaging is one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine. Behind its noninvasive magic lies a class of materials known as piezoelectric single crystals, which can convert electrical signals into mechanical vibrations and vice versa.

Condensation is critical for applications like power generation, water harvesting, and cooling systems. However, traditional surfaces suffer from a drop in performance under high subcooling, when the surface temperature is much lower than the surrounding vapor. This leads to water flooding and reduced heat transfer.

Saying one thing while feeling another is part of being human, but bottling up emotions can have serious psychological consequences, such as anxiety or panic attacks. To help health care providers tell the difference, a team led by scientists at Penn State has created a stretchable, rechargeable sticker that can detect real emotions—by measuring things like skin temperature and heart rate—even when users put on a brave face.

As the demand continues to grow for batteries capable of ultra-fast charging and high energy density in various sectors—from electric vehicles to large-scale energy storage systems (ESS)—a joint research team from POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed a promising next-generation anode material that may address these critical needs. The research is published in the journal ACS Nano.

In nature and technology, crystallization plays a pivotal role, from forming snowflakes and pharmaceuticals to creating advanced batteries and desalination membranes. Despite its importance, crystallization at the nanoscale is poorly understood, mainly because observing the process directly at this scale is exceptionally challenging. My research overcame this hurdle by employing state-of-the-art computational methods, allowing them to visualize atomic interactions in unprecedented detail.

Consumer electronic devices are made from materials that we have been using for more than 60 years, mainly silicon, germanium and copper. Why have semiconductor electronics become increasingly fast over this time?

Imagine tiny LEGO pieces that automatically snap together to form a strong, flat sheet. Then, scientists add special chemical "hooks" to these sheets to attach glowing molecules called fluorophores.

Researchers at Westlake University have disclosed a two-dimensional (2D) mechanically interlocked polymer (MIP) that mimics medieval chainmail at the molecular scale. This micrometer-scale 2D material exhibits exceptional flexibility and stiffness, potentially revolutionizing next-generation lightweight protective gear and smart armor systems.

The Earth's magnetic field quietly supports life on the planet and now, for the first time, its invisible powers have been used to create new nanoparticles and materials.

Today's super-resolution microscopes have made it possible to observe the nanoscale world with unprecedented detail. However, they require fluorescent tags, which reveal structural details but provide little chemical information about the samples being studied.

A car accident, football game, or even a bad fall can lead to a serious or fatal head injury. Annually, traumatic brain injuries (TBI) cause half a million permanent disabilities and 50,000 deaths. Monitoring pressure inside the skull is key to treating TBI and preventing long-lasting complications.

Researchers have created a molecular nanocage that captures the bulk of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, found in water—and it works better than traditional filtering techniques that use activated carbon. Made of organic nanoporous material designed to capture only PFAS, this tiny chemical-based filtration system removed 80 to 90% of PFAS from sewage and groundwater during the study, respectively, while showing very low adverse environmental effects.

Microplastics and much smaller nanoplastics enter the human body in various ways, for example through food or the air we breathe. A large proportion is excreted, but a certain amount remains in organs, blood, and other body fluids.

The nanomaterial MXene is used for battery technology or as a high-performance lubricant. Until now, its production was difficult and toxic. New methods for its creation have been developed at TU Wien.

Dr. Ho Seong Jang and colleagues at the Extreme Materials Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed an upconversion nanoparticle technology that introduces a core@multi-shell nanostructure, a multilayer structure in which multiple layers of shells surround a central core particle, and enables high color purity RGB light emission from a single nanoparticle by adjusting the infrared wavelength.

As the demand for innovative materials continues to grow—particularly in response to today's technological and environmental challenges—research into nanomaterials is emerging as a strategic field. Among these materials, quantum dots are attracting particular attention due to their unique properties and wide range of applications. A team of researchers from ULiège has recently made a significant contribution by proposing a more sustainable approach to the production of these nanostructures.

Technology for converting solar energy into thermal energy is ever evolving and has numerous applications. A breakthrough in the laboratory of Professor My Ali El Khakani at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has made a significant contribution to the field.

The manufacturing and deployment of hybrid and electric vehicles is on the rise, contributing to ongoing efforts to decarbonize the transport industry. While cars and smaller vehicles can be powered using lithium batteries, electrifying heavy-duty vehicles, such as trucks and large buses, has so far proved much more challenging.

Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial emissions is crucial in the fight against climate change. But current methods, like chemical absorption, are expensive and energy-intensive. Scientists have long eyed graphene—an atom-thin, ultra-strong material—as a promising alternative for gas separation, but making large-area, efficient graphene membranes has been a challenge.

Self-assembly or self-organization in molecular science refers to the phenomena where molecules spontaneously gather and form ordered structures, a unique property of materials used to develop optical and electronic materials.

Researchers from ICMAB are revolutionizing how we manipulate light at the nanoscale using chiral plasmonic structures—nanomaterials designed to interact with polarized light in extraordinary ways.

Researchers from National Taiwan University and collaborators have developed a novel way to observe and monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion into carbon monoxide (CO) inside living cells, using an advanced optical method called surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

A research team has successfully observed and identified the water-induced degradation mechanism of perovskite, which is a next-generation optoelectronic material, in real time at the atomic scale. Published in Matter, this study presents key strategies for enhancing the stability of perovskite materials and is expected to accelerate their commercialization. The team was led by Professor Jiwoong Yang of the Department of Energy Science & Engineering at DGIST.

Special biomedical materials that can be injected as a liquid and turn into a solid inside our bodies—called thermogels—could provide a less-invasive way to deliver drugs or treat wounds. Scientists at Penn State have developed a new design for these materials that further improves their properties and may hold particular promise for use in tissue regeneration, the researchers said.

A research team studied how iridium and palladium nanoparticles can change the properties of catalysts with minor degradation and transition to an amorphous state. The team includes Skoltech and Khakassian State University researchers led by Skoltech Professor Alexander Kvashnin, a Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics.