Mechanical Engineering: Research Guide

Today's high-tech electronics and green energy technologies would not function without rare earth elements (REEs). These 17 metals possess unique properties essential to creating items like the phosphors that illuminate our mobile phone displays and the powerful magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. But extracting these substances from raw materials is a dirty process that relies on toxic chemicals and leaves behind polluted waste.

Every year, 12 million people worldwide suffer a stroke; many die or are permanently impaired. Currently, drugs are administered to dissolve the thrombus that blocks the blood vessel. These drugs spread throughout the entire body, meaning a high dose must be administered to ensure that the necessary amount reaches the thrombus. This can cause serious side effects, such as internal bleeding.

A team of Concordia researchers has developed the first micromotors capable of moving through the air using only light as their power source. These tiny, pollen-shaped particles measure about 12 microns wide—roughly one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. Made of zinc oxide and coated with gold, they use heat from near-infrared light to lift and propel themselves without any fuel or batteries.

A research team led by NIMS has, for the first time, produced nanoscale images of two key features in an ultra-thin material: twist domains (areas where one atomic layer is slightly rotated relative to another) and polarities (differences in atomic orientation). The material, monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), is regarded as a promising candidate for use in next-generation electronic devices.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Michigan have reported the first use of ultra-low power temperature sensors using graphene-based solar cells. The test is the first hurdle in developing autonomous sensor systems that draw power from multiple sources in the environment—solar, thermal, acoustic, kinetic, nonlinear and ambient radiation.

Researchers from Japan have pioneered a novel, sustainable method for synthesizing functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using microalgae. The work is published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

During winter months, frost can unleash icy havoc on cars, planes, heat pumps, and much more. But thermal defrosting with heaters is very energy intensive, while chemical defrosting is expensive and toxic to the environment.

Researchers at UNIST have unveiled a simple, yet effective method to replace the insulating coating—known as polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)—that covers silver nanowires (AgNWs), enabling significantly better electrical conductivity and enhanced durability. This innovation paves the way for the development of flexible, foldable, and rollable electronic devices using AgNW transparent electrodes.

For the first time, researchers have made niobium sulfide metallic nanotubes with stable, predictable properties, a long-sought goal in advanced materials science. According to the international team, including a researcher at Penn State, that made the accomplishment, the new nanomaterial that could open the door to faster electronics, efficient electricity transport via superconductor wires and even future quantum computers was made possible with a surprising ingredient: table salt.

In a study published in Analytical Chemistry, a research team led by Wang Junfeng from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel immobilization method for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays of membrane proteins, effectively addressing major technical constraints in the field.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, have used three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (AFM) and molecular dynamics simulations to determine the structure of water in the hydration of different types of chitin nanocrystals and how this affects their mechanical properties, reactivities, and interactions with enzymes and reactants.

Modern beer production is a US$117 billion business in the United States, with brewers producing over 170 million barrels of beer per year. The brewing process is time- and energy-intensive, and each step generates large amounts of waste.

Vapor-phase synthesis, a technique used to create very pure and scalable nanomaterials and coatings, has great promise for the electronic, optical, aerospace, energy and environment, and semiconductor industries.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in ACS Applied Nano Materials a new method to precisely measure nuclear elasticity—the stiffness or softness of the cell nucleus—in living cells.

Materials scientists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have found a way to create and control tiny "flaws" inside ultra-thin materials. These internal features, known as extended defects, could give next-generation nanomaterials entirely new properties, opening the door to advances in nanotechnology.

A new study reveals that insulating buffer layers are no longer needed for ultrathin magnetic racetrack devices, unlocking new paths for seamless integration with functional substrates.

Researchers Ni Guohua and Associate Researcher Sun Hongmei from the Institute of Plasma Physics, together with Associate Professor Wang Dong from Anhui Medical University, have developed a novel two-step plasma strategy to modify mesoporous silica-supported silver nanoparticles, enabling them to achieve strong antibacterial activity and accelerated wound healing.

Rice University researchers studying a class of atom-thin semiconductors known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have discovered that light can trigger a physical shift in their atomic lattice, creating a tunable way to adjust the materials' behavior and properties.

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are essential components in near-eye displays like virtual reality and augmented reality headsets and smart glasses, along with electronics like cameras and medical equipment.

Infrared sensors, which act as the "seeing" component in devices such as LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, 3D face recognition systems in smartphones, and wearable health care devices, are regarded as key components in next-generation electronics.

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a new atomically layered material which experiences a five order of magnitude resistivity reduction when oxidized, more than a hundred times the reduction seen in similar, non-layered materials.

Physicists at Umeå University, in collaboration with researchers in China, have developed a laser made entirely from biomaterials—birch leaves and peanut kernels. The environmentally friendly laser could become an inexpensive and accessible tool for medical diagnostics and imaging.

Kevlar has met its match. For decades, it has been the gold standard for impact protection, from bulletproof vests to armored vehicles, and is still widely used. But scientists have now developed a new composite material that is stronger, tougher and better at stopping bullets than Kevlar even though it is much thinner. Their study is published in the journal Matter.

A research team from Queen Mary University of London has discovered a new way to engineer thin films that can "tune" themselves much more effectively than existing materials, making them highly responsive and efficient.

Cancer immunotherapy, which uses drugs that stimulate the body's immune cells to attack tumors, is a promising approach to treating many types of cancer. However, it doesn't work well for some tumors, including ovarian cancer.

Carbynes, or long linear carbon chains (LLCCs), have received significant attention in recent years due to their predicted exceptional properties. However, experimentally, their properties have been hard to probe due to their low stability. To improve stability, it is necessary to encapsulate LLCCs in small diameter carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

Using ultra-fast laser beams, a team from the Irradiated Solids Laboratory has designed an experiment that allows both the creation of nanometric cavities in metal films and their study using several advanced microscopy techniques. The results have been published in Physical Review Letters.

Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals dance. They spin, jolt, and ricochet in their little bubble like change in an overclocked washing machine, too fast and chaotic to even be tracked by traditional scientific techniques. And when the parasite dies, they stop.

Halide perovskites—already a focus of major research into efficient, low-cost solar cells—have been shown to handle light faster than most semiconductors on the market.

During a procedure known as laser lithotripsy, urologists use a small, video-guided laser to blast painful, potentially damaging kidney stones to smithereens. It's better for the patient if urologists can break kidney stones down as finely as possible, ideally to a dust that can be safely suctioned out—but using more powerful lasers creates additional heat that can damage surrounding tissue and hurt the patient.