BYLINE: Kitta MacPherson

Newswise — A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment.

Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagnetic motors to power them.

In a study published in Aerospace Science and Technology, aerospace researchers Xin Shan and Onur Bilgen describe a “solid state” bird-like drone, typically referred to as an ornithopter, whose flexible wings flap and twist without motors, gears or mechanical linkages. Instead, the system relies on the piezoelectric effect, special materials that change shape when voltage is applied.

“We apply electricity to the piezoelectric materials, and they move the surface directly, without extra joints, extra linkages or motors,” said Bilgen, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering. “The wing is a composite including a piezoelectric material layer and a carbon-fiber layer. Apply voltage to the piezoelectric layer, and the whole composite flexes.”

With their bird-like design, ornithopters offer a level of flexibility that makes such drones well suited for future tasks such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, inspection of hard-to-reach places, and urban package delivery, where aircraft must navigate around buildings, wires, people, and so much more.

The research team also developed a powerful computer model that connects all the important physics involved in flight at once: wing and body motion, aerodynamics, electrical dynamics, and the control architecture. That allows engineers to test and optimize designs virtually before building physical prototypes, saving time and money while speeding development.

“We’ve scientifically demonstrated that this type of ornithopter can be possible when we make certain material assumptions,” he said. “We can show the feasibility of designs that are not yet physically possible.”

For now, the primary obstacle is the performance of the piezoelectric material.

“Today’s piezoelectric materials are not capable enough,” Bilgen said. “However, our mathematical model allows us to look into the future with reasonable assumptions.”

Bilgen first encountered ornithopters in 2007 while he was a graduate student, but he said his interest deepened in 2013, when he began seriously exploring how flapping-wing flight might be reimagined using smart materials. Various companies have built experimental bird-like drones, but most existing designs rely on motors, gears and conventional actuators to drive wing motion.

Those systems, Bilgen said, struggle to match the performance of natural wings, which flex and respond continuously to changing air.

Bilgen says nature offers powerful lessons for engineers.

“Things that need to move fast must be lightweight,” he said. “That’s why bird wings are delicate structures, and aircraft wings mimic bird wings.”

While birds and insects provide inspiration for the work, Bilgen’s goal isn’t simple imitation.

“We don’t want to just mimic nature,” he said. “We want to exceed what nature does.”

So far, most prototypes of robotic birds rely on mechanisms that imitate bones and muscles. Bilgen’s team is taking a simpler path.

“We want to achieve flapping flight without bone-like structures or muscle-like actuators, flapping in a much simpler way,” he said.

Instead of motors acting as muscles, thin strips called Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs) are glued directly on their models onto flexible wings. When electricity flows through them, the wings flap, twist and morph.

“The carbon fiber acts like feathers and bone, and the surface-mounted MFCs act like muscles and nerves,” Bilgen explained.

Because the system has no gears or joints, the researchers call it a mechanism-free or solid state ornithopter.

Flapping wings offer advantages that spinning propellers found on conventional drones cannot, especially at small scales. “When flapping wings come in contact with the environment, they’re less destructive to themselves and to what they contact,” Bilgen said.

The use of piezoelectric materials or other smart materials could also improve renewable energy systems.

“A turbine blade is basically a rotating wing,” Bilgen said. “We’ve been looking at applying piezoelectric materials to turbine blades to see if there are aerodynamic benefits.”

By subtly changing blade shape in real time, engineers may be able to influence how air flows across the blade surface. That could lead to more efficient wind turbines, he said.

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.

Newswise — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, ​“It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.” If the celebrated poet were alive today, he might admit that, when it comes to vague beginnings, love is not alone.

Ask two people when the week begins, and you may get different answers. Ask scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory when one of its user facilities got off the ground, and you’ll hear a similar story.

Officially, the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) was commissioned in 1985, and 2025 marked 40 years of operation. Yet working in this DOE Office of Science user facility — built to reveal the structure and properties of atomic nuclei — are staff whose work predates that milestone by years.

“I came on in 1978,” said Gary Zinkann, an ATLAS principal engineer. ​“That was 47 years ago.”

Zinkann’s long tenure illustrates how ATLAS grew from theories, ideas and technological breakthroughs that enabled its planning, construction and commissioning. It also reflects a culture of continuous improvement — expanding capabilities and generating a steady stream of scientific insights.

“ATLAS stands as a testament to decades of scientific ingenuity and dedication,” said Guy Savard, ATLAS scientific director and Argonne Distinguished Fellow. ​“Its history is one of impactful discovery and continuous renewal. At ATLAS, we are always working to improve, innovate and expand our capabilities.”

A vision takes shape

ATLAS’ origins reach back to the early 1970s, when Argonne physicists set out to push the boundaries of nuclear physics research. The community was tackling fundamental questions about the forces inside atomic nuclei — the building blocks of matter. Argonne scientists envisioned a facility that would use superconducting technology to accelerate heavy‑ion beams and provide an unprecedented tool for nuclear physics studies.

At the time, the idea of a superconducting linear accelerator (linac) for nuclear physics was new. Superconducting materials lose electrical resistance at extremely low temperatures, enabling a high accelerating field at a comparatively low input power. Applying this technology to accelerators was largely uncharted territory.

Researchers, including Lowell Bollinger at Argonne and Caltech physicist Ken Shepard, who later came to Argonne, began collaborating to explore the feasibility of this approach. Their work led to the development of niobium split‑ring resonators, first successfully tested at Argonne in 1977.

“Developing the niobium split‑ring resonator is arguably the major technological breakthrough that made ATLAS possible,” said Benjamin Kay, a group leader at ATLAS. ​“They would ultimately become the technological backbone for the entire facility.”

These resonators, cooled with liquid helium, demonstrated the potential to accelerate heavy ions with unprecedented efficiency. Building on this breakthrough, Argonne scientists constructed a prototype superconducting ​“booster” linac, consisting of 24 resonators. The booster accelerated an ion beam delivered by Argonne’s existing tandem Van de Graaff accelerator, in use since the 1960s, and its negative‑ion source.

“The booster linac was the first part of what later became ATLAS,” said Zinkann, who retired in 2016.

Beginning operation in 1978, the booster served as a testbed for the split-ring resonator technology, allowing scientists to refine designs and address technical challenges.

“It was a very active time: designing, testing, troubleshooting,” said Zinkann. ​“And in the middle of all that, researchers were doing experiments too!”

By the early 1980s, the booster linac had logged more than 10,000 hours of beam time, much of it for experiments conducted by users visiting Argonne from other institutions. These early successes demonstrated the feasibility and promise of superconducting linacs for nuclear physics research and gave Argonne the confidence to build a full‑scale facility.

With funding from the U.S. Congress, construction of ATLAS began in the early 1980s. ATLAS would combine the booster with a second linac — also using split‑ring resonators — and new ​“target areas” equipped with detectors to collect detailed experimental data on the accelerated ion beams.

In 1983, Bollinger, then director of ATLAS, wrote to the Argonne community: ​“Scientists from all over the world will use it to expand the boundaries of research into the forces that hold together atomic nuclei.”

That aspiration helped establish ATLAS as a global hub for nuclear physics research.

The final stages of ATLAS’ construction included fabrication and installation of the superconducting resonators for the new linac (dubbed the ​“ATLAS linac” to distinguish it from the older booster linac), expansion of the liquid helium refrigerator and cryogenic plumbing system, and expansion of the computer control system to manage the new linac and beamlines. The team completed the project on time and within budget.

Building a foundation

The ATLAS facility quickly became a global center for nuclear physics research, hosting a growing community of scientists and delivering high‑quality beams for studies of nuclear structure, astrophysics and fundamental interactions. By the late 1980s, ATLAS was serving hundreds of researchers each year, providing beams of stable isotopes for experiments probing the quantum structure of nuclei and the processes that forge elements in stars.

But even in the facility’s early years, ATLAS leadership was looking ahead.

“Almost immediately after the commissioning, ATLAS leaders announced plans to replace its negative-ion source with a positive-ion source,” said Kay.

Initially, ATLAS used a negative‑ion sputter source to generate ion beams, which were accelerated and stripped to positive ions in the tandem Van de Graaff accelerator for subsequent acceleration in the linacs. Installing a positive-ion source would eliminate a need for the Van de Graaff, improving performance and allowing the facility to access the heaviest elements.

As with the booster in the 1970s, Argonne scientists and engineers collaborated to design and build what they needed. Those efforts led to the development of a new generation of ​“quarter‑wave” resonators to support the positive‑ion source.

“There’s no catalog for ordering positive‑ion sources for superconducting linear accelerators,” said Zinkann.

The Positive Ion Injector (PII) was completed and brought online in 1992. Though only seven years after ATLAS’ 1985 commissioning, PII expanded ATLAS’ capabilities by enabling beams of some of the heaviest elements, including uranium, and increased available beam currents for lighter ions. The 1960s‑era tandem Van de Graaff accelerator still served as an injector until its retirement in 2014. Its former space at ATLAS now houses stopped-beam experimental stations.

New additions

Expanding ATLAS’ capabilities widened its scientific impact. Early instruments enabled studies of nuclear reactions inside stars, shedding light on the processes that created most elements and the role of nuclear reactions in stellar evolution. Other ATLAS‑enabled efforts probed the heaviest elements and the limits of nuclear stability.

“No two days were alike,” said Zinkann. ​“A lot of times, our work was about seeing a need, finding a way to fulfill it, and then we’d see the next need and get started on that. Over time, that can make a big difference.”

Advanced instruments for nuclear structure and reaction studies were developed and deployed, including:

• Fragment Mass Analyzer, brought online in 1992 for high‑precision measurements of nuclear masses and decay processes.
• ATLAS Positron Experiment (APEX), commissioned in 1993 to study electrons and positrons emitted during heavy‑ion collisions.
• Canadian Penning Trap, which began operations in 2000 for high‑precision mass measurements of exotic nuclei.

“Like all of our instruments at ATLAS, these were wise investments that continue to pay scientific dividends today for researchers, the public and the world at large,” said Walter Wittmer, ATLAS operations director.

In 1997, the ATLAS team installed and commissioned Gammasphere, one of the world’s most powerful gamma‑ray spectrometers for nuclear structure research. Gammasphere collects data on gamma‑ray emissions following heavy‑ion fusion reactions, enabling high‑precision studies of nuclear shapes, decay processes and the forces that bind protons and neutrons. Its arrival allowed scientists to explore the quantum structure of nuclei and phenomena such as nuclear superfluidity and shape coexistence.

In cooperation with DOE and other partners, ATLAS was a finalist in the 1990s to host a new facility dedicated to rare‑isotope beams. Although DOE ultimately selected Michigan State University for that facility, ATLAS expanded in complementary directions and continues to grow its role in rare‑isotope science.

Expanding capabilities

In 2009, ATLAS commissioned the Californium Rare Ion Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) system. Led by Savard and Richard Pardo, then ATLAS’ operations manager, CARIBU enabled production of neutron‑rich isotopes for experiments by harnessing the fission of californium‑252 to generate rare isotopes for acceleration.

“Adding CARIBU to ATLAS enabled the production of neutron‑rich isotopes that were previously inaccessible, opening new avenues for nuclear physics research,” said Savard. ​“CARIBU was particularly valuable for studying nuclear reactions that occur during supernova explosions and neutron star mergers.”

CARIBU allowed researchers to examine nuclear reactions involved in the rapid neutron‑capture process (r‑process) — a key mechanism that creates heavy elements such as gold, platinum and uranium during supernovae and neutron star mergers.

ATLAS continued to add detectors and systems for a broader range of experiments, including:

These projects also gave ATLAS engineers opportunities to innovate. HELIOS, for example, incorporates a solenoid magnet from a hospital’s decommissioned MRI scanner.

“Never underestimate what a top‑rate engineering team can do,” said Kay.

Another major addition was the Gamma‑Ray Energy Tracking In‑beam Nuclear Array (GRETINA), a precision gamma‑ray detector for high‑resolution studies of nuclear structure. Built by the U.S. nuclear physics community, GRETINA arrived at Argonne in 2013 for the first of what would ultimately be four experimental campaigns, the last of which ended in 2025. In between campaigns at ATLAS, it was installed at other accelerator facilities. GRETINA collected detailed data on gamma rays emitted during nuclear reactions, providing insights into nuclear forces and structure. Argonne scientists were instrumental in developing GRETA (Gamma‑Ray Energy Tracking Array), a next‑generation detector that will eventually replace GRETINA at ATLAS. GRETA will provide 3D tracking of gamma‑ray paths and energies for even more precise studies.

“Throughout its recent history, ATLAS has remained at the forefront of nuclear physics research, enabling studies of rare isotopes, nuclear reactions and fundamental symmetries,” said Wittmer. ​“The facility’s research programs continue to address key questions in nuclear astrophysics, nuclear structure and the properties of exotic nuclei.”

ATLAS further expanded its capabilities in 2023 with the installation of the ATLAS Material Irradiation Station (AMIS), which is used to emulate material damage in nuclear reactors. AMIS uses some of the accelerator’s lowest energies to deliver heavy ions that quickly degrade the material properties — without the radioactivity associated with irradiation in a reactor — making the development of new reactor materials safer and more efficient.

Today, ATLAS hosts researchers from across the U.S. and around the world, providing more than 6,000 hours of beam time annually.

“ATLAS has maintained strong engagement with its user community, hosting workshops, meetings and collaborative research projects to ensure that its capabilities align with the needs of scientists worldwide,” said Savard. ​“We move in the directions that will allow our users to deepen the scientific questions they can answer using ATLAS.”

Innovating for the future

Forty years after commissioning, ATLAS continues its tradition of continuous improvement to stay at the forefront of rare‑isotope research.

The team is installing and commissioning nuCARIBU, an upgraded version of the original CARIBU system, that will provide a reliable, on‑demand supply of radioactive isotopes for experiments while simplifying maintenance and improving operational efficiency. nuCARIBU will rely on neutron‑induced fission of uranium to produce isotopes and, for the first time, will allow the source to be turned off when not needed.

ATLAS is also preparing for the next generation of nuclear physics research through the N=126 Factory, an experimental system designed to provide beams of rare, neutron‑rich radioactive isotopes of very heavy elements. These isotopes are difficult to generate by other means and are important for understanding how the heaviest elements in the universe are made.

And to make the most efficient use of these new capabilities, ATLAS is pursuing a multi‑user upgrade that will enable the facility to deliver beams to two experimental stations simultaneously — one stable beam and one rare-isotope.

ATLAS’ beginning may be hard to pin down, and its history is one of continuous change. But its culture of improvement, expansion and excellence has put it on secure footing for tomorrow.

“The history of ATLAS is a story of growth, adaptation and scientific excellence. That will also be its future,” said Savard. ​“This facility’s ability to innovate and grow from its ambitious origins has allowed ATLAS to remain a vital resource for nuclear physics research, even as the field has evolved. As ATLAS looks to the future, it is well‑positioned to tackle the next generation of scientific challenges, continuing its legacy of discovery and its mission to unlock the secrets of the universe.”

Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under contract number DE‐AC02‐06CH11357. This research used resources of the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS), a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

Newswise — Mass spectrometry is already a powerful tool for determining what kind and how many molecules are present in a given sample. But most instruments still analyze their molecules one or just a few at a time, an approach that is inefficient and costly, and in which rare, but significant molecules can easily fall between the cracks.

A more powerful version of the technology could one day allow scientists to read the full molecular contents of a single cell, track thousands of chemical reactions at once, and ultimately accelerate efforts like drug development.

Now, a new study describes the first big step in that direction by producing a prototype, dubbed MultiQ-IT, that’s capable of handling vast numbers of molecules at once. The findings offer a blueprint for faster, more sensitive instruments that could position mass spectrometry for the kind of transformation that reshaped genomics and computing.

“What revolutionized DNA sequencing wasn’t any change in the underlying chemistry. That’s remained fundamentally the same,” says Brian T. Chait, Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry at Rockefeller. “It was the ability to run so many chemical reactions in parallel, which took genome sequencing from a billion-dollar effort to something that costs around $100. The same thing happened in computing with GPUs. And that’s what we’re trying to do with mass spectrometry.”

A massive bottleneck

Mass spectrometry was invented around 1913 and has since become one of biology’s most powerful analytical tools. The technology allows scientists to identify and quantify molecules by ionizing them, or giving them an electric charge, and measuring their mass-to-charge ratio. But despite its sophistication, most mass spectrometers still do this sequentially, one or just a few ion species at a time, often lacking the exquisite sensitivity needed to identify rare molecules in complex biological samples.

“It’s a wonderful technique—you can do unimaginably wonderful, analytical things with it,” Chait says. “But I was always a little frustrated by its limitations. I knew, in my heart, it could be better.”

If it were, it could transform single-cell proteomics as well as metabolomics, burgeoning fields that aim to identify and quantitate the complete set of proteins or metabolites in a single cell. Unlike DNA, these molecules cannot be amplified, and the most abundant species may be millions of times more prevalent than the rarest.  Mass spectrometry is already proving useful in these applications, but without far greater ability to detect faint signals against an overwhelming background of more abundant species, it will fall well short of its full potential.

Chait and colleagues suspected that the only way to overcome this limitation would be to usher the century-old technology through the so-called “massive parallelization” that once transformed computing and genomics. In computing, researchers discovered that dividing large tasks into many smaller ones and processing them simultaneously—using graphics processing units, or GPUs—dramatically increased performance. DNA sequencing followed a similar path, resulting in relatively low-cost platforms that analyze millions of reactions at once.

“It was a very obvious idea,” says Andrew Krutchinsky, a senior research associate in the lab. “But how to do it with mass spectrometry wasn’t obvious.”

Toward massively parallel processing

The idea for the MultiQ-IT grew out of decades of research into how molecules move in and out of a cell’s nucleus through hundreds of tiny gateways called nuclear pore complexes. Chait and colleagues had observed how the cell spreads the work across many parallel openings, instead of forcing traffic through a single channel. The team wondered whether mass spectrometry could be redesigned along these lines.

The result was a new ion-trapping chamber designed to replace the core component of a conventional mass spectrometer. The cube-shaped device is lined with hundreds of small, electrically controlled openings. Inside, ions are slowed by multiple collisions with residual gas molecules and allowed to move randomly through the chamber, where the system can filter, hold, and redirect many populations at once instead of analyzing them one by one. The team scaled the design from six openings to more than 1,000, testing how efficiently ions could be confined and sorted, and demonstrated that a single incoming stream could be split into multiple parallel streams for simultaneous analysis.

Its performance was striking. At any given moment, a 486-port version of MultiQ-IT could hold up to ten billion charges, roughly a thousand times the capacity of conventional ion traps.

By allowing abundant background molecules to leak out while retaining rarer, information rich ones, the system improved signal-to-noise ratios by as much as 100-fold, revealing proteins that had been undetectable. To achieve this, the researchers applied a small electrical voltage barrier across the trap’s exits: singly charged ions had enough energy to escape, while multiply charged, biologically important ions remained confined. In their 1,134-port design, just 39 open ports were enough to reach half maximum efficiency for this depletion, echoing how cells use a limited number of pores to similar effect. The team also found that parallelization addressed a physical constraint: packing billions of like-charged particles into a small space creates intense electrical repulsion, but distributing them across many channels reduced this repulsion in these channels..

This increased sensitivity demonstrated by their prototype could for example lead to improved detection of low abundance crosslinked peptides, which are proving very useful for mapping the structures of large protein complexes. “The least abundant things can be more important than the more abundant things,” Krutchinsky says.

For now, MultiQ-IT is less a finished commercial instrument than a demonstration of what is possible. The researchers see their role as establishing the physical blueprint that could one day be scaled into robust clinical and analytical tools.

“There was a lot of development between the discovery of a reaction for sequencing DNA and modern genomics; decades between the first transistor and putting a billion transistors on a chip,” Chait says. “In both cases, someone first had to show it could be done, and then industry took over. I think we’ve shown one way mass spectrometry can be done more efficiently.”

Newswise — Liquid electrolytes enable fast ion transport but can raise safety concerns, and lithium metal anodes—despite their high capacity—can grow dendrites that trigger short circuits and rapid failure. Solid polymer electrolytes are attractive because they are processable and potentially compatible with lithium metal, yet many polymer systems (especially PEO-based) become highly crystalline at room temperature, restricting Li⁺ mobility. Adding plasticizers can improve conductivity, but excessive softening may weaken mechanical protection and destabilize interfaces. Meanwhile, strengthening the polymer often worsens ionic transport, leaving researchers stuck between conductivity and robustness. Based on these challenges, deeper research is needed to develop solid polymer electrolytes that simultaneously deliver high ionic conductivity and high mechanical strength.

Researchers at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University report a fiber-reinforced composite solid polymer electrolyte designed to overcome the long-standing “conductivity–strength” dilemma in polymer-based solid-state batteries. In a study published (DOI: 10.1007/s10118-025-3515-3) online on January 19, 2026 in the Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, the team shows that combining a porous PTFE fibrous membrane (as a reinforcing framework) with the plastic-crystal additive succinonitrile yields an electrolyte that is both mechanically robust and electrochemically effective for lithium metal battery operation.

The team’s concept borrows from structural engineering: a lightweight porous framework provides mechanical reinforcement, while the polymer phase supplies ion transport. They infiltrated a PEO/PVDF-HFP/LiTFSI matrix containing succinonitrile into a porous PTFE fibrous membrane via solution casting, aiming for uniform filling and intimate interfacial contact. Microscopy suggests the PTFE scaffold helps “hold” the electrolyte in a continuous network, while the succinonitrile component improves wetting and reduces PEO crystallinity—two factors expected to open faster Li⁺ pathways.

Material optimization mattered. At an optimized 20 wt% succinonitrile, the electrolyte achieved an ionic conductivity of 7.6×10⁻⁴ S·cm⁻¹ at 60 °C while retaining strong mechanical performance, reaching 3.31 MPa tensile strength with 352% elongation—a combination intended to resist dendrite penetration without sacrificing flexibility. Electrochemically, the composite sustained lithium symmetric-cell cycling for about 2,500 hours at 0.15 mA·cm⁻², indicating stable interfacial behavior during repeated plating/stripping. In Li//LiFePO₄ full cells, the electrolyte delivered durable cycling with 91.6% capacity retention after 300 cycles at 0.5C and coulombic efficiency consistently above 99.9%, supporting the claim that the composite design improves both stability and longevity.

According to the authors, the performance comes from a deliberate “division of labor” inside the composite. The PTFE fibrous membrane acts as a thermally stable, mechanically strong backbone that helps maintain structural integrity under cycling stress. Succinonitrile suppresses polymer crystallinity and promotes faster Li⁺ transport, while PVDF-HFP improves salt dissolution and contributes to electrochemical stability. Together, these components create a reinforced yet conductive electrolyte architecture that can be fabricated by straightforward casting and still deliver long-duration symmetric-cell stability and reliable full-cell cycling.

For solid-state lithium metal batteries to become practical, electrolytes must be manufacturable at scale, mechanically resilient, and consistently conductive—especially under conditions where dendrites are likely. This work points to a pragmatic materials strategy: instead of chasing a single “perfect” polymer, build composites in which a porous fiber scaffold provides structural protection and a carefully tuned additive accelerates ion transport. The demonstrated thousands-hour lithium cycling stability and strong capacity retention in LiFePO₄ full cells suggest potential for safer, longer-lived energy storage. If the approach translates to broader cathode chemistries and lower-temperature operation, it could help move polymer-based solid-state batteries closer to real-world deployment.

###

References

DOI

10.1007/s10118-025-3515-3

Original Souce URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-025-3515-3

Funding information

This research was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFB3801500) and Fundamental Research Funds of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (No. 24202105-Y).

About Chinese Journal of Polymer Science (CJPS)

Chinese Journal of Polymer Science (CJPS) is a monthly journal published in English and sponsored by the Chinese Chemical Society and the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. CJPS is edited by a distinguished Editorial Board headed by Professor Qi-Feng Zhou and supported by an International Advisory Board in which many famous active polymer scientists all over the world are included. Manuscript types include Editorials, Rapid Communications, Perspectives, Tutorials, Feature Articles, Reviews and Research Articles. According to the Journal Citation Reports, 2024 Impact Factor (IF) of CJPS is 4.0.

BYLINE: Russ Nelson

Newswise — The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, will host the Southeast Aerial Drone Competition (ADC) Regional Championship April 17–18 at Spragins Hall on the UAH campus. The event will bring middle and high school students from across the Southeast to Huntsville to compete in a series of team-based aerial drone challenges designed to test their technical knowledge, piloting skills and problem-solving abilities. Participants will apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics principles in real-world scenarios, demonstrating both engineering design and flight operations expertise.

The regional event is hosted by UAH’s Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center (RSESC), a research center focused on advancing innovation in aerospace systems and autonomous technologies. By serving as the site of the Southeast Regional Championship, UAH continues to strengthen its role as a leader in STEM education and workforce development, while connecting university research and expertise with K-12 outreach initiatives.

“At RSESC, we view the Southeast Aerial Drone Competition as an investment in the future of uncrewed systems, robotics and the STEM workforce,” says Justin Kumor, a principal research engineer at RSESC and UAH lead organizer of the competition. “Hosting this event reflects our commitment to developing talent, expanding opportunity and strengthening the partnerships that drive innovation.”

The championship is sanctioned by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF), the governing body for the Aerial Drone Competition. The public is encouraged to attend and watch the competition, and admission is free.

 

Student teams must qualify at a REC Foundation–sanctioned qualifying event during the 2025–2026 season in order to compete. Participating teams represent middle and high schools from across the Southeast region, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The ADC is a STEM-focused, hands-on experience in which student teams compete in four distinct missions designed to assess technical proficiency, teamwork and problem-solving skills:

• Teamwork Mission: Two teams work together in a timed match to score points collaboratively on a field designed for strategic drone operations.
• Piloting Skills Mission: An individual team pilots a drone through an obstacle course, scoring points for precision, timing and execution.
• Autonomous Flight Skills Mission: Teams program their drones to fly autonomously, completing tasks without manual control and earning points for successful autonomous operations.
• Communications Mission: Teams interview with judges and explain their work, design decisions, programming logic and logbook documentation — demonstrating both technical understanding and communication skills.

Volunteers needed

UAH is seeking volunteers to assist with the event. Volunteers play an essential role in the success of the Aerial Drone Competition, with several opportunities available for individuals of all experience levels. Field Reset volunteers support match operations by accurately resetting the competition field after each round and assisting the Field Manager or Head Referee as needed. This high-energy, physically active role is ideal for enthusiastic participants who can follow field diagrams, move efficiently and respond to direction.

Inspectors help ensure fair play by verifying that drones meet competition rules and specifications using a provided checklist. This moderate-activity role requires attention to detail, teamwork and the ability to follow established guidelines. No prior experience is required for either position, and training will be provided prior to the event.

The volunteer registration deadline is April 12. Students, faculty staff and community members are encouraged to participate. Those interested may register by filling out the ADC Volunteer Registration Form.

 

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Newswise — Five faculty members from Georgia Tech have been elected as senior members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). As members, they are recognized as distinguished academic inventors with a strong record of patenting technologies, licensing IP, and commercializing their research. Their innovations have made, or have the potential to make, meaningful impacts on society. 

 “The election of our faculty members to this prestigious association is a powerful affirmation of the innovative research happening at Georgia Tech,” said Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, chief commercialization officer at Georgia Tech. “Their work to take research to market reflects the growing importance of invention in addressing society’s most complex challenges. This recognition signals the strength of the commercialization ecosystem at Georgia Tech to advance impactful research, encourage innovation, and prepare the next generation of inventors.” 

The 2026 Georgia Tech NAI senior members are: 

• Jason David Azoulay, associate professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering School and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Jaydev Prataprai Desai, professor and cardiovascular biomedical engineering distinguished chair, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
• David Frost, Elizabeth and Bill Higginbotham Professor and Regents’ Entrepreneur, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Chandra Raman, Dunn Family Professor of Physics, School of Physics
• Aaron Young, associate professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Jason David Azoulay

Azoulay is recognized for pioneering new classes of functional materials through innovative polymer synthesis, heterocycle chemistry, and polymerization reactions. His work spans electronic, photonic, and quantum materials, device fabrication, and chemical sensing for environmental monitoring. He has demonstrated new classes of organic semiconductors with infrared functionality and holds nine issued U.S. patents. Azoulay is the Georgia Research Alliance Vasser-Woolley Distinguished Investigator and holds a joint appointment in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

Jaydev Prataprai Desai

Desai is recognized for advancing medical robotics and translational biomedical innovation with inventions spanning robotically steerable guidewires for endovascular interventions, minimally invasive surgical tools, MEMS sensors for cancer diagnosis, and rehabilitation robotics for people with motor impairments. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Robotics Research, has authored more than 225 peer-reviewed publications, and serves as the Director of Georgia Center for Medical Robotics at Georgia Tech. Desai holds 16 U.S. and International patents.  

David Frost

Frost has built a career at the intersection of civil engineering research and entrepreneurship. A leader in the study of natural and human-made disasters and their impacts on infrastructure, he has founded two Georgia Tech-based software companies: Dataforensics, which offers tools for subsurface data collection and infrastructure project management, and Filio, an AI-powered mobile platform that supports visual asset management in construction and post-disaster reconnaissance. In 2023, Frost was named a Regents’ Entrepreneur by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, a designation reserved for tenured faculty who have successfully taken their research into a commercial setting. He holds four U.S. patents.  

Chandra Raman

Raman is a physicist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur whose research on ultracold atoms is enabling a new generation of ultraprecise quantum sensing devices. He is the co-inventor of chip-scale atomic beam technology — a breakthrough that makes it possible to miniaturize quantum sensors for navigation and timing applications in environments where GPS fails, with uses spanning autonomous vehicles, aerospace, and national security. Raman holds six U.S. patents, three of which have been issued and two licensed. To bring his inventions to market, he founded 8Seven8 Inc., Georgia’s first quantum hardware company. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and an advisor to national and space-based quantum initiatives. 

Aaron Young

Young directs the Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls Lab, where he develops robotic exoskeletons and intelligent control systems to improve walking function and physical capability for people with mobility impairments and industrial safety applications. His research has been supported by major federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, and he holds three U.S. patents. Young works with Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing and Quadrant-i to advance promising technologies toward real-world adoption. 

About Georgia Tech’s Office of Commercialization 

The Office of Commercialization is the nexus of research commercialization and entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech, bringing leading-edge research and innovation to market. It comprises six key units — ATDC, CREATE-X, VentureLab, Quadrant-i, Technology Licensing, and Velocity Startups — that empower students and faculty to launch startups, manage intellectual property, and transform research ideas into positive societal impact. Learn more at commercialization.gatech.edu. 

About the National Academy of Inventors 

The National Academy of Inventors is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and nonprofit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. Learn more at academyofinventors.org. 

Newswise — From brightly colored textile dyes to persistent pesticides and antibiotics, many modern pollutants dissolved in water — such as Bisphenol A — resist traditional treatment methods. A promising approach uses electricity to power chemical reactions in water over an electrode surface. Much like in a battery, electrodes send and receive electrical current that drives chemical reactions.

This process, known as electrocatalysis, generates a class of highly reactive oxygen-containing compounds, known as reactive oxygen species or oxidants, at the electrode surface. These powerful oxidants, which include ozone and hydrogen peroxide, can break down even the most stubborn contaminants, producing cleaner water. However, because these oxygen species are unstable, degrade over time and exist in trace amounts — down to the parts-per-billion level — they have been notoriously difficult to detect and quantify.

In a study published in ACS Catalysis, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory report a new method for detecting and quantifying these short-lived oxygen species in real time with unprecedented sensitivity. Their approach revealed not only how much of each oxidant is produced, but also which specific species are formed under different treatment conditions.

“These oxygen species don’t last long, and they’re hard to detect individually,” said Argonne Electrochemist Scientist Pietro Papa Lopes, who led the study. ​“But knowing which ones are present and in what quantities is essential for improving water treatment technologies.”

Importantly, the team’s findings have applications beyond water treatment. One example is fuel cells. They convert hydrogen or other chemical fuels into electricity. Another is electrolyzers. They can split water molecules to produce hydrogen fuel or convert carbon dioxide into aviation fuels, for example.

The researchers used a method involving two electrodes to determine which oxidants were generated at the electrode surface. The first was a disk where a water oxidation reaction took place, generating the reactive oxygen species. The second was a concentric ring electrode. It produced an electrical signal that could detect and quantify the reactive oxygen species.

They tested the performance of three materials as the disk electrode: lead dioxide, platinum and iridium oxide. Lead dioxide was selected for its known ability to generate significant amounts of ozone and relevance to pollutant degradation. Platinum and iridium oxide were included as controls, as earlier studies had suggested they do not produce measurable amounts of reactive oxygen species. But the results told a different story.

“Somewhat to our surprise, at high voltages, all three electrode materials produced measurable levels of hydrogen peroxide and ozone,” said Papa Lopes. ​“That finding matters. Those oxidants can degrade membranes and other components used in electrochemical technologies, which could impact their long-term performance.”

Another key result involved Faradaic efficiency — a measure of how much input electricity is converted into useful chemical products. The team found that lead dioxide converted up to 30% of the electrical energy into ozone. That’s a high efficiency for systems of this type and suggests strong potential for scalable pollutant breakdown technologies.

The study provides a new benchmark for scientists and engineers working to advance electrochemical water purification. By establishing a consistent, sensitive method for identifying and quantifying reactive oxygen species in electrochemical systems, the research enables better system design and more meaningful comparisons across experiments and technologies.

This work was conducted through the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Argonne and supported by DOE. AMEWS seeks to understand how water — and the substances it carries — interacts with solid materials at the molecular level.

In addition to Papa Lopes, contributing authors at Argonne include Igor Messias, Jacob Kupferberg, Askley Bielinski and Alex Martinson, as well as Raphael Nagao at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil. The research was funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

Newswise — Near-field optical trapping has transformed particle manipulation in biology, chemistry, and nanotechnology, enabling contact-free control of objects ranging from nanoparticles to living cells. However, most existing whispering-gallery-mode and waveguide-based platforms rely on evanescent fields that penetrate only about 100 nanometers into the surrounding medium. This shallow interaction region restricts trapping efficiency and makes the system highly sensitive to perturbations caused by trapped particles themselves. Such instability limits practical applications requiring dense, large-area, or long-term manipulation. Given these challenges, it is necessary to develop optical trapping strategies that achieve deeper field penetration, stronger light–matter interaction, and greater robustness against particle-induced disturbances.

Researchers from Fudan University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University report a new optical trapping platform in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, published (DOI: 10.1038/s41378-026-01167-7) in January 2026. The team demonstrates a gradient-thickness-protected microbottle resonator that enables large-scale, stable optical trapping via whispering-gallery modes. By introducing a controlled wall-thickness gradient into a hollow microbottle geometry, the device supports high-order axial modes that generate multiple optical trapping sites along its length. This design allows particles to be trapped efficiently over nearly 200 micrometers with ultralow optical power.

The core innovation lies in the microbottle resonator’s gradient wall thickness, which is thinnest at the equator and gradually thickens toward both ends. This geometry fundamentally changes how optical fields are distributed inside the resonator. Instead of confining particles to weak evanescent fields near the surface, the device generates strong optical-field antinodes that extend several micrometers into the liquid core, creating deep, stable trapping potentials.

The researchers show that this configuration supports high-order axial whispering-gallery modes, forming dozens of discrete trapping “orbits” along the resonator axis. Experiments demonstrate stable trapping of 500-nanometer-radius polystyrene particles across an axial span exceeding 195 micrometers, far larger than that of most near-field platforms. Remarkably, the trapping threshold power is only 0.198 milliwatts, highlighting the system’s energy efficiency.

Equally important, the gradient-thickness design protects the strongest optical fields by confining them within the silica wall at the resonator ends. This minimizes degradation of the optical quality factor when particles are trapped, ensuring consistent performance even during large-scale, multi-particle manipulation. The platform also supports localized, tunable trapping via standing-wave excitation, enabling precise repositioning of individual particles.

“This work shows that optical trapping performance is not only about stronger lasers, but about smarter structures,” the researchers note. “By engineering the resonator geometry, we can control where optical energy resides and how it interacts with particles.” They emphasize that isolating the peak optical fields from particle-induced perturbations is key to achieving robust and scalable trapping. The approach, they suggest, bridges the gap between laboratory demonstrations and practical optofluidic systems capable of handling complex, real-world samples.

The gradient-thickness microbottle resonator opens new possibilities for high-throughput and label-free particle manipulation. Its extended trapping range and multiple stable orbits make it suitable for parallel single-cell analysis, bioparticle sorting, and real-time monitoring of microbial dynamics. The rapid orbital motion of trapped particles can also enhance micromixing, potentially accelerating biochemical reactions in microfluidic environments. Beyond biology, the platform may enable advanced sensing, targeted drug delivery, and reconfigurable optofluidic devices. More broadly, the study highlights how geometric design can unlock new regimes of light–matter interaction, offering a versatile blueprint for next-generation optical manipulation technologies.

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References

DOI

10.1038/s41378-026-01167-7

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-026-01167-7

Funding information

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 62175035, X.W.), Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (grant no. 21ZR1407400 X.W.), Hong Kong Research Grant Council/University Grants Committee (grant no. 21203724, L.K.C.) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Global STEM Professorship BDA8, A.-Q.L.).

About Microsystems & Nanoengineering

Microsystems & Nanoengineering is an online-only, open access international journal devoted to publishing original research results and reviews on all aspects of Micro and Nano Electro Mechanical Systems from fundamental to applied research. The journal is published by Springer Nature in partnership with the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, supported by the State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology.

Newswise — Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT, President Young-Kuk Lee) announced that it has officially launched a research equipment training program for Uzbekistan researchers under a grant aid project supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The opening ceremony was held on February 23 at KRICT’s Didimdol Plaza, marking the start of the full-scale capacity-building program.

The ceremony formally introduced the “Research Equipment Invitational Training” program, a core component of the “Establishment and Capacity-Building Project of The Center of Chemical Technology in Uzbekistan.” Approximately 30 participants attended the event, including representatives from KRICT and KOICA project members, as well as Uzbek researchers in the field of chemistry. Participants shared the background and operational plans of the program and reaffirmed their commitment to close cooperation for its successful implementation.

The training program is a key human resource development initiative under the same capacity-building project. From February 22 to May 22, 2026, a total of 20 Uzbek researchers in the chemical field will participate in an intensive three-month training program in Korea.

The program aims to systematically cultivate core professionals with expertise in research equipment operation and analytical capabilities, enabling the future Uzbekistan Chemical Research Institute—The Center of Chemical Technology in Uzbekistan (UzCCT), currently being established by the Uzbek government—to operate independently and sustainably.

This project follows up on a request agreed upon by the leaders of Korea and Uzbekistan during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Korea in November 2017 to establish a chemical R&D center in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government officially requested support for setting up a national chemical research institute modeled after Korea’s government-funded research institutes. In response, the Ministry of Science and ICT and KOICA have collaborated to advance this initiative.

Notably, this is the first blended financing project in Korea’s science and technology diplomacy history, combining concessional loans from the Export-Import Bank of Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) with KOICA’s grant aid. The total project budget amounts to USD 47 million. Of this, USD 40 million in loans will support construction and equipment installation, while USD 7 million in grant funding will be allocated to master planning, human resource development, and joint research activities.

At the opening ceremony, officials underscored that this training program — backed by KOICA’s grant aid — extends well beyond technical instruction. It represents a strategic human resource development initiative aimed at strengthening UzCCT’s independent operational capacity and advancing its research and development capabilities.

The training curriculum integrates theoretical instruction with hands-on practice. It focuses on understanding equipment principles, field application in research environments, data interpretation, and ensuring the reliability of analytical results. Through this practice-oriented approach, participants will be equipped to independently operate research equipment and conduct analytical work at UzCCT upon completion of the program.

The invitational training program is regarded as a sustainable model for strengthening human capacity through KOICA’s grant assistance. It is expected to provide a foundation for UzCCT not only to enhance Uzbekistan’s chemical industry competitiveness but also to grow into a regional hub for chemical and materials R&D cooperation in Central Asia.

KRICT President Young-Kuk Lee stated, “This opening ceremony marks a starting point for Uzbekistan to build self-reliant chemical R&D capabilities through KOICA’s grant aid. Even after the training concludes, we will continue to expand bilateral cooperation through joint research and follow-up human resource development programs.”

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KRICT is a non-profit research institute funded by the Korean government. Since its foundation in 1976, KRICT has played a leading role in advancing national chemical technologies in the fields of chemistry, material science, environmental science, and chemical engineering. Now, KRICT is moving forward to become a globally leading research institute tackling the most challenging issues in the field of Chemistry and Engineering and will continue to fulfill its role in developing chemical technologies that benefit the entire world and contribute to maintaining a healthy planet. More detailed information on KRICT can be found at

Newswise — As the global demand for electric vehicles and portable electronics surges, high-energy-density and inherently safe energy storage systems has become more important than ever. However, while solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs) offer high safety due to their non-flammability, traditional solid electrolytes face significant bottlenecks, including low ionic conductivity, poor interfacial contact, and mechanical brittleness.

In a review published in Supramolecular Materials, a team of researchers from China highlight a new approach: using supramolecular chemistry to engineer “smart” battery components. The study provides a molecular engineering foundation for realizing practical, high-efficiency, and safe next-generation batteries.

“Unlike traditional materials that rely on rigid covalent bonds, supramolecular materials utilize reversible non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, and π-π stacking to create highly ordered, self-assembled structures,” explains senior and corresponding author Kai Liu.

Notably, supramolecular chemistry provides a programmable molecular-level design framework for solid-state batteries. “These dynamic interactions act as a ‘smart glue,’ allowing electrolytes to self-heal microcracks and adapt to the volume changes of electrodes during cycling,” adds Liu. “This flexibility is crucial for suppressing lithium dendrite growth, which often leads to short circuits in conventional designs.”

The researchers also detailed how these molecular interactions build efficient ion transport pathways, lowering energy barriers and improving the battery’s rate performance. “By precisely regulating the interfacial composition, supramolecular strategies significantly reduce impedance and enhance long-term cycling stability,” says Liu.

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.supmat.2025.100118

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supmat.2025.100118

Funding Information

This research was supported by the Tsinghua University-China Petrochemical Corporation Joint Institute for Green Chemical Engineering (224247) and the Tsinghua-Toyota Joint Research Fund.

About Supramolecular Materials

Supramolecular Materials is a publication of peer-reviewed research. It covers all aspects of these materials, which are based on supramolecular interactions or self-assembly.