research highlights
Watch Soft Materials Yield in Real Time — Revealing Hidden Dynamics Behind Flow and Failure
Using synchronized X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) and computer simulations, we uncovered how microscopic particle movements in charged colloidal suspensions dictate whether a soft material flows smoothly or breaks into bands, offering new ways to design everything from coatings to food gels with precise mechanical control.
3D-Printed Nanolattice Combines Strength and Flexibility — A Leap Toward Resilient Microdevices
Ultralight 3D-printed copper-nanocluster-polymer nanolattices that outperform existing metal and ceramic lattices in strength, toughness, and resilience, revealing how molecular-scale copper clusters act as crosslinks that make the material both strong and shock-absorbent, ideal for next-generation microelectronic protection.
Simulating Polymer Flow from the Atom Up — Bridge Scales to Predict How Plastics Behave
We developed a bottom-up multiscale simulation that predicts how entangled polymer melts—like polystyrene—flow and thin under stress, accurately matching experiments without any adjustable parameters and revealing a universal scaling law that could transform polymer design and processing.