MRS Bulletin Materials News Podcast

Materials News podcast by MRS Bulletin provides breakthrough news & interviews with researchers on hot topics including biomaterials, quantum materials, artificial intelligence, sustainability, perovskites, and robotics. Produced by the Materials Research Society.

Lead-halide perovskites make effective catalysts for organic synthesis
Aug 26, 2019 | 2 minutes | Season 1, Episode 17

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
Thermoelectrics enables clothes with adjustable temperature
Aug 16, 2019 | 5 minutes | Season 1, Episode 16

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Renkun Chen of the University of California, San Diego about his flexible thermoelectric devices that can provide personalized cooling and heating effects in clothing. Read the article in Science Advances.
3D stretchable electronics achieves ultrahigh conductivity
Aug 7, 2019 | 4 minutes | Season 1, Episode 15

Prachi Patel of MRS Bulletin interviews Benjamin C.-K. Tee of the National University of Singapore about an interfacial design for stretchable electronics that uses three-dimensional helical copper micro-interconnects embedded in an elastic rubber...
Thin film patterns classified by machine learning
Jul 22, 2019 | 5 minutes | Season 1, Episode 14

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Alex Hexemer of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and Daniela Ushizima and Shuai Liu of the University of California, Berkeley about their design of multiple Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)...
Tendril-like robot inspired by plants
Jul 2, 2019 | 6 minutes | Season 1, Episode 13

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Barbara Mazzolai and Edoardo Sinibaldi of the Italian Institute of Technology about their robot made from two types of polymers, enabling it to extend and retract like the tendrils of a plant. Read the article in...
Europium thwarts reactivity in metal-halide perovskite solar cells
Jun 25, 2019 | 2 minutes | Season 1, Episode 12

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
Nanoparticle megalibraries enable materials discovery
Jun 12, 2019 | 6 minutes | Season 1, Episode 11

Prachi Patel of MRS Bulletin interviews Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University about the use of his polymer pen lithography technique combined with an ink spray-coating method to ultimately create a megalibrary of nanoparticles that speeds up the...
Protein-based polymer achieves green electronics
May 7, 2019 | 6 minutes | Season 1, Episode 10

Omar Fabián of MRS Bulletin interviews Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz of the Technical University of Denmark about the use of silk to fabricate eco-friendly electronics. Read the article in Advanced Science.
E-skin detects direction of applied pressure
May 3, 2019 | 6 minutes | Season 1, Episode 9

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Zhenan Bao of Stanford University about her research team’s development of a biomimetic soft electronic skin (e-skin) composed of an array of capacitors capable of effectively measuring and discriminating shear...
Ge added to lead-free perovskite improves efficiency
Apr 19, 2019 | 2 minutes | Season 1, Episode 8

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
Synthetic biology exploited to neutralize mustard gas
Apr 12, 2019 | 4 minutes | Season 1, Episode 7

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Jared DeCoste, a researcher with the US army, about the research team's work to counter the effect of mustard gas. First, the researchers alter E. coli’s DNA to produce an abundance of the molecule...
Chlorine boosts efficiency of tandem solar cell
Mar 25, 2019 | 2 minutes | Season 1, Episode 6

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
Artificial neuron made from VO2
Mar 11, 2019 | 5 minutes | Season 1, Episode 5

An artificial neuron made from vanadium dioxide precisely mimics the behavior of normal and faulty neurons in the brain. This could have important implications for neuroscience. Read the abstract in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
Can metal-halide perovskite solar cells be used for concentrated PV devices?
Feb 21, 2019 | 2 minutes | Season 1, Episode 4

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
3D-printed implant designed to repair spinal injuries
Feb 13, 2019 | 4 minutes | Season 1, Episode 3

A silicon chip with 4 million microscopic mirrors is used to shine UV light in a 3D pattern based on a digital MRI image of the spinal cord wound in rats. The light falls onto a mixture of poly(ethylene) glycol and gelatin methacrylate, which...
Optoelectronic properties of perovskites tunable due to reversible surface relaxation
Jan 25, 2019 | 3 minutes | Season 1, Episode 2

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...
How reduced-dimensional metal halide perovskites are formed
Jan 15, 2019 | 3 minutes | Season 1, Episode 1

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite...