Category: Chemical Engineering
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Complexity isn’t subjective. The right amount results in new nanomaterial properties
Graph theory can quantify complexity, defined as a mix of order and disorder. Nanoparticle structures with the optimal ratio have new or enhanced capabilities.
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Silk made into strong plastic-like materials with 6G potential
The new manufacturing method preserves silk’s crystalline structure and could help upcycle short fibers into telecom equipment.
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Nanoparticles genetically modify several human cell types
The protein nanoparticles could help doctors treat cancer and genetic diseases without using modified viruses, which sometimes have harmful side effects.
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Medical and materials innovations of two women engineers recognized by Sony and Nature
Two U-M engineers received this year’s Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature for improving solar cells and medical tech for treating cancer and cognitive disease.
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Speeding up light-driven chemical reactions with nanocrystals
Syncing molecular vibrations with plasmons, quantum packets of electron motion, helped researchers create an accessible, scalable photocatalyst platform.
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OLED lighting: Corrugated panel design extends longevity and efficiency
The new design uses microscale ridges to pack more OLED into a given lighting panel area and lasts 2.7 times as long, with 40% higher efficiency, compared to conventional devices.
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Blood analysis shows whether brain cancer treatment is working
New diagnostic chip pulls packets released from tumor cells out of blood, showing whether cancer cells died during chemotherapy infusion.
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More brines could be mined for lithium with counterintuitive method
Discovered by accident, the new approach could use membranes to help extract lithium from overlooked “low-quality” reservoirs with high magnesium.
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Interpretable machine learning to accelerate nanocatalyst discovery
A fast and accurate surrogate model screens over 10,000 possible metal-oxide supports for a platinum nanocatalyst to prevent sintering under high temperatures.
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Bolstering research on “matter by design”: U-M chemical engineering welcomes new researchers
Their work in material design and computational engineering has enabled more effective antibody medicines and smart windows for more energy-efficient buildings.
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Capturing cancer cells from blood could help doctors choose the right breast cancer treatment
Some women undergo unnecessary mastectomy and chemotherapy, but a ‘labyrinth in a chip’ could reveal which cancers need aggressive treatments.
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Pottery-inspired method stencils nanoparticles for building advanced materials
The technique allows engineers to more precisely place patches on microscopic building blocks, so they can control their assembly into designer structures.