MRS CommunicationsPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-08-18DOI: 10.1557/s43579-025-00788-9
George H Creasey, Andreas Kafizas, Anna Hankin
{"title":"Investigating the beneficial effects of a WO<sub>3</sub> seed layer on the mechanical and photoelectrochemical stability of WO<sub>3</sub>|BiVO<sub>4</sub>|NiFeOOH photoanodes under operational conditions.","authors":"George H Creasey, Andreas Kafizas, Anna Hankin","doi":"10.1557/s43579-025-00788-9","DOIUrl":"10.1557/s43579-025-00788-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Scalable and durable photoelectrodes are essential for technological breakthroughs in photoelectrochemical systems, yet the fragility of nanostructured photocatalyst materials in industrially relevant operating conditions is rarely explored. Herein, we advance understanding of the importance of morphology and temperature on stability and performance of nanostructured WO<sub>3</sub>|BiVO<sub>4</sub>|NiFeOOH photoanodes. The integration of a planar WO<sub>3</sub> seed layer beneath nanostructured WO<sub>3</sub>, improved mechanical stability at 40°C with flowing electrolyte approximately twofold compared with materials where a seed layer was not integrated. This work provides a pathway through which robust photoelectrode systems can be engineered to enable the advancement of up-scaled photoelectrochemical water splitting.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1557/s43579-025-00788-9.</p>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"15 4","pages":"721-730"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12484363/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145213181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MRS CommunicationsPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2024-12-02DOI: 10.1557/s43579-024-00678-6
Siddharth R Krishnan, Robert Langer, Daniel G Anderson
{"title":"Materials approaches for next-generation encapsulated cell therapies.","authors":"Siddharth R Krishnan, Robert Langer, Daniel G Anderson","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00678-6","DOIUrl":"10.1557/s43579-024-00678-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transplanted cells can act as living drug factories capable of secreting therapeutic proteins <i>in vivo</i>, with applications in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes (T1D), blood borne disease, vision disorders, and degenerative neural disease, potentially representing functional cures for chronic conditions. However, attack from the host immune system represents a major challenge, requiring chronic immunosuppression to enable long-lived cell transplantation <i>in vivo</i>. Encapsulating cells in engineered biomaterials capable of excluding components of the host immune system while allowing for the transport of therapeutic proteins, oxygen, nutrients, metabolites, and waste products represents a potential solution. However, the foreign-body response can lead to isolation from native vasculature and hypoxia leading to cell death. In this prospective article, we highlight materials-based solutions to three important challenges in the field: (i) improving biocompatibility and reducing fibrosis; (ii) enhancing transport of secreted protein drugs and key nutrients and oxygen <i>via</i> engineered, semipermeable membranes; and (iii) improving oxygenation. These efforts draw on several disciplines in materials' research, including polymer science, surfaces, membranes, biomaterials' microfabrication, and flexible electronics. If successful, these efforts could lead to new therapies for chronic disease and are a rich space for both fundamental materials' discovery and applied translational science.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"15 1","pages":"21-33"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11825545/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143433540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MRS CommunicationsPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-05-13DOI: 10.1557/s43579-025-00726-9
Thomas Defferriere, Harry L Tuller
{"title":"Optoionics: New opportunity for ionic conduction-based radiation detection.","authors":"Thomas Defferriere, Harry L Tuller","doi":"10.1557/s43579-025-00726-9","DOIUrl":"10.1557/s43579-025-00726-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optoionics, involving light-modulated ionic transport in ionic solids, parallels optoelectronics in semiconductors and offers novel device design opportunities across various fields. Among these opportunities, grain boundary phenomena related to radiation-induced electron/hole pair generation and charge trapping at the boundaries causing a modulation in ionic current could enable fast, sensitive, and reversible radiation detectors. The robustness of ionic solids in chemical, structural, and thermal aspects in turn makes them scalable and robust alternatives to traditional semiconductor detectors. This article explores the theoretical underpinnings, experimental breakthroughs, and design considerations needed to optimize such optoionic devices.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"15 3","pages":"523-532"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12241152/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144626753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MRS CommunicationsPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1557/s43579-025-00780-3
Mitchell R Donoughue, Joshua D Anderson, Dev I Thawani, Jean Corraliza-Rodriguez, Anna Mathis, Monique S McClain
{"title":"Additive manufacturing and rheological characterization of ceramic matrix composite inks with high fiber volume loadings.","authors":"Mitchell R Donoughue, Joshua D Anderson, Dev I Thawani, Jean Corraliza-Rodriguez, Anna Mathis, Monique S McClain","doi":"10.1557/s43579-025-00780-3","DOIUrl":"10.1557/s43579-025-00780-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Additive manufacturing of fiber-filled ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) can be used to tune local properties <i>via</i> controlled fiber orientation. Increasing the loading of fibers in additively manufactured CMCs is needed to improve the fracture toughness, yet printing CMCs with high fiber loadings (> 20 vol%) remains challenging. In this work, the combination of viscous silicon oxycarbide preceramic resins, short carbon fibers (50 µm × 7 µm), and Vibration-Assisted Printing enable printing of a mixture with 39.4-vol.% carbon fiber (total loading of 43.3 vol%) with omnidirectional fibers within the bead.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1557/s43579-025-00780-3.</p>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"15 4","pages":"674-681"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12484376/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145213175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MRS CommunicationsPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-04-17DOI: 10.1557/s43579-025-00711-2
Maria R Ward Rashidi, Catherine S Snyder, Kathleen M Burkhard, Raneem Ahmad, Isha Bhorkar, Geeta Mehta
{"title":"Co-stimulation with equibiaxial strain and pre-osteoblast co-culture differentiates monocytes in a bone model.","authors":"Maria R Ward Rashidi, Catherine S Snyder, Kathleen M Burkhard, Raneem Ahmad, Isha Bhorkar, Geeta Mehta","doi":"10.1557/s43579-025-00711-2","DOIUrl":"10.1557/s43579-025-00711-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bone remodeling and immune function are dynamically regulated through cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions by stem and mature cell populations. We investigated the hypothesis that monocytes and pre-osteoblasts respond to cyclic tensile stress and paracrine interactions by differentiating into macrophage-like and osteoblast-like cells. 20% cyclic equibiaxial strain was applied to monocytic U937 and pre-osteoblastic ST2 cells for 72 h. Increased levels of CD11B, CD14, IL-6, and IL-8 in U937 indicated monocytic differentiation. Increased ALP expression and calcium deposition in ST2 indicated differentiation towards osteoblastic lineage. Overall, application of cyclic strain and pre-osteoblastic co-culture induced differentiation in this cyclically strained bone model.</p><p><strong>Graphical abstract: </strong></p>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"15 3","pages":"462-469"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12241300/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144626752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early Career Materials Researcher Issue","authors":"Rigoberto C. Advincula","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00646-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00646-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142248981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elissa Klopfer, Ighodalo Idehenre, Deanna Sessions, Michael J. Carter, Philip R. Buskohl, Eric S. Harper
{"title":"Design of fabrication-tolerant meta-atoms for polarization-multiplexed metasurfaces","authors":"Elissa Klopfer, Ighodalo Idehenre, Deanna Sessions, Michael J. Carter, Philip R. Buskohl, Eric S. Harper","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00629-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00629-1","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Abstract</h3><p>Metasurfaces can replace bulk optical components in a more compact form factor in applications including communication systems, sensors, and manufacturing technology. However, their design and fabrication is challenging due to competing demands of selecting meta-atoms that simultaneously provide the required amplitude and phase modulation while being robust to fabrication errors. Here, we develop two design heuristics to assist with the down-selection of meta-atoms into sensitivity-informed libraries, based on either selecting meta-atoms with minimal sensitivity or minimizing the relative sensitivities between meta-atoms. We evaluate both methods on a polarization-dependent phase mask and compare the resulting phase and intensity errors.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical Abstract</h3>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142248979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Current trends in macromolecular synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles","authors":"Brendan Karafinski, Nairiti Sinha","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00640-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00640-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Inorganic nanoparticles are a critical component in a broad range of applications spanning catalysis, sensing, optics, and electronics. The nucleation and growth mechanisms involved during their synthesis are known to be crucial for controlling their final performance. Macromolecules can display sequence definition, inherent chirality, metal ion targeting moieties, and can also form self-assemblies, affording them the ability to not only stabilize but also precisely control the synthesis and organization of nanoparticles for an intended application. Herein, we report the recent trends in inorganic nanoparticle synthesis mediated by peptides, peptoids, DNA, other biopolymers, and synthetic polymers. Important design parameters and future trends are also discussed.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical abstract</h3>\u0000","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142248983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"2D materials-based ink to develop meta-structures for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding","authors":"Bishakha Ray, R. Siyad, Suwarna Datar","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00639-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00639-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>2-D transition metal-chalcogenides (TMCs) are lucrative as frequency selective absorbers (FSAs) because of strong electronic polarization and enhanced dielectric loss. In the present work we have developed inks made of 2-D TMCs such as NiSe<sub>2</sub>, CoSe<sub>2</sub> and used them to develop metastructures having high reflection loss. The structures have conductivity peaks depending on concentration of the 2D structure in the paint. It is observed that the absorption bandwidth and frequency seem to depend on the composition of 2D TMC along with the structures made. This provides an additional method to modulate the properties of FSA.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical Abstract</h3>","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142248982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Avery Pritchard, Heather Fuentes, Jessica Santosa, Madison Gonzalez, Josiah Garan, Vanessa Bartling, Katrina Nelson, Albert Dato, Todd Monson, Renee Van Ginhoven
{"title":"Understanding surfaces and interfaces in nanocomposites of silicone and barium titanate through experiments and modeling","authors":"Avery Pritchard, Heather Fuentes, Jessica Santosa, Madison Gonzalez, Josiah Garan, Vanessa Bartling, Katrina Nelson, Albert Dato, Todd Monson, Renee Van Ginhoven","doi":"10.1557/s43579-024-00638-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00638-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Barium titanate (BTO) is a ferroelectric perovskite used in electronics and energy storage systems because of its high dielectric constant. Decreasing the BTO particle size was shown to increase the dielectric constant of the perovskite, which is an intriguing but contested result. We investigated this result by fabricating silicone-matrix nanocomposite specimens containing BTO particles of decreasing diameter. Furthermore, density functional theory modeling was used to understand the interactions at the BTO particle surface. Combining results from experiments and modeling indicated that polymer type, particle surface interactions, and particle surface structure can influence the dielectric properties of polymer-matrix nanocomposites containing BTO.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical abstract</h3>\u0000","PeriodicalId":19016,"journal":{"name":"MRS Communications","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142249032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}