This $598,958 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will support research at the University of Illinois to study the mechanical behavior of two-dimensional atomic sheets with defects. The project will leverage advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning to overcome computational challenges in modeling the elasticity, strength, and fracture properties of these two-dimensional lateral heterostructures. The research aims to...
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Illinois a $700,485 Project Grant under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to develop two-dimensional amorphous carbon materials with tunable atomic structures for use as a novel dielectric in electronic devices. Over a four-year period ending February 2026, the university will utilize a solution-based process to precisely control the thickness and degree of medium-range ordering in carbon monolayers and...
This $234,696 National Science Foundation Project Grant, funded through the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will support research into cross-plane heat conduction in two-dimensional materials under large compressive strain. Over a two-year period from June 2022 to May 2025, researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno will conduct experimental and computational studies of heat transfer across layers in three material systems - pristine MoS2, twisted MoS2, and graphite - under high...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering Directorate (CFDA 47.041) provides $376,022 to New York University for research establishing principles to fabricate van der Waals heterostructures with clean interfaces. The three-year award beginning September 2022 supports developing new strategies for assembling two-dimensional materials into heterostructures suitable for quantum electronics. Researchers will study polymer contaminant interactions with and mobilization...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation awarded a $350,000 project grant to the University of Illinois to investigate friction control in van der Waals heterostructures, two-dimensional layered materials. The objective is to establish an experimental and theoretical foundation for tuning the structural-mechanical-electronic properties of these materials to enable friction control at the nanoscale. The project will involve assembling van...
This $653,097 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at the University of Texas at Austin to advance the fundamental understanding of the mechanics of multilayered van der Waals materials and heterostructures. The grant funds the development of theoretical and computational models, as well as experimental methods, to characterize van der Waals interactions between two-dimensional materials and the strain distributions that govern their mechanics. Specifically, the research...
This $600,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund collaborative research between the University of South Florida and Princeton University from July 2022 to June 2025. The research aims to establish a predictive theoretical understanding of nanoscale gradients in rheological response at interfaces in glass-forming fluids. Specifically, the grant will support experiments to observe fluid flow and deformation at the nanometer scale,...
This $363,799 Project Grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) federal grant program. The primary objectives of this 5-year project are to: Develop new pathways for assembling atomically thin bilayers (heterobilayers) of 2D materials like transition metal dichalcogenides, which are free of wrinkles and impurities at the interfaces. This bottom-up approach aims to take advantage of the most stable configurations when...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) project grant under the Engineering (CFDA 47.041) program, awarded to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (Tees), will study the fundamental relationships that control the assembly of solid materials from small, shape-changing ribbon-like particles. The $387,558 award, spanning January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027, will fund integrated experiments and computational modeling to elucidate the structure-property-assembly relationships of these...
This two-year, $252,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research will support research into mechanically controlling the electronic properties of two-dimensional ferroelectrics. The grantee, the University of Nebraska, will investigate using mechanical stress and strain as novel methods to deterministically modulate polarization states and related changes in electrical resistance in 2D ferroelectric materials. Researchers will use scanning probe...