Materials science

Berkeley engineers give graphene a new twist to boost optoelectronics

10/20/20 — By stacking sheets of graphene on top of each other and twisting them, researchers have converted a common linear material into one with nonlinear optical capabilities crucial to everyday technology.

Berkeley Engineering announces five new faculty fellows

09/28/20 — Five new faculty members are joining the College of Engineering as faculty fellows, with ample funding to equip labs, hire graduate students and get their research projects up and running.

Berkeley researchers develop highly efficient, energy-dense capacitor

08/19/20 Berkeley Lab — New material could ultimately combine the efficiency and robustness of capacitors with the energy storage capabilities of larger-scale batteries for use in consumer electronics.

Kristin Persson named director of Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry

08/05/20 — MSE professor's pioneering use of data-driven methodologies for materials discovery is spurring a new age of innovation

Researchers create surface coating that can create false infrared images

07/23/20 — The visual decoy technique could lead to new advances in encryption technology

Junqiao Wu in the atrium of Hearst Memorial Mining Building

Bakar Prize winner hopes to harness sun’s power

06/22/20 — Junqiao Wu, professor of material science and engineering, awarded campus's new $225,000 prize for real-world potential of his thermal-powered material transformations

Off the scales: Fish armor both tough and flexible

06/22/20 Berkeley Lab — High-tech imaging of carp scales by Berkeley materials scientists reveals remarkable properties that could lead to advanced synthetic materials

Researcher creates machine learning tool to help scientists locate materials needed for innovations

05/08/20 — Kristin Persson leads the Materials Project, an open-access online database to assist scientists searching for the next big thing in batteries, solar cells, and computer chips

Materials sciences professor Ramamoorthy Ramesh named to Royal Society

04/29/20 — Ramesh has created nanosized materials that can power small electrical devices with minimal amounts of energy

Researchers discover ferroelectricity at the atomic scale

04/22/20 — A team of researchers have managed to grow ultra-thin material on silicon that can power small electronic devices

Grand designs

04/14/20 — Researchers have created a synthetic material that is as effective as naturally occurring proteins in transporting molecules through membranes.

Tough as scales

04/14/20 — A study has determined exactly what makes the scales of the Amazonian freshwater fish, Arapaima gigas, so tough.

Is spaghetti the key to building a better robot?

01/22/20 — Studying how spaghetti reacts to water might offer clues to how robots built from flexible materials can better mimic human movement, according to Oliver O'Reilly, professor of mechanical engineering.

New discovery makes it easier to design synthetic proteins that rival their natural counterparts

01/08/20 — Researchers have created a synthetic membrane that could transform fields including medicine, life sciences, alternative energy and environmental science.

Ceder peeks into the battery pipeline

12/16/19 Berkeley Lab — From cobalt-free to sodium-ion, Berkeley Lab scientist and MSE professor Gerbrand Ceder evaluates some of the most promising battery technologies in development.

A surprising twist

10/25/19 — Materials scientists have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically thin sheets that spiral like a card deck.

Piranha-proof fish scales offer inspiration for armor

10/17/19 UCSD — UC Berkeley and UC San Diego material scientists have discovered the secret to Arapaima gigas's impermeable armor. The scales on this Amazonian freshwater fish could serve as inspiration for stronger, lightweight and flexible synthetic armors.

Berkeley Engineering is #3 in U.S. News rankings

09/09/19 U.S. News & World Report — Berkeley Engineering's undergraduate program was again ranked third overall and the top public engineering school by U.S. News & World Report. Eight individual engineering programs were ranked among the top 5 in their respective fields, and all were in the top 10.

George Leitmann on rocket test track, Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake

Bancroft Library oral history, podcast highlight Berkeley Engineering achievements

08/01/19 — Berkeley Engineering's contributions to the rise of the semiconductor industry were featured in a recent library podcast, while mechanical engineering professor emeritus George Leitmann was interviewed for an oral history project.

Word cloud diagram of terms related to thermoelectric

Algorithms uncover hidden scientific knowledge

07/05/19 Berkeley Lab — A team of materials science researchers from Berkeley Lab and Berkeley Engineering has found that with minimal training, machine-learning text mining of the existing scientific literature can lead to new discoveries.