Research

New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 19:33:26 +0000

New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants Jeff Zehnder Thu, 07/24/2025 - 13:33

Semiconductors鈥攕ubstances that can selectively conduct or block electricity鈥攈ave been dubbed the 鈥�brains of modern electronics.鈥� They form the building blocks of the chips that power electronic devices from laptops to smartphones and tablets to sports watches.

But semiconductors generate heat when they鈥檙e working, and they can easily get too hot, which hurts their performance and can damage them. While smaller chips are denser and more efficient at processing, they are harder to keep cool because of their size.

Sanghamitra Neogi, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department, is exploring ways to protect semiconductors and microchips from heat damage. She specializes in nanoscale semiconductors, which are so tiny their parts are measured in nanometers (billionths of a meter).

Sanghamitra Neogi speaks about her startup, AtomTCAD Inc., at 探花视频's Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase on June 25, 2025. (Credit: Casey Cass/探花视频)

Neogi and her research group, CUANTAM Laboratory, have developed a sophisticated software called AtomThermCAD that can predict how the materials in a microchip generate and respond to heat, which determines whether the chip will ultimately fail from overheating. AtomThermCAD is short for Atom-to-Device Thermal Computer Aided Design software for nanometer-scale semiconductor devices. The research behind this software was primarily supported by a $1 million DARPA MTO Thermonat grant awarded between 2023 and 2025.

Earlier this year, Neogi launched a startup to bring the software to market for semiconductor manufacturers and other customers. To kickstart her new company, AtomTCAD Inc., Neogi received $150,000 in recent grant funding from the state鈥檚 Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT, matched by another $50,000 from Venture Partners at 探花视频, which helps CU faculty and researchers turn their discoveries into startups and partnerships through funding and entrepreneurial support.

The grant from OEDIT was an advanced industries proof-of-concept grant for researchers in advanced industries. Managed by OEDIT鈥檚 Global Business Development division, this funding is intended to accelerate innovation, promote public-private partnerships and encourage commercialization of products and services to strengthen Colorado鈥檚 economy.

OEDIT Executive Director Eve Lieberman said that Neogi鈥檚 work will benefit the entire semiconductor industry, a rapidly growing segment of Colorado鈥檚 economy.

鈥淒r. Neogi鈥檚 research addresses one of the industry鈥檚 toughest challenges by improving heat management at the nanoscale, which boosts chip performance and supports the growth of Colorado鈥檚 advanced technology sector,鈥� Lieberman said.

Chip designers use software like Neogi鈥檚 to test their designs without needing to actually build the chips. But unlike most chip design software, AtomThermCAD uses AI-accelerated quantum physics calculations to model the semiconductors and their components at an atomic level so it can accurately predict whether semiconductors or transistors too small to be seen by the naked eye will overheat.

The software could accelerate technological advancement by saving chip designers months, if not years, of time they previously had to spend developing and testing their designs.

Neogi drew on her expertise in physics and quantum technology to develop the software. She said as microchip components get smaller and smaller, approaching the level of individual atoms, researchers need to look to quantum physics to understand how the components behave.

Neogi also feels her approach could have applications beyond microchip development.

鈥淲hat we developed is a method where you can model the thermal phenomena of any kind of nanoscale tech device,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eyond microchips, it could be nanoscale medical devices and implants inside your body, or even drug delivery systems.鈥�

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Faster, cleaner, better: revolutionary water treatment

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:50:56 +0000

Faster, cleaner, better: revolutionary water treatment Jeff Zehnder Thu, 07/17/2025 - 13:50

Jeff Zehnder

Anthony Straub is making revolutionary advances in water purification for life on Earth and in space.

Using nanoscale membranes鈥攖hinner than 1/100th the width of a human hair鈥擲traub has developed a technology that could significantly improve conventional water treatment, microchip production, and desalination.

His efforts are receiving major recognition from the National Science Foundation, which is honoring Straub with a CAREER Award, a five-year, $550,000 grant to advance his research.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited about this work,鈥� said Straub, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. 鈥淔or desalination, switching to these membranes could produce 50 times cleaner water while lasting much longer. It鈥檚 really a big deal.鈥�

Membrane technology has been in use for water purification for over five decades. It works well for many applications, but filter degradation is a problem, and even at peak conditions, some contaminants can still pass through the membranes.

鈥淐urrent membranes are very hard to clean,鈥� Straub said. 鈥淎 major advance of this new membrane is you can expose it to concentrated bleach and cleaning chemicals. It also removes almost every impurity from water 鈥� salts, dissolved metals, and organic contaminants like hormones, PFAS, and pharmaceuticals.鈥�

In the new process, Straub traps a tiny layer of air inside a porous membrane. Using pressure, water is forced against the membrane until it evaporates and recondenses on the other side of the air layer. The technology requires no additional electricity or heat and operates with pumps already used in water systems.

鈥淚t鈥檚 reimagining distillation. Thermal distillation 鈥� essentially boiling water 鈥� has been used to purify water for centuries, but it is really energy intensive. We鈥檙e laying the groundwork for distillation with pressure as the driving force, and it is 10 times more energy efficient,鈥� Straub said.

The technology has advanced beyond the initial research phase. Straub has conducted successful small-scale tests and has two provisional patents on the design. Last year, he co-founded a spinoff company and received a grant from NASA for a prototype purification system for astronauts to use on a future Moon base.

Design of ultrathin air-trapping membranes for pressure-driven vapor transport. For more details, read "Pressure-driven distillation using air-trapping membranes for fast and selective water purification" in the journal Science Advances.

鈥淭here were papers discussing this process; the theoretical foundations were there. Our major advance was demonstrating it successfully. We had to understand how to develop materials with really small pore sizes that can trap air,鈥� Straub said.

A major focus of the future work will be better analysis and modeling of the process.

鈥淭his technology is transitioning to applied use, but some aspects of the process aren鈥檛 as well understood. That鈥檚 very important for end users, to know how this design works, how the transport happens. We have some models, but they鈥檙e for very idealized systems, which isn鈥檛 how things work in the real world,鈥� he said.

Beyond traditional water treatment, the process has drawn significant interest from microchip producers. Semiconductor wafers are manufactured in clean rooms, and ultrapure water is needed to rinse wafers and wash away residue produced during chip etching.

Even the tiniest water impurities can damage the chips, so water must be purified to levels far beyond what is needed for regular drinking water, requiring an expensive, elaborate system. Straub鈥檚 technology would dramatically simplify the process and lower costs.

鈥淭his is a huge potential market. Companies currently use a treatment process involving at least 14 different steps, and they avoid shutting down the machines because they鈥檙e worried that particles could enter the production line,鈥� he said.

In addition to advancing research, Straub is also developing an education and outreach component as part of the CAREER award. Collaborating with a faculty colleague in the mechanical engineering department, Daniel Knight, the pair are developing a project-based water treatment course that will be used in rural K-12 schools across Colorado.

鈥淟ots of these schools are in areas where they don鈥檛 have enough water, so this is really important,鈥� Straub said.

He hopes the outreach will be both educational and promote career opportunities for the next generation of water engineers.

鈥淢y parents grew up in Latin America in underserved areas,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n undergrad, I was drawn to improve water treatment in low resource settings, and I caught the research bug. I want to encourage other people, too. It鈥檚 about making the world a better place.鈥�

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Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 30 May 2025 02:10:31 +0000

Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials Jeff Zehnder Thu, 05/29/2025 - 20:10

Jeff Zehnder

Materials researchers are getting a big boost from a new database created by a team of researchers led by Hendrik Heinz.

A professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, Heinz advanced a major initiative to create a public database, available online to all researchers, that contains over 2,000 carbon nanotube stress-strain curves and failure properties.

鈥淭his data sharing is important. It allows the scientific community to build on and expand. Instead of someone spending a year figuring out the mechanics of a particular carbon nanostructure in experiments, they can use this database. You鈥檒l have the results in one hour,鈥� said Heinz, who is also a faculty member in the materials science and engineering program.

The announcement came in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Carbon nanotubes and associated graphitic structures are strong and lightweight engineered materials with great potential in multiple sectors, including aviation, automobiles, and electronics. They were first discovered in the 1970s, but their tiny size 鈥� the engineering is conducted at the atomic scale 鈥� has made them difficult to study, until now.

鈥淐arbon nanotubes and graphene can be stronger than steel,鈥� Heinz said. 鈥淭hey will be really important for next generation cars, planes, and spacecraft, but we have to understand their chemistry and physics.鈥�

Working with a team that included researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Texas A&M University, and the University of California San Diego, the group built computational models using artificial intelligence to develop high quality predictions of mechanical properties of different carbon nanotube materials.

How will a stress-strain and failure database assist researchers? With any material, it is necessary for product designers to understand their strength and ability to withstand adverse conditions and manipulation.

鈥淭his is a problem where data science was really able to help. Materials science usually has a problem of sparse data and not enough data points. This model changes that. Now someone can take a 3-dimensional structure and change the morphology or introduce a defect and it will be really easy to test,鈥� Heinz said.

The project grew out of a National Science Foundation initiative called 鈥淗arnessing the Data Revolution鈥� and represents six years of research.

鈥淧eople have made claims that they had a 3D structures database for carbon nanotubes, but they had no attached mechanical properties or conductivity or anything useful,鈥� Heinz said 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 learn anything from that. This is the first database structures and the properties, and it鈥檚 available to a broad community."

The database is available on both figShare and Github.

In addition to Heinz, co-authors of the PNAS paper include Jordan Winetrout (MatSciPhD鈥�24) from 探花视频; Professor Yusu Wang, Zilu Li, and Qi Zhao, all from UCSD; Assistant Professor Vinu Unnikrishnan and Landon Gaber from Texas A&M University; Vikas Varshney from AFRL; and Associate Professor Yanxun Xu from Johns Hopkins University.

Materials researchers are getting a big boost from a new database created by a team of researchers led by Hendrik Heinz. The initiative, now available online to all researchers, is a database containing over 2,000 carbon nanotube stress-strain curves and failure properties.

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New discovery shows how molecules can mute heat like music

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 06 May 2025 15:43:01 +0000

New discovery shows how molecules can mute heat like music Jeff Zehnder Tue, 05/06/2025 - 09:43

Imagine you are playing the guitar鈥攅ach pluck of a string creates a sound wave that vibrates and interacts with other waves.

Now shrink that idea down to a small single molecule, and instead of sound waves, picture vibrations that carry heat.

Ultra-high vacuum scanning probe setup modified by the Cui Research Group to conduct thermal microscopy experiments.

A team of engineers and materials scientists in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at 探花视频 has recently discovered that these tiny thermal vibrations, otherwise known as phonons, can interfere with each other just like musical notes鈥攅ither amplifying or canceling each other, depending on how a molecule is "strung" together.

Phonon interference is something that鈥檚 never been measured or observed at room temperature on a molecular scale. But this group has developed a new technique that has the power to display these tiny, vibrational secrets.

The breakthrough study was led by Assistant Professor Longji Cui and his team in the Cui Research Group. Their work, funded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with researchers from Spain (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Universidad Aut贸noma de Madrid), Italy (Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici) and the 探花视频 Department of Chemistry, was recently published in the journal Nature Materials.

The group says their findings will help researchers around the world gain a better understanding of the physical behaviors of phonons, the dominant energy carriers in all insulating materials. They believe one day, this discovery can revolutionize how heat dissipation is managed in future electronics and materials.

鈥淚nterference is a fundamental phenomenon,鈥� said Cui, who is also affiliated with the Materials Science and Engineering Program and the Center for Experiments on Quantum Materials. 鈥淚f you have the capability to understand interference of heat flow at the smallest level, you can create devices that have never been possible before.鈥�

The world鈥檚 strongest set of ears

Cui says molecular phononics, or the study of phonons in a molecule, has been around for quite some time as a primarily theoretical discussion. But you need some pretty strong ears to 鈥渓isten鈥� to these molecular melodies and vibrations first-hand, and that technology just simply hasn鈥檛 existed.

A sneak peek into the ultra-high vacuum scanning probe microscopy setup used to conduct molecular measurements.

That is, until Cui and his team stepped in.

The group designed a thermal sensor smaller than a grain of sand or even a sawdust particle. This little probe is special: it features a record-breaking resolution that allows them to grab a molecule and measure phonon vibration at the smallest level possible.

Using these specially designed miniature thermal sensors, the team studied heat flow through single molecular junctions and found that certain molecular pathways can cause destructive interference鈥攖he clashing of phonon vibrations to reduce heat flow.

Sai Yelishala, a PhD student in Cui鈥檚 lab and lead author of the study, said this research using their novel scanning thermal probe represents the first observation of destructive phonon interference at room temperature.

In other words, the team has unlocked the ability to manage heat flow at the scale where all materials are born: a molecule.

鈥淟et鈥檚 say you have two waves of water in the ocean that are moving towards each other. The waves will eventually crash into each other and create a disturbance in between,鈥� Yelishala said. 鈥淭hat is called destructive interference and that is what we observed in this experiment. Understanding this phenomenon can help us suppress the transport of heat and enhance the performance of materials on an extremely small and unprecedented scale.鈥�

Tiny molecules, vast potential

Developing the world鈥檚 strongest set of ears to measure and document never-before-seen phonon behavior is one thing. But just what exactly are these tiny vibrations capable of?

PhD student and lead author of the study Sai Yelishala (right), along with Postdoctoral Associate and second author Yunxuan Zhu (left). Both are members of the Cui Research Group led by Assistant Professor Longji Cui.

鈥淭his is only the beginning for molecular phononics,鈥� said Yelishala. 鈥淣ew-age materials and electronics have a long list of concerns when it comes to heat dissipation. Our research will help us study the chemistry, physical behavior and heat management in molecules so that we can address these concerns.鈥�

Take an organic material, like a polymer, as an example. Its low thermal conductivity and susceptibility to temperature changes often poses great risks, such as overheating and degradation.

Maybe one day, with the help of phonon interference research, scientists and engineers can develop a new molecular design. One that turns a polymer into a metal-like material that can harness constructive phonon vibrations to enhance thermal transport.

The technique can even play a large role in areas like thermoelectricity, otherwise known as the use of heat to generate electricity. Reducing heat flow and suppressing thermal transport in this discipline can enhance the efficiency of thermoelectric devices and pave the way for clean energy usage.

The group says this study is just the tip of the iceberg for them, too. Their next projects and collaborations with 探花视频 chemists will expand on this phenomenon and use this novel technique to explore other phononic characteristics on a molecular scale.

鈥淧honons travel virtually in all materials,鈥� Yelishala said. 鈥淭herefore we can guide advancements in any natural and artificially made materials at the smallest possible level using our ultra-sensitive probes.鈥�

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Bay earns major Air Force Young Investigator award

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 22:35:28 +0000

Bay earns major Air Force Young Investigator award Jeff Zehnder Thu, 03/27/2025 - 16:35

Assistant Professors K艒nane Bay and Ankur Gupta from 探花视频鈥檚 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering have been honored with the 2025 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program Award.

Each received a $450,000, three-year grant to advance research relevant to the Air Force. The program, offered by the Air Force Research Laboratory, supports early-career scientists and engineers with 鈥渆xceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research,鈥� according to the AFOSR.

鈥淭his is among the most prestigious awards given to junior faculty, and to have both Ankur and K艒nane receive it in the same year is a remarkable testimony to their impressive achievements and very high potential for making future advances,鈥� said Professor Ryan Hayward, chair of the department.

K艒nane Bay, self-healing, innovative materials

Bay says the next generation of polymer materials鈥攎aterials with long chains of molecules like plastics, rubber and proteins鈥攚ill need advanced features, such as the ability to repair themselves. While engineering synthetic polymers with these properties is challenging, biofilm-forming bacteria are promising as they use internal material factories to produce polymers on demand to survive changes in the surroundings.

鈥淚 am grateful to receive this award which will allow our lab to harness nature to create novel engineered living materials,鈥� Bay said.

The award will support Bay and her team at the Huli Materials Lab in using biofilm-forming bacteria to develop new polymeric materials. The project combines 3D printing with bacteria鈥檚 natural movement to control the mechanical properties of biofilm-based synthetic polymers. The findings could lead to self-healing materials that can change shape, with applications in aerospace, soft robotics, and protective coatings.

Bay recently also received a prestigious CAREER Award, a $675,000, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding will advance her work in characterization of polymer thin film.

Ankur Gupta, more precise chemical sensors

Imagine being able to organize tiny particles as small as one-twentieth the thickness of a human hair.

Gupta鈥檚 research aims to do just that. He and his team in the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow and Electrokinetics (LIFE) study how these tiny particles form patterns through chemical reactions and diffusion. The researchers aim to control this process to develop materials that detect microscopic changes in the air, paving the way for advanced chemical sensors that identify subtle chemical shifts and improve safety.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor for us to receive this award, especially given its prestige and selectivity,鈥� Gupta said. 鈥淭his recognition is a testament to the hard work of my current and past group members, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them.鈥�

The $450,000 three-year grant will support a graduate student and cover travel expenses.

In 2024, Gupta was honored with the Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics. He was also selected for the prestigious 鈥�35 Under 35鈥� award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2023.

That same year Gupta also received a $517,000, five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award, to study how ions move through porous materials. His research will help design improved porous materials for more efficient desalination and renewable energy storage.

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Aircrafts of the future: Boosting aerodynamic performance by engineered surface vibrations

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 16:54:49 +0000

Aircrafts of the future: Boosting aerodynamic performance by engineered surface vibrations Jeff Zehnder Mon, 03/24/2025 - 10:54

Jeff Zehnder

鈥淭his is probably the most radical conceptual advancement for airplanes since the replacement of propellers with jets.鈥� 鈥� M.I. Hussein

Mahmoud Hussein is not pulling punches about the potential impact of a major aerospace materials research project.

As the principal investigator of a $7.5 million, five-year Department of Defense Office of Naval Research (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), Hussein is leading an effort to reshape the fundamental character of fluid-structure interactions to reduce drag on high-speed aerospace vehicles鈥攖he focus of the project.

鈥淪ince the dawn of aviation, aircraft design has been based on the premise of shaping the surface of the vehicle to create lift and minimize drag. Our team is pursuing a new paradigm where the phononic properties, or intrinsic vibrations, of a surface or subsurface provide an additional pathway to interact with the airflow, to enhance the vehicle performance in an unprecedented manner,鈥� said Hussein, the Alvah and Harriet Hovlid Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Hussein also has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Physics and an affiliation with the Materials Science and Engineering Program.

MURI Partners

University of Colorado Boulder

Mahmoud I. Hussein
Professor & Principal Investigator
Armin Kianfar
Post-Doctoral Associate
Adam Harris
PhD Student

University of Maryland

Christoph Brehm
Associate Professor

Johns Hopkins University

Kevin Hemker
Professor

Purdue University

Joseph Jewell
Associate Professor

Applied Physics Laboratory

Keith Caruso
Principal Staff Engineer
Ken Kane
Researcher

University of Kentucky

Alexandre Martin
Professor

Case Western Reserve University

Bryan Schmidt
Assistant Professor

Office of Naval Research (Program Directors)

Eric Marineau
Eric Wuchina

Phononic Subsurfaces

Turbulent airflow is detrimental to the fuel economy and the surface temperature of aircrafts as they soar through the atmosphere. This research aims to mitigate the transition to turbulence using phononic subsurfaces (PSubs) 鈥� synthetic designed materials affixed beneath the surface of a wing or vehicle body that passively manipulate small-amplitude vibrations, and by extension flow fluctuations, point-by-point along the surface.

Turbulence and Fuel Economy

Passenger planes consume over 10,000 gallons of jet fuel on a single cross-country trip, so improvements in fuel economy could lead to big savings for airlines. The potential in hypersonic crafts is even more dramatic.

Hypersonic vehicles travel at velocities at least five times the speed of sound. The turbulence that results from such speeds causes the surface of the vehicles to heat up to thousands of degrees, requiring they be constructed of exotic, expensive materials.

鈥淏y introducing a phononic subsurface to precisely shape the vibrations along the surface, we can alter the way the air interacts with the vehicle such that we ultimately don鈥檛 need to come up with exceedingly high-temperature-resistant materials,鈥� Hussein said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e passively manipulating instabilities in air flow in a manner that is favorable in the boundary layer where the vehicle meets the surrounding air.鈥�

2015 to Today

The concept of PSubs was discovered by Hussein. The work began from a collaboration over 15 years ago between Hussein and then 探花视频 Professor Sedat Biringen, who died in 2020. As leaders in the newly-born research area of phononics and the longstanding field of fluid dynamics, respectively, they worked together to theoretically demonstrate鈥�for the first time鈥�a way to manipulate phonons to improve the efficiency of flight, with tremendous potential for the aerospace industry and prospects for application to water vessels as well.

Recently Hussein gathered a team of experts from across the country to take the concept of PSubs to the next level with this hypersonics MURI grant. Over the duration of the project, the group will develop high-fidelity models and fabricate functional prototypes to effectively characterize and demonstrate the technology in high-speed wind tunnels.

鈥淲e鈥檙e most confident about this endeavor, because the idea is rooted in fundamental science marrying鈥�in quite a sophisticated fashion鈥�fluid dynamics with condensed matter physics as well as with the emerging field of elastic metamaterials,鈥� Hussein said.

鈥淭his is probably the most radical conceptual advancement for airplanes since the replacement of propellers with jets.鈥� 鈥� Mahmoud Hussein is not pulling punches about the potential impact of a major aerospace materials research project.

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Xiao earns prestigious membership in the National Academy of Inventors

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 21:20:30 +0000

Xiao earns prestigious membership in the National Academy of Inventors Jeff Zehnder Wed, 03/12/2025 - 15:20

Jianliang Xiao is a 鈥渕echanics of materials鈥� expert launching innovations in soft materials and flexible electronics. His work recently earned him an exclusive spot amongst some of the most successful academic inventors in the world.

Jianliang Xiao, associate professor of mechanical engineering and senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Xiao, an associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been selected as a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The program recognizes rising innovators who have had success securing patents, licensing and commercialization for developed technologies that showcase real impact on the welfare of society.

鈥淚 am extremely excited and honored to join this group of incredible innovators as a senior member,鈥� said Xiao, who is also affiliated with the Materials Science and Engineering Program at 探花视频. 鈥淭hank you to the students in my research group for their contributions. We see this not just as recognition, but as stimulation. It encourages us to work harder and make an even greater impact on society in the future.鈥�

The induction comes on the heels of two recent patents that Xiao and his team in the Xiao Research Group have received. The first is a smart and comfortable in-ear device that can detect signals from the brain and facial area to help diagnose sleep disorders.

The second is a series of wearable electronic systems also designed for health monitoring purposes. Not only can they be worn, but they can also be recycled.

According to the World Health Organization, a record 62 million tons of electronic waste was produced globally in just 2022 alone. Xiao says this technology has the power to drastically reduce this number and make way for a cleaner global footprint.

鈥淥ur work is focused on a combination of smart materials and flexible electronics,鈥� Xiao said. 鈥淣ot only do we have patents for these technologies, but startup companies are working to commercialize them so that, hopefully in a few years, they can make a real impact on people鈥檚 lives.鈥�

Xiao and his group will continue to fuel their inventive spirit. The team of inventors are actively seeking collaborations with other experts in various disciplines, including healthcare.

But despite his achievement, Xiao remains steady on one principle: it takes a vast ecosystem to have innovative and entrepreneurial success.

鈥淭hank you to the people at the Research and Innovation Office and the Venture Partners at 探花视频,鈥� said Xiao. 鈥淭hey have offered tremendous support during my journey and nomination.鈥�

This year鈥檚 cohort of NAI inductees is the largest since the program鈥檚 inception in 2018. Comprised of 162 emerging inventors from institutions across the nation, the collective group is named on over 1,200 U.S. patents.

The 2025 class of senior members will be officially celebrated during the Senior Member Induction Ceremony at NAI鈥檚 14th annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 23-26.

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鈥婲ew technology turns waste heat into electricity, defies physical limit

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 16:48:48 +0000

鈥婲ew technology turns waste heat into electricity, defies physical limit Jeff Zehnder Wed, 02/19/2025 - 09:48

A team of engineers and material scientists in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at 探花视频 has developed a new technology to turn thermal radiation into electricity in a way that literally teases the basic law of thermal physics.

The breakthrough was discovered by the Cui Research Group, led by Assistant Professor Longji Cui. Their work, in collaboration with researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was recently published in the journal Energy & Environmental Sciences.

The group says their research has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing industries by increasing power generation without the need for high temperature heat sources or expensive materials. They can store clean energy, lower carbon emissions and harvest heat from geothermal, nuclear and solar radiation plants across the globe.

In other words, Cui and his team have solved an age-old puzzle: how to do more with less.

鈥淗eat is a renewable energy source that is often overlooked,鈥� Cui said. 鈥淭wo-thirds of all energy that we use is turned into heat. Think of energy storage and electricity generation that doesn鈥檛 involve fossil fuels. We can recover some of this wasted thermal energy and use it to make clean electricity.鈥�

Breaking the physical limit in vacuum

High-temperature industrial processes and renewable energy harvesting techniques often utilize a thermal energy conversion method called thermophotovoltaics (TPV). This method harnesses thermal energy from high temperature heat sources to generate electricity.

But existing TPV devices have one constraint: Planck鈥檚 thermal radiation law.

PhD student Mohammad Habibi showcasing one of the group's TPV cells used for power generation. Habibi was the leader of both the theory and experimentation of this groundbreaking research.

鈥淧lanck鈥檚 law, one of most fundamental laws in thermal physics, puts a limit on the available thermal energy that can be harnessed from a high temperature source at any given temperature,鈥� said Cui, also a faculty member affiliated with the Materials Science and Engineering Program and the Center for Experiments on Quantum Materials. 鈥淩esearchers have tried to work closer or overcome this limit using many ideas, but current methods are overly complicated to manufacture the device, costly and unscalable.鈥�

That鈥檚 where Cui鈥檚 group comes in. By designing a unique and compact TPV device that can fit in a human hand, the team was able to overcome the vacuum limit defined by Planck鈥檚 law and double the yielded power density previously achieved by conventional TPV designs.

鈥淲hen we were exploring this technology, we had theoretically predicted a high level of enhancement. But we weren鈥檛 sure what it would look like in a real world experiment,鈥� said Mohammad Habibi, a PhD student in Cui鈥檚 lab and leader of both the theory and experiment of this research. 鈥淎fter performing the experiment and processing the data, we saw the enhancement ourselves and knew it was something great.鈥�

The zero-vacuum gap solution using glass

The research emerged, in part, from the group鈥檚 desire to challenge the limits. But in order to succeed, they had to modify existing TPV designs and take a different approach.

鈥淭here are two major performance metrics when it comes to TPV devices: efficiency and power density,鈥� said Cui. 鈥淢ost people have focused on efficiency. However, our goal was to increase power.鈥�

The zero-vacuum gap TPV device, designed by the Cui Research Group.

To do so, the team implemented what鈥檚 called a 鈥渮ero-vacuum gap鈥� solution into the design of their TPV device. Unlike other TPV models that feature a vacuum or gas-filled gap between the thermal source and the solar cell, their design features an insulated, high index and infrared-transparent spacer made out of just glass.

This creates a high power density channel that allows thermal heat waves to travel through the device without losing strength, drastically improving power generation. The material is also very cheap, one of the device鈥檚 central calling cards.

鈥淧reviously, when people wanted to enhance the power density, they would have to increase temperature. Let鈥檚 say an increase from 1,500 C to 2,000 C. Sometimes even higher, which eventually becomes not tolerable and unsafe for the whole energy system,鈥� Cui explained. 鈥淣ow we can work in lower temperatures that are compatible with most industrial processes, all while still generating similar electrical power than before. Our device operates at 1,000 C and yields power equivalent to 1,400 C in existing gap-integrated TPV devices.鈥�

The group also says their glass design is just the tip of the iceberg. Other materials could help the device produce even more power.

鈥淭his is the first demonstration of this new TPV concept,鈥� explained Habibi. 鈥淏ut if we used another cheap material with the same properties, like amorphous silicon, there is a potential for an even higher, nearly 20 times more increase in power density. That鈥檚 what we are looking to explore next.鈥�

The broader commercial impact

Assistant Professor Longji Cui (middle) and the Cui Research Group.

Cui says their novel TPV devices would make its largest impact by enabling portable power generators and decarbonizing heavy emissions industries. Once optimized, they have the power to transform high-temperature industrial processes, such as the production of glass, steel and cement with cheaper and cleaner electricity.

鈥淥ur device uses commercial technology that already exists. It can scale up naturally to be implemented in these industries,鈥� said Cui. 鈥淲e can recover wasted heat and can provide the energy storage they need with this device at a low working temperature.

鈥淲e have a patent pending based on this technology and it is very exciting to push this renewable innovation forward within the field of power generation and heat recovery.鈥�

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5 startups to watch in 2025

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 18:02:21 +0000

5 startups to watch in 2025 Jeff Zehnder Wed, 01/29/2025 - 11:02

When it comes to putting science into action, last year was one for the record books. From July 2023 to June 2024, 探花视频 helped to launch 35 new companies based on research at the university鈥攁 big tick up from the previous record of 20 companies in fiscal year 2021.

The new businesses are embracing technologies from the worlds of healthcare, agriculture, clean energy and more鈥攊ncluding sensors that could one day help farmers improve their crop yields and breathalyzers that can detect signs of infection in the air you breathe out.

Here鈥檚 a look at how scientists, with the help of the university鈥檚 commercialization arm Venture Partners at 探花视频, seek to use discoveries from the lab to make a difference in peoples鈥� lives.

Mana Battery: Cheaper, longer lasting batteries for clean energy

This company is set to spark a renewable energy revolution. Founded by Chunmei Ban, associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with CU alumni Nick Singstock and Tyler Evans, Mana Battery is developing a cheaper, safer and longer lasting alternative to the traditional lithium-ion battery.

Lithium-ion batteries are the most common type of rechargeable battery on the planet, powering everything from TV remotes to cell phones and even electric vehicles. But the materials used in these batteries, such as lithium and cobalt, are rare and expensive. In contrast, Mana鈥檚 batteries run on sodium, an abundant mineral, offering a more affordable and sustainable alternative.

Currently, sodium-ion batteries come with a host of technological challenges. For example, they typically store less energy than lithium-ion batteries of the same size.

Ban and her team are working on improving sodium-ion battery designs to increase the amount of energy they can store. Their goal is to develop sodium-ion batteries with the same energy density as lithium-ion batteries at just 35% to 75% of the cost.

The renewable energy industry could reap the benefits. Sodium-ion batteries could store excess clean energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines, providing power even during cloudy or windless days.

鈥淭he use of batteries has significantly supported, and will continue to promote, the widespread use of electric vehicles and low-cost energy storage solutions for the power grid,鈥� Ban said.

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探花视频 researchers harness nature to create living optical materials

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 18:40:56 +0000

探花视频 researchers harness nature to create living optical materials Jeff Zehnder Tue, 01/21/2025 - 11:40

探花视频鈥檚 Living Materials Laboratory played a key role in studying tiny bioglass lenses that were designed to form on the surface of engineered microbes, a scientific breakthrough that could pave the way for groundbreaking imaging technologies in both medical and commercial applications.

The project, led by the University of Rochester and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was inspired by the enzymes secreted by sea sponges that help them grow glass-like silica shells. The shells are lightweight, durable and enable the sea sponges to thrive in harsh marine environments.

鈥淏y engineering microbes to display these same enzymes, our collaborators were able to form glass on the cell surface, which turned the cells into living microlenses,鈥� said Wil Srubar, a coauthor of the paper and professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Program. 鈥淭his is a terrific example of how learning and applying nature鈥檚 design principles can enable the production of advanced materials.鈥�

Professor Wil Srubar

Using imaging and X-ray techniques, 探花视频 researchers analyzed the silica, also known as 鈥渂ioglass,鈥� and quantified the amount surrounding different bacterial strains. The 探花视频 researchers demonstrated that bacteria engineered to form bioglass spheres contained significantly higher silica levels than non-engineered strains. Combined with optics data, the results confirmed that bacteria could be bioengineered to create bioglass microlenses with excellent light-focusing properties.

Microlenses are very small lenses that are only a few micrometers in size鈥攁bout the size of a single human cell and designed to capture and focus or manipulate light into intense beams at a microscopic scale. Because of their small size, microlenses are typically difficult to create, requiring complex, expensive machinery and extreme temperatures or pressures to shape them accurately and achieve the desired optical effects.

The small size of the bacterial microlenses makes them ideal for creating high-resolution image sensors, particularly biomedical imaging, allowing sharper visualization of subcellular features like protein complexes. In materials science, these microlenses can capture detailed images of nanoscale materials and structures. In diagnostics, they provide clearer imaging of microscopic pathogens like viruses and bacteria, leading to more accurate identification and analysis.

The University of Rochester contributed to this report.

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