MRS Bulletin Materials News Podcast

MRS Bulletin

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.

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 3: Copper-iodide hybrid material enables deep blue LEDs

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Jing Li at Rutgers University and Kun Zhu at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics about the material and a solution-based manufacturing process they introduced to produce deep blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The LEDs emit light at 460 nm. The LED consists of several layers, beginning with an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate that serves as an electrode. Above the ITO is a single molecular layer of the polymer, polymethyl methacrylate. An 85-nm layer of the emissive hybrid copper iodide material goes on top of the polymer, which forms hydrogen bonds with the emissive material. These hydrogen bonds serve two purposes. They make the hybrid material less reactive, which improves the LED’s stability. The hydrogen bonds also help introduce electrons and holes in balanced numbers into the emissive material, allowing it to emit light more efficiently. This dual hydrogen bonding approach is unique to the researchers’ process. This work was published in Nature.

    5 min

  2. JAN 12

    Episode 2: Ice formation tolerant to nanoscale defects

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Jingshan Du from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory about his group’s high-resolution characterization of ice formation. Freezing liquid water between amorphous carbon membranes into single-crystalline ice enabled high-resolution transmission electron microscope imaging. The carbon membranes protected the ice from sublimation in the high vacuum. It was also a good electric conductor, which helped reduce charge buildup on the ice. Charge buildup can cause additional damage to the crystal. From the images they took, the researchers discovered how ice remains stable even with defects such as skewed crystal structure. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.

    4 min

  3. JAN 5

    Episode 1: Miniaturized spectrometer exhibits detectivity from UV to NIR

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Harry Schrickx and Brendan O’Connor from North Carolina State University about their proof-of-concept for a miniaturized spectrometer. With the use of organic components, the spectrometer has a low-power requirement and is sensitive to wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet to near infrared. A unique feature of the design is back-to-back diodes. The research group uses a reconstruction algorithm to determine the spectrum of the incident light, having first been trained using known wavelengths of monochromatic light. The algorithm accounts for noise and instability in the final solution to produce the spectrum. This work was published in a recent issue of Device.

    5 min

  4. 12/17/2025

    Episode 24: Substrate cracking compromises integrity of flexible electronic devices

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Nitin Padture, who is the Otis E. Randall University Professor and the founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy at Brown University, about his group’s work uncovering the cracks in a substrate that was coated with a transparent-conducting oxide thin film. This cracking, they discovered, contributes toward the degradation in the electronic properties of devices. The group’s next step was to mitigate the cracking. This work was published in a recent issue of NPJ Flexible Electronics.

    4 min

  5. 11/17/2025

    Episode 23: Interfacial effects dominate 2D water structure until angstrom-level confinement

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Mischa Bonn, director of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany and Dr. Yongkang Wang, group leader affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research as well as Southeast University in Nanjing, China about their research on nanoconfined water. The researchers determined that interfacial rather than nanoconfinement effects govern water structure at the eight Ångstrom level. At five Ångstroms, nanoconfinement effects start to appear with the water molecules starting to lie flat, parallel to the interfaces, and the hydrogen bonding network beginning to weaken. The results may lead to a better understanding of nanofluidic devices, and have implications for desalination, water purification, and hydrogen generation.This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.

    7 min

  6. 11/17/2025

    Episode 22: Cement clinker phases predicted with ML model

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Anoop Krishnan from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, about a machine learning model developed after a two-year period of collecting data from the cement industry, supported by the Cement and Concrete Research Network. Krishnan’s work resulted in a model that predicts the alite, belite, and ferrite content in the clinker produced by a given cement plant. These phases control cement quality and give strength to the cement over different curing times. This work was published in a recent issue of Communications Engineering.

    5 min

  7. 11/11/2025

    Episode 21: Recycling studied from a mechanics-materials perspective

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Christos Athanasiou from the Georgia Institute of Technology about their approach to the recycling problem from a mechanics-materials perspective. Current recycling approaches can lead to a product with variable properties, which is undesirable. Through a bio-inspired design, Athanasiou’s group built a structure similar to bricks and mortar where the bricks, measuring a few centimeters across, are made from recycled plastic and held together by virgin material, leading to a recycled content of 70%. The stiffness variability was reduced by around 90% compared to using only recycled plastic. This work was published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    5 min

  8. 10/06/2025

    Episode 20: Samarium cobalt magnet fabricated with single-step method

    In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Bharat Gwalani from North Carolina State University and Mert Efe from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory about their single-step, energy-efficient method for making a samarium cobalt magnet. Using a process they call “friction stir consolidation,” the researchers apply heat and pressure simultaneously to fuse the two powders together. Their method results in low porosity to make a magnetically stronger, higher quality material than that made by using the conventional method. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Communications.

    4 min
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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.

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