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Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology
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Nuclear Technologies
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Robotics
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Semiconductors

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Materials science is a foundational technology that underlies advances in many fields, including robotics, space, energy, and synthetic biology. 

•  Materials science will exploit AI as another promising tool to predict new materials with tailored properties and identify novel uses for known materials.

•  The structure of funding in materials science does not effectively enable transition from innovation to implementation. Materials-based technology that has been thoroughly tested at the bench scale may be too mature to qualify for basic research funding (because the high-level fundamental science is understood) but not mature enough to be directly commercialized by companies.

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Overview

Broadly speaking, materials science and engineering research focuses on four major areas. The first is characterizing the properties of materials to derive a material structure-property relationship. The second is modeling materials, which involves predicting material properties based on atomistic principles. The third is establishing synthesis methods of materials to attain specific properties as predicted. The fourth area is manufacturing and processing materials with well-characterized properties in sufficient quantities for practical applications.

An aspiration, which remains a long way off, is to be able to create materials on demand by specification—put in a request for a material with properties X, Y and Z, and a 3-D printer produces it for you.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS
 
  • Biomedical applications include wearable electronic devices, or “e-skin,” that can sense stimuli and encode these stimuli into processable electrical signals. 
  • Novel, recyclable plastics are easier to break down.
  • More efficient, powerful, and long-lasting batteries are crucial for solar and wind energy storage and for transportation. 
  • Additive manufacturing, continued scale-up of 3-D printing, including with novel applications such as printing with multiple materials at once, and smaller feature sizes are on tap.
  • Nanotechnology studies how properties of nanoscale materials—including their electronic, optical, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical properties—differ from the same materials in bulk form.
  • Quantum dots are spherical nanocrystals that emit light and are newly used in television displays. They are a model example of variable material properties due to scale as their optoelectronic properties differ from those of the same bulk material. They can be used in medical imaging, solar cells, chemical and biological detection sensors, and anticounterfeiting measures.
  • Drug delivery via injection can be precisely controlled over the course of months by embedding the drug within a nanoengineered material. The efficacy of insulin, for example, can be improved through this research.
  • Vaccine stabilization by lipid nanoparticle vectors, notably of mRNA vaccines, can protect payloads from degradation. 
  • 2-D semiconductors, including graphene, carbon nanotubes, and single-layer chalcogenides, could be embedded within high-tech electronic devices to increase energy efficiency.

 

Over the Horizon

  • Low-carbon steel and cement production needs further research to make it economically competitive with traditional methods of production, which are extremely carbon-intensive, contributing to 8 percent of CO2 emissions.
  • Toxicity and environmental issues may stem from the small size of nanoparticles. Because engineered nanoparticles are, by definition, new to the natural environment, they pose unknown dangers to humans and the environment. Policy will be particularly important in shaping responsible end-of-life solutions for products incorporating nanomaterials.
  • Support for an advanced workforce should address the significant portion of academic researchers who are PhD students and professors who have immigrated to the United States to seek better educational and research opportunities. It is crucial to establish a better pathway to permanent residence upon graduation for doctoral students on student visas so that the United States does not lose highly trained workers. The United States and universities invest heavily in the education of STEM graduate students, and it would be wise to find a path to allow these scientists and engineers to work and live in the country permanently.
  • Regarding foreign collaboration and competition, policy ambiguity can inadvertently hinder innovation by creating obstacles for non-US researchers wishing to contribute to work in the United States and by deterring international collaborations. Clarification of these policies is urgently needed, particularly distinguishing between fundamental research and export-controlled research. 

 

Report Preview: Materials Science

Faculty Council Advisor

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Zhenan Bao
Author
Zhenan Bao

Zhenan Bao is the K. K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering and Professor, by courtesy, of chemistry and materials science and engineering at Stanford University. She has close to seven hundred referred publications and more than eighty US patents. Her current research focuses on organic electronics, including skin-inspired materials, dynamic energy storage, and recyclable, re-processable materials. She received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago.

View Bio
zhenan-bao_profilephoto.jpg
Zhenan Bao

Zhenan Bao is the K. K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering and Professor, by courtesy, of chemistry and materials science and engineering at Stanford University. She has close to seven hundred referred publications and more than eighty US patents. Her current research focuses on organic electronics, including skin-inspired materials, dynamic energy storage, and recyclable, re-processable materials. She received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago.

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