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Cascade of electronic transitions in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

Dr. Dillon Wong, Assoc. Research Scholar, Princeton

Fri March 3, 11:30 AM – Virtual Event – Free!

Twisted bilayer graphene, a material constructed from rotating two sheets of graphene relative to each other, displays electronic properties not found in single graphene sheets. When rotated to the so-called “magic-angle”, approximately 1.05 degrees, twisted bilayer graphene exhibits correlated insulating, superconducting, and magnetic behavior that is tunable via electrostatic gating. Possible applications include superefficient information storage and processing, and rotation/twisting-controlled electronics.

     The exotic electronic states found in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene are believed to arise from strong electron-electron interactions that occur when partially filling the system’s flat electronic bands. I will review a series of experiments that use a scanning tunneling microscope to investigate the strength of the electron-electron interactions, as well as the nature of the superconducting state.

Dillon Wong is an associate research scholar at Princeton, where he has led teams in building facilities for 2-D materials fabrication, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). 

     He earned a physics PhD at UC Berkeley, where among other projects he used STM to image, characterize, and manipulate charged defects in gate-tunable graphene field-effect transistors made from exfoliated and chemical-vapor-deposition-grown graphene.

     Dillon has published 22 peer-reviewed papers, including some in Nature and Science, and was awarded 1 US patent.

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Subatomic Species Transport through Atomically Thin Membranes

Thursday, February 16th, 2023
Prof Piran Kidambi, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University

Cost: Free, but registration is required. Register: Here
Registered attendees will receive an email with a link for the Zoom meeting

Thurs Dec 15 – Agenda (California Time)
11:30 AM – Check-in & Journal Club: Fundamental transport mechanisms of atomically thin membranes
12:00 PM – Announcements and Speaker Introduction
12:10 – 1:30 PM –  Seminar and Q&A

 
Membranes are thin materials used to selectively separate gases or liquids and are used on a range of scales from benchtop experiments to industrial processes. Challenges arise in separating materials with very similar sizes or chemical properties, particularly at the smallest scales. We review advances in using atomically thin two-dimensional materials such as graphene or hexagonal boron nitride for the separation of subatomic species, including electrons, hydrogen isotopes, and gases. We also explore the scope to scale up the sizes of these membranes and their potential use in applications relating to energy, microscopy, and electronics.

Read More: Subatomic species transport through atomically thin membranes

Piran Kidambi is an Assistant Professor at the Vanderbilt University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (since 2017). After receiving his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2014, he pursued postdoctoral research at MIT through the Lindemann Trust Fellowship.
     Kidambi’s research at Vanderbilt was recognized by the NSF (National Science Foundation) CAREER award (2020), American Chemical Society PRF Doctoral New Investigator (2018), Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2018), and other awards. He has served on the US National Graphene Association Academic Council since 2019 and is a guest editor for MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) Nanomaterials.

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SFBA Monthly Seminar – Nanotechnology + Synthetic Biology: Directing Evolution of Energy Materials

Thursday, September 29th, 2022

Merging Nanotechnology & Synthetic Biology toward Directed Evolution of Energy Materials by Elena A. Rozhkova, Argonne National Laborator

Date and time

Thu, October 27, 2022, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM PDT

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nanotechnology-synthetic-biology-directing-evolution-of-energy-materials-tickets-420103008407

About this event

The biological use of solar energy for synthesis of fuels from water and carbon dioxide inspires researchers and engineers in their efforts to replace exhaustible energy sources with renewable technologies.

Environmentally friendly schemes of photocatalytic energy conversion, known as artificial photosynthesis, along with inorganic materials, also use biological structures, such as molecules, enzymes, machineries of whole microorganisms capable of light-harvesting, water splitting, carbon dioxide and proton reduction.

In this talk, I will make an argument that merging nanotechnology, biotechnology and synthetic biology approaches allows for systemic manipulation at the nanoparticle-bio interface toward directed evolution of energy materials, novel environmentally friendly catalytic, “artificial life” systems and, ultimately, to circular economy.

For example, purple membranes isolated from Halobacteria cells or, more recently, obtained via cell-free synthetic biology approaches, were integrated with TiO2 nanoparticles to produce hydrogen or reduce carbon dioxide. These new functions are not typical of the host microorganism. On the other hand, interplay between plasmon resonance of photonic (Au, Ag) nanoparticles and natural mechanisms of the same light-sensitive membranes in engineered hollow hybrids, or “artificial cell”, resulted in ATP photosynthesis.

Dr. Rozhkova earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Moscow State Institute for Fine Chemical Technology. She then worked in Japan as a postdoctoral fellow of Japan Society for Promotion of Science at Tohoku University. After moving to the US in 2003, she became a research staff member at the Chemistry Department of Princeton University, and later she moved to Chicago.

Since joining the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory in 2007, Elena has focused on a general theme of nano-bio interfaces, one of the most exciting interdisciplinary research fields of our time. Success in this area can lead to the solution of emerging problems of civilization, for example, to provide alternative sustainable energy, to advance medical technologies in the diagnosis and treatment of incurable diseases

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SFBA Nanotechnology Seminar – Nanomaterial-Enabled Soft Electronics

Thursday, September 29th, 2022

Nanomaterial-Enabled Soft Electronics by Prof Yong Zhu, Andrew A. Adams Distinguished Professor North Carolina State University (NCSU)

Date and time

Thu, October 13, 2022, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM PDT

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sfba-nanotechnology-seminar-nanomaterial-enabled-soft-electronics-tickets-420099277247

About this event

Soft electronics takes a leap beyond Si-based rigid electronics. They are made of ultrathin, compliant, and stretchable materials, already with broad applications from personal health monitoring to prosthetics to human-machine interfaces. Metal nanowires, in particular silver nanowire (AgNWs), have emerged as a promising soft electronic material.

In this talk, I will discuss the recent advances in AgNW-based soft electronics and soft robotics. I will start with highly conductive and stretchable AgNW electrodes, followed with a variety of wearable sensors for monitoring of human physiology and motions (e.g., strain, pressure, temperature, hydration, ECG, and EMG). I will discuss their application in personal healthcare and sports.

Manufacturing is a critical enabling step for developing AgNW-based soft electronic devices. I will discuss our recent efforts in scalable and sustainable nanomanufacturing.

Soft robotics have recently received tremendous interests. I will briefly discuss the AgNW-based soft heater and bimorph actuator and their application in soft robotics. I highlight a recent strategy employing mechanical bistability to significantly increase the speed of the thermally actuated soft robots.

Yong Zhu is the Andrew Adams Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with affiliate appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, at North Carolina State University.
He received his BS degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and MS and PhD degrees from Northwestern University. After completing his postdoctoral training at the University of Texas at Austin he joined NC State University in 2007 as an Assistant Professor.
His group conducts research at the intersection of mechanics of materials and micro/nano-technology, including nanomaterial-enabled flexible, stretchable and wearable electronics.
His work has been recognized with numerous awards including James R. Rice Medal from the Society of Engineering Science, Bessel Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, ASME Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award, and Best Wearable Material/Component Development Award at IDTechEx Wearable USA

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6th Annual Company Origin Stories – Exploring Entrepreneurship

Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
CEO/Founders discuss the technology and business aspects of building a successful company based on nanotechnology

Cost: Free, but registration is required. Register: Here
Registered attendees will receive an email with a link for the Zoom meeting

Thurs April 16 –
Agenda (California Time)

3:30 PM – Check-in
4:00 – Welcome
4:15 – Lightning presentations by company founders
5:25 – Panel discussion – Glenn Friedman, moderator 

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Advances in the method of X-ray footprinting and its application to the investigation of protein interactions and conformation

Thursday, May 12th, 2022

About this event

Speaker : Corie Ralson, PhD, Facility Director, Biological Nanostructures Facility at The Molecular Foundry and Guest Scientist in Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging

The use of X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry (XFMS) to investigate structural features and conformational changes of macromolecules in the solution state has grown substantially in the past decade and has been successfully applied to systems ranging from single domain proteins to in vivo ribonucleoprotein assemblies. The method is highly complementary to the more widely used structural elucidation techniques for biological macromolecules such as x-ray diffraction, HDX, and cryo-electron microscopy. XFMS is an in situ hydroxyl radical (•OH) labeling method; X-ray irradiation dissociates solvent water to produce hydroxyl radicals, which covalently modify side chains which are solvent accessible. More specifically, residues which are in proximity to water molecules (either bulk or bound) are modified to a greater extent than residues which are not in proximity to water. Because liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is then used to analyze the stable covalent modifications produced, the data provide a “water map” at the single residue level, which is then used to determine sample conformation. In this talk, I will describe the XFMS method, its advantages and disadvantages relative to other methods, recent technological advances in the method, and some recent exciting examples of structural information obtained on protein systems using the method.

Biological Macromolecules' structure; XFMS investigation image

Corie Ralston holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California at Davis. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Brookhaven National Laboratory during which she helped develop the method of X-ray footprinting as a structural investigation technique for proteins and nucleic acids. In addition to being the Facility Director of of the Biological Nanostructures facility at the Molecular Foundry, she holds a guest appointment in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging division at Berkeley Lab, and is actively developing the method of X-ray footprinting at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron.

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In-Memory Computing Hardware AcceleratorsCo-designing devices, circuits and architectures for explainable machine learning and pattern matching applications

Sunday, May 1st, 2022

 Dr. Cat Graves,Principal Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs
Cost: Free, but registration is required. Register: Here
     Registered attendees will receive an email with a link for the Zoom meeting

Note: to avoid these announcements from going to spam, Mailchimp recommends you add this email to your address book: LincolnBourne@gmail.com
Wed April 20 – Agenda (California Time)
11:30 AM – Check-in
12:00 PM – Announcements and Speaker Introduction
12:10 – 1:30 PM –  Seminar and Q&A
 
           
Abstract: The dramatic rise of data-intensive workloads has revived special-purpose hardware for continuing gains in computing performance. Several promising special-purpose approaches take inspiration from the brain, which outperforms digital computing in power and performance in key tasks such as pattern matching. One brain-inspired architecture called “in-memory computing” significantly reduces data movement and has been shown to improve performance in CMOS ASIC demonstrations. However, these approaches still suffer from low power efficiency. Emerging non-volatile memories are a highly attractive alternative for low-power and high-performance in these architectures. Originally developed as digital (binary) non-volatile memories, many of these devices have a highly tunable analog resistances which are well-matched to in-memory computing architectures. I will review our team’s recent work using crossbar and content addressable memory (CAMs) circuits to accelerate important computing workloads in machine learning, complex pattern matching and optimization. I will also discuss our team’s recently invented analog CAM circuit targeted to accelerate interpretable machine learning models. Our work spans co-design from circuits and devices to algorithms and architectures to enable low power, high-throughput computation for important computing workloads.

                        
 Dr. Cat Graves is a Principal Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs developing analog and neuromorphic computational accelerators which leverage emerging devices such as resistive RAM (RRAM) for high energy efficiency and throughput compared to general-purpose digital approaches in data-centric domains. Some of her previous work utilized multilevel analog resistive RAM devices to natively perform matrix multiplication within crossbars, accelerating a core computation of wide-ranging applications from neural networks to signal processing. Currently, she leads a research team exploring uses of RRAM-based and analog associative memory circuits for accelerating diverse computational models, including tree-based ML models and finite automata processing for network security and genomics applications. Cat was awarded Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA) Inventor of the Year in 2021 for her co-invention of analog content addressable memories. Cat received her Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University studying ultrafast magnetism for future magnetic memory technologies while an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She has published over 35 peer-reviewed papers, three book chapters, and has been awarded 14 US patents.

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Affordable Nano Solutions for Covid Treatment

Tuesday, March 1st, 2022
Prof. Jayakumar Rajadas, Director of the Regenerative Biomaterials Lab at Stanford

Cost: Free, but registration is required. Register: Here
     Registered attendees will receive an email with a link for the Zoom meeting

Thurs Feb 24 – Agenda (California Time)
11:30 AM – Check-in & Nano Journal Club:
     Review of Oxygenation with Nanobubbles: Possible Treatment for Hypoxic COVID-19 Patients
     Come prepared to discuss!
12:00 PM – Announcements and Speaker Introduction
12:10 – 1:30 PM –  Seminar and Q&A
 
From the early days of this pandemic until now, the reality of still no medication being readily available which can guarantee therapeutic and potentially lifesaving efficacy in all of the stages and diverse pathological manifestations of this novel coronavirus has inflicted drastic consequences upon the world. We have developed two drugs in vitro showing great promise for the successful treatment of acute, moderate and severe COVID-19 as well as persisting immune-mediated consequences with respect to advanced pharmacokinetics. The objectives of our approach and the underlying mechanisms are manifold, strategically aimed at preventing viral replication, concomitantly reducing the inflammation caused by this devastating and highly infectious disease and improving the antibody response to vaccines. Additionally, we also developed a partially repurposed nano technology to improve oxygen saturation in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as a result of COVID-19.

Professor Jayakumar Rajadas is the author of 237 peer reviewed publications, has developed 82 patents, discovered the therapeutic effects of Disulfiram and Azlocillin for the treatment of persistent Lyme disease and is currently researching and developing solutions for COVID-19. Other projects of his focus use biophysical approaches such as AFM, fluorescence, and NMR to work on the molecular mechanisms of protein-initiated neurodegenerative disorders involved in the pathology of Alzheimer’s and Lyme disease. Furthermore, he is also known for his development of a unique and successful implantable biomaterials commercially available all over the world . He is the founding director of the ADDReB Laboratory of Cardiovascular Institute at Stanford School of Medicine. He is a trained chemist with a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai , India.

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Probing Nanoscale Interface and Interphases in Lithium-ion Batteries

Tuesday, September 14th, 2021

About this event

Agenda:

11:30 AM – 12 Noon: Nano Journal Club*

12 Noon – 12:10 PM : Introduction and Announcements

12:10 Pm – 1:00 PM : Seminar by Jagjit Nada

*Nano Journal will discuss the paper on : Challenges for and Pathways toward Li-Metal-Based All-Solid-State Batteries

Seminar Talk: Probing Nanoscale Interface and Interphases in Lithium-ion Batteries

Electrochemical energy storage (EES) is one of the key drivers for next generation mobility, consumer electronics, defense technology, and other applications. EES is also an enabler to improve penetration of renewable energies such as solar and wind into the electric grid. To meet such demands there is an increasing need for batteries to have high energy density and power without compromising on safety and affordability. Electrode-electrolyte interfaces are central to battery performance and life as the ion must travel across the device without interruption between heterogenous materials interfaces. Most liquid and solid electrolytes have limited thermodynamic stability and form a reactive interphase layer that can usually range from a few nanometers to tens of nanometer The nature and composition of such reactive interphase layer primarily determines the quality of the ion-transport at the interface. The talk will focus on investigation of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) on lithium-ion anodes such as silicon that is critical for the cycle and calendar life. The second part of the talk will cover solid-state batteries, where role of the solid electrolyte-electrode interfaces is critical for maintaining capacity and high-rate capability. Several important class of solid-electrolyte and their stability with Li-metal and cathodes will be presented.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through the Vehicle Technology Office

Probing Nanoscale Interface and Interphases in Lithium-ion Batteries image

Jagjit Nanda is a Distinguished Staff Scientist and Group Leader of the Energy Storage and Conversion Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Chemical Sciences Division with 18 plus years of experience in energy storage and battery materials. He also has a joint faculty appointment in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to joining Oak Ridge in 2009, Jagjit worked as a Technical Lead at the Research and Advanced Engineering Center, Ford Motor Company, MI, leading R&D projects in lithium-ion battery materials and nanomaterials for energy application. He is the co-editor of Hand Book of Solid-State Batteries-2015 along with Nancy Dudney and Willam West and has co-authored more than 150 journal and technical publications in the topic of batteries, solid-state electrolytes and electrochemical interfaces. Jagjit is a Fellow of Electrochemical Society and winner of two R&D 100 awards in the area of batteries and supercapacitors.

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High-yield growth of aligned carbon nanotubes for applied energy applications

Thursday, July 8th, 2021

Eric Meshot, Staff Scientist, Lawrence Livermore Nat’l Lab

Tues July 20 – Agenda (California Time)
11:30 AM – Check-in & Nano Journal Club:
                            Carbon Nanotubes and Related Nanomaterials – Come prepared to discuss!
12:00 PM – Announcements and Speaker Introduction
12:10 – 1:30 PM –  Seminar and Q&A

Cost: Free, but registration is required. Register: Here
     Registered attendees will receive an email with a link for the Zoom meeting

  Advanced applications of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) “forests” require synthesis processes that minimizes nanotube diameter while maximizing number density across substrate areas exceeding centimeter scale. To address this need, we synthesized SWCNT forests on full silicon wafers with notable reproducibility and uniformity, and co-optimized growth for small diameters and high densities across large areas to access new territory in this 3D parameter space. We mapped the spatial uniformity of key structural features using Raman microscopy, X-ray scattering, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Mass conversion rates from gas-phase hydrocarbon precursors to solid SWCNT product were high and remarkably invariant for different nano-catalyst compositions and densities, far exceeding typical lab-scale, benchtop reactors. Routine and robust manufacture of these high-quality materials at a practical scale unlocked a portfolio of high-performance applications, including energy storage devices, electronic gas sensors, optical metamaterials, twist-spun fibers, and 3D-printed composites.

Read More:
     High-yield growth kinetics and spatial mapping of single-walled carbon nanotube forests at wafer scale
     Quantifying the Hierarchical Order in Self-Aligned Carbon Nanotubes from Atomic to Micrometer Scale

 Dr. Eric Meshot (meh-SHOHT) is a staff scientist and principal investigator (PI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate. He leads interdisciplinary teams geared toward connecting synthesis, structure, and performance in nanostructured carbon materials for a range of applications. Before joining LLNL in 2013, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship through the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) to investigate carbon nanostructures in electronics at imec in Leuven, Belgium. He holds the B.S. degree in engineering physics from the University of California at Berkeley (Go Bears!). He earned M.S.E degrees in both materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering before obtaining the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering in 2012 – all from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball, chess, snowboarding, biking with his family, and relaxing at the beach.

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