Research

Longitudinal piezoelectric resonant photoelastic modulator for efficient intensity modulation at megahertz frequencies

Prof. Amin Arbabian et al demonstrate a novel modulator that could enable megapixel-resolution LiDAR and 3D capture with low-cost, standard image sensors as on phones with minimal extra hardware.

High-brightness all-polymer stretchable LED with charge-trapping dilution

Prof. Zhenan Bao, Prof. Reinhold Dauskardt et al report a material design strategy and fabrication processes to achieve stretchable all-polymer-based light-emitting diodes colored red, green and blue that are wirelessly powered while worn and display real-time pulse signals.

Bimetallic nanocatalysts immobilized in nanoporous hydrogels for long-term robust continuous glucose monitoring of smart contact lens

Prof. Zhenan Bao, Prof. David Myung, Prof. Sei Kwang Hahn et al demonstrate that smart contact lenses can accurately monitor changing blood glucose levels in diabetic and normal rabbits, and they evaluate the clinical feasibility and safety of the smart contact lenses for the human eye.

Nonlocal metasurfaces for spectrally decoupled wavefront manipulation and eye tracking

Prof. Mark Brongersma et al demonstrate a metasurface patterned on a regular pair of eyeglasses providing an unperturbed view of the world across the visible spectrum while redirecting near-infrared light to a camera, which allows imaging of the eye.

High-frequency and intrinsically stretchable polymer diodes

Prof. Zhenan Bao et al report intrinsically stretchable diodes capable of operating at a frequency high enough for wireless operation of soft sensors and electrochromic display pixels using RFID, in which the base-carrier frequency is 6.78 MHz or 13.56 MHz.

All-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs) enhanced by redox mediators (RM)

Prof. Yi Cui, Prof. Zhenan Bao et al directly track the sulfur speciation and reveal the redox chemistry for Li2S cathodes in ASSLSBs for the first time by using operando sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

A molecular design approach towards elastic and multifunctional polymer electronics

Prof. Zhenan Bao, Prof. Jian Qin et al show a molecular design concept that achieves targeted properties in both polymeric semiconductors and dielectrics and demonstrate the potential of solution-processed multilayer device manufacturing.

Rechargeable Na/Cl2 and Li/Cl2 batteries

Prof. Hongjie Dai et al developed a new battery chemistry with 6 times higher energy density, which may lead to longer battery life for future wearables, hearing aids and cell phones.

Portable thermoacoustic imaging for biometric authentication

Prof. Amin Arbabian et al present the first known instance of a silicon IC being used as the output stage of the transmitter for a thermoacoustic imaging system.

Sensing leg movement enhances wearable monitoring of energy expenditure

Prof. Steven Collins, Prof. Scott Delp, Prof. Mykel Kochenderfer and Patrick Slade present a wearable system that estimates metabolic energy expenditure in real-time during common steady-state and time-varying activities with substantially lower error than state-of-the-art methods.