Materials science

Liquid-solid interactions, as never before seenNew technique improves researchers’ ability to measure a key property of material surfaces.

Viruses harnessed to split waterMIT team’s biologically based system taps the power of sunlight directly, with the aim of turning water into hydrogen fuel.

Slideshow: Solar power, shaped up3-D shapes covered in solar cells could produce more power than flat panels, MIT researchers find.

A step toward lighter batteriesResearch shows metal catalysts play important role in improving the efficiency of lithium-oxygen batteries

A manufacturing renaissance for America?At an MIT forum, experts examine new ways to pursue a good old idea: making things.

Taming the wild phonon‘Particles’ of heat are everywhere, and usually a nuisance, but newly designed materials could help put them to good use.

Self-assembling computer chipsMolecules that arrange themselves into predictable patterns on silicon chips could lead to microprocessors with much smaller circuit elements.

Unraveling silks’ secretsA new analysis of the structure of silks explains the paradox at the heart of their super-strength, and may lead to even stronger synthetic materials.

Transforming the Infinite CorridorThe Laboratory for Advanced Materials puts materials science and engineering research on display.

Insulators made into conductorsMIT team coaxes polymers to line up, transforming them into materials that could dissipate heat.

Big power from tiny wiresNew discovery shows carbon nanotubes can produce powerful waves that could be harnessed for new energy systems.

A new way to build membranes for fuel cellsLayer-by-layer assembly system could lead to improved fuel cells, batteries and solar panels

First germanium laserNew results from MIT’s Electronic Materials Research Group bring us closer to computers that use light instead of electricity to move data.

CRTs going down the tubes? HardlySurprisingly, old-style television sets and computer screens are still in demand — to make new TV sets

Iron-plated snail could inspire new armorAnalysis of unique deep-sea mollusk offers insights into design of armor for soldiers and vehicles.

‘Micro-ants’: Tiny conveyor belts for the 21st centuryA new method of moving tiny particles using magnetic polymer beads and magnetic fields could find uses in microchips and in medicine

The 'sci' behind the 'fi'A public television program explores the ways real science is starting to catch up with the futuristic visions in Star Trek.

Liquid battery big enough for the electric grid?Professor Donald Sadoway’s research in energy storage could help speed the development of renewable energy.

New methods are changing old materialsComputational approach to materials science could bring new properties even to familiar substances such as concrete and steel

Energy researchers find Obama an eager studentIn the President's visit to MIT labs he showed keen interest, quick understanding and warm appreciation, say his hosts

Physicist wins Packard FellowshipPablo Jarillo-Herrero will use the unrestricted funding to study materials that follow unusual rules of physics.

Fuel cells get a boostCreating tiny steps to electrode surfaces can double the efficiency of the emissions-free electricity sources, MIT researchers find.

Energy savings in black and whiteMIT students develop concept for color-changing roof tiles that absorb heat in winter, reflect it in summer.

Harnessing nanopatternsNew findings show that tiny textures on a surface can produce big differences in how some materials, and even living cells, behave

Two chips in one MIT team finds a way to combine materials for semiconductor manufacture. The advance helps address the limitations of conventional silicon microprocessors.