Behind the scenes of a big hybrid conference

Ariane Vartanian of Nature Reviews Materials interviewed Gopal Rao, the Chief Editor for Technical Content at the Materials Research Society, about preparations that went into the combined in-person and virtual format of the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting. "We knew that networking was of paramount importance to the in-person attendees’ experience after nearly 2 years without in-person interactions," Rao said; "We wanted to reserve ample time in the programme for attendees to interact. This split schedule also allowed logistically for better organization of the two meeting components, which translated to a better meeting experience for in-person and virtual meeting attendees."

Thank you!

While the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit came to conclusion with the end of The Virtual Experience on December 8^th, Meeting content will be available online to registered participants through January 15, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, special efforts were made by volunteers and participants to ensure a successful hybrid Meeting!

Our congratulations go to the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting Chairs Markus J. Buehler, Craig Fennie, Marina Leite, Laura Na Liu, and Cengiz S. Ozkan for putting together an excellent technical program along with various special events. MRS would also like to thank all the Symposium Organizers and Session Chairs for their part in the success of this Meeting. A thank you goes to the Exhibitors, Symposium Support, and to the sponsors of the Meeting and of the special events and activities.

Contributors to news on the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit include Meeting Scene reporters Sophia Chen, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jessalyn Low, Chetna Madan, Judy Meiksin, Don Monroe, and Prachi Patel; bloggers Essraa Ahmed,  Luigi Angelo Castriotta, and Chenru Duan; and graphic artist Stephanie Gabborin; with newsletter production by Jason Zimmerman.

Thank you for subscribing to the MRS Meeting Scene newsletters. We hope you enjoyed reading them and continue your subscription as we launch into the 2022 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit – A Hybrid Event - the conversation already started at #S22MRS! We welcome your comments and feedback.

Symposium EN01: Materials for Sustainable Electronics

David Ginley, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Achieving a Circular Economy

Written by Chetna Madan

The term circular economy is becoming an indispensable concept due to the foundation of redefining growth and remodeling sustainable consumption of finite resources available on the planet. The aim is to design practical pathways to extract and recycle as much as materials of significance along with a re-evaluation of the processes to achieve the same. The key principles of circular economy can be stated as (1) eliminating waste and pollution, (2) re-using finished products and extracted materials, and (3) re-establishing natural systems. As proposed by Dr. Ginley from NREL, the design of materials should be done to attain reusability and self-restoration and with the principle of causing negligible environmental harm. The talk addressed that seemingly renewable energy sources like solar and wind come with associated setbacks of exposing toxic materials to the environment, complete non-recovery of difficult to process elements and incapability to design end-of-life reusability of certain significant components. This is the right time to visualize and practice circular economy as a new pathway to designing, processing, and ultimate recycling of our resources for enabling justified utilization.

Symposium EN14—Advanced Materials for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies

Shaun Alia, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Anode catalyst Layer Durability in Low-Temperature Electrolysis

Written by Chetna Madan

The potential of hydrogen to become the fuel for the future can be foreseen owing to its high energy density and the ability for long-term storage and conversion between electricity and chemical bonds. Till today, the utility of hydrogen in the energy sector, particularly with electrochemical water electrolyzers, lags complete exploration. A thorough investigation of the electrocatalyst chemistry including the degradation mechanism and accelerated stress tests was discussed by Dr. Alia in this talk. It was discovered that significant potential losses due to cycling between open circuit and operating potentials were inevitable and could lead to catalyst dissolution, migration, and interfacial tearing. The impact of components integration into membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), on catalyst properties and electrolyzer durability, was also considered. The study also concluded that catalysts comprising of less stable elements or sub-stoichiometric oxides are more likely to incur severe performance losses. These observations suggest that an in-depth analysis of catalyst membrane interface is essential to design lasting and reliable electrocatalysts for water electrolysis application.

Symposium SB12: Biomaterials for Regenerative Engineering

Sarah Heilshorn, Stanford University

Adaptable, Protein-Engineered Hydrogels for Organoid Culture

Written by Jessalyn Low

Three-dimensional culture matrices are essential to support organoid formation. Commonly used matrices like Matrigel, however, have limited translational potential as it is animal-derived and exhibit low batch-to-batch similarity. In this talk, Heilshorn reports the development of a novel hyaluronan elastin-like protein (HELP) matrix which was demonstrated to support the formation, passaging, and differentiation of patient-derived intestinal organoids. Properties of the HELP matrix such as matrix stiffness, stress relaxation rate, and density of cell-receptor ligands are tunable and can be optimized by studying the interactions between the cells and polymers. In line with this, it is also essential that techniques are developed to probe the cell-matrix interactions. To do so, Heilshorn presents the development of a broadband dynamic light scattering microrheology (DLSµR) technique. DLSµR is advantageous as it can probe stiffness over a wide range of values, and also achieve data over an extended timescale, which allows for a wide range of cellular processes to be studied. Using DLSµR, it was demonstrated that it could capture cell-induced changes in matrix mechanics and allow estimation of dynamic matrix mechanics, highlighting its use in studying living soft matter changes over time.

Symposium SB02: From Hydrogel Fundamentals to Novel Applications via Additive Manufacturing

Paul Janmey, University of Pennsylvania

Biopolymer-Particle Composites Designed to Match the Mechanical Properties of Soft Biological Tissues

Written by Jessalyn Low

Tissues stiffen in compression but not in extension. However, interestingly, the opposite is observed in polymer networks like fibrin and collagen, which soften in compression and stiffen in extension. This behavior of softening upon compression is observed not only extracellularly but also intracellularly, in particular the actin filaments and microtubules. The difference in response to strain between tissues and polymer networks can be attributed to the fact that most tissues are densely packed cells within a matrix. As such, the mechanical properties of the matrix dominate the properties of the tissue, but presence of cellular inclusions alter the mechanical properties of the network. To test this, fibrin networks were polymerized around dextran beads and it was found that the inclusion of packed beads converted fibrin gel from a compression-softening to compression-stiffening behavior. These results imply that polymer network rheology converts to tissue rheology when volume-conserving inclusions become dense enough to limit network strand configurations. Moreover, it was found that single cells also stiffen in compression, which is postulated to be attributed to the intermediate filaments. Unlike other components of the cytoskeleton, namely actin filaments and microtubules which soften upon compression, intermediate filaments stiffen upon compression. This is thought to be because of their higher flexibility, which reduces their ability to buckle.

Symposium EN13—Climate Change Mitigation Technologies

Susan Rempe, Sandia National Laboratories

Ultra-Thin and Robust Liquid Membrane for CO₂ Capture from Gas Mixture

Written by Chetna Madan

The dire effects of ever-increasing CO₂ in the atmosphere can be sensed by the unpredictable climate change taking over the planet. The attempts of sequestering CO₂ require high energy inputs and costs. An effective approach as developed at Sandia National Laboratories could be using nature-inspired, ultra-thin, and robust enzyme functionalized membranes with pore size selectivity that permits only CO₂ molecules separation. The membrane functionalized with metalloenzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) is comprised of 18-nm thick arrays of 8-nm diameter hydrophilic pores stabilizing water by capillary action. The benefit of functionalizing with CA comes from the catalyzed conversion of CO₂ and water into carbonic acid, thus facilitating the capture and release of CO_2. The mixed pore chemistry of the membrane is designed strategically to have super hydrophilic surface on the catalytic side while a superhydrophobic surface on the other. With the optimized diffusion constraints and CA concentration within the nanopore array, the super-thin membrane was able to achieve 10 times better CO₂ capture as compared to other methods.

Symposium EN02—Solid-State Batteries—Electrodes, Electrolytes and Interphases

Phonnapha Tangthuam, Chulalongkorn University

Anionic Polyelectrolyte Coating as Artificial Solid Electrolyte Interface for Zinc Anode

Written by Chetna Madan

Zinc battery chemistry research is seeing a spike in recent times due to the promising features of excellent stability, high volumetric capacity, cheaper abundance, and economic viability. The high electrode potential of zinc (-0.76 V vs standard hydrogen electrode) makes it suitable to be used with an aqueous neutral or mildly acidic electrolyte. However, the challenges associated with corrosion, hydrogen evolution, and dendritic growth over long-term cycling inhibit its utilization. To address this problem with zinc anode, the researchers have developed an artificial solid electrolyte interface (ASEI) on the surface of zinc anode which regulates the nucleation and distribution of zinc ions for a uniform plating. As described, a zinc-carbon composite anode utilizing ultra-thin layers of carboxymethyl cellulose, an anionic polyelectrolyte, contributed toward dendrite-free zinc plating even at high current density due to fast ion migration. This ASEI is selectively permeable for Zn ions and highly efficient in preventing corrosion as confirmed from its electrochemical behavior.

2021 MRS Fall Meeting Best Poster Winners

Tuesday, November 30

• Ranuri Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

• Alison McCarthy

  Stony Brook University

• Nikolaus Porenta

  ETH

• Alyssa Stavola

  Northeastern University

• Prisca Viviani

  Politecnico di Milano

• Jelena Wohlwend

  ETH Zürich

 

Wednesday, December 1

• Christina Cole

  University of Southern California

• Levi Felix

  State University of Campinas

• Michael Ford

  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Haley Jones

  Clemson University

• Watcharaphol Paritmongkol

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Malia Wenny

            Harvard University

 

Thursday, December 2

• Kai Brinkmann

          University of Wuppertal

 

Thursday, December 7

• Jiayi Cen

  University College London, The Faraday Institution, Thomas Young Centre

• Jeonghoon Park

  Pohang University of Science and Technology

• Mehmet Dogan

  University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

• Tessa Van Volkenburg

  Johns Hopkins University

• Lisette Haarmann

          Technische Universität Darmstadt

2021 MRS Fall Meeting Graduate Student Awards

The MRS Graduate Student Awards are intended to honor and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials research display a high level of excellence and distinction. In addition to the MRS Graduate Student Gold and Silver Awards, the Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award, which honors the late Dr. Arthur Nowick and his lifelong commitment to teaching and mentoring students in materials science, will be presented to a GSA finalist who shows particular promise as a future teacher and mentor.

Gold 

    

    Chenru Duan

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

    

    Paul C. Le Floch

    Harvard University

 

    

    Daniel Schwalbe-Koda

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

    

    Georgios Varnavides

    Harvard University

 

    

    Xiao Zhang

    The University of Texas at Austin

 

Silver 

    

    Cecile Chazot

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Nowick Award

Liang-Hsun Chen

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

Rebecca Gallivan

California Institute of Technology

 

Mengyu Gao

University of California, Berkeley

 

Yong Hu

University at Buffalo

 

Byunghoon Kim

Seoul National University

 

Jingang Li

The University of Texas at Austin

 

Chang Liu

University of Virginia

 

Jiayu Peng

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

Huiqin Zhang

University of Pennsylvania

 

Ye Zhang

University of California, Berkeley