News Archive
2021 News Releases
10 Jacobs School faculty among 2021 list of most highly cited researchers in the worldNovember 30, 2021
Ten professors at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering are among the world’s most influential researchers in their fields. The professors, Ludmil Alexandrov, Trey Ideker, Rob Knight, Prashant Mali, Ying Shirley Meng, Shyue Ping Ong, Bernhard O. Palsson, Joseph Wang, Sheng Xu and Liangfang Zhang, are amone 51 professors and researchers at UC San Diego named in the prestigious list of Highly Cited Researchers in 2021. Full Story
Researchers determine optimum pressure to improve the performance of lithium metal batteries October 18, 2021
A team of materials scientists and chemists has determined the proper stack pressure that lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, need to be subjected to during battery operation in order to produce optimal performance. The team, which includes researchers from the University of California San Diego, Michigan State University, Idaho National Laboratory and the General Motors Research and Development Center, presents their findings in the Oct. 18 issue of Nature Energy. Full Story
DOE awards UC San Diego nanoengineers $1.25M to improve batteries for EVsSeptember 27, 2021
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $1.25 million to nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego to improve the electrolytes that carry ions in lithium-sulfur batteries. The researchers will partner with General Motors and Ampcera Inc, a solid-state battery materials and technology company. Full Story
A new solid-state battery surprises the researchers who created itSeptember 23, 2021
Engineers created a new type of battery that weaves two promising battery sub-fields into a single battery. The battery uses both a solid state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode, making it a silicon all-solid-state battery. The initial rounds of tests show that the new battery is safe, long lasting, and energy dense. It holds promise for a wide range of applications from grid storage to electric vehicles. Full Story
Grow and eat your own vaccines?
September 16, 2021
The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Riverside and Carnegie Mellon University are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories. One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage. If this new project is successful, plant-based mRNA vaccines — which can be eaten — could overcome this challenge with the ability to be stored at room temperature. Full Story
How a plant virus could protect and save your lungs from metastatic cancerSeptember 14, 2021
Using a virus that grows in black-eyed pea plants, researchers developed a new therapy that could keep metastatic cancers from spreading to the lungs, as well as treat established tumors in the lungs. Full Story
These fridge-free COVID-19 vaccines are grown in plants and bacteriaSeptember 7, 2021
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can take the heat. Their key ingredients? Viruses from plants or bacteria. Full Story
UC San Diego nanoengineers receive $2.7M NSF grant to make battery manufacturing waste-freeSeptember 1, 2021
A team led by nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego has been awarded a $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an eco-friendly and low-cost manufacturing process for sodium all-solid-state batteries. The process will be used to create large-scale energy storage systems—for buildings, electric grids, and wind and solar farms—that are more efficient, affordable and safe. Full Story
Imperfections in jewels used as sensors for new quantum materials
June 18, 2021
UC San Diego Department of Physics Assistant Professor Chunhui Rita Du is a condensed matter experimentalist whose research takes advantage of impurities in diamonds. Du’s research group leverages the red, yellow and blue colors that result from diamond defects to develop sensors that can evaluate the properties of specialized materials down to the nanometer level. Full Story
Stabilizing gassy electrolytes could make ultra-low temperature batteries saferJune 7, 2021
A new technology could dramatically improve the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries that operate with gas electrolytes at ultra-low temperatures. By keeping electrolytes from vaporizing, the technology can prevent pressure buildup inside the battery that leads to swelling and explosions. Full Story
Coronavirus-like particles could ensure reliability of simpler, faster COVID-19 testsMarch 2, 2021
Rapid COVID-19 tests are on the rise to deliver results faster to more people, and scientists need an easy, foolproof way to know that these tests work correctly and the results can be trusted. Nanoparticles that pass detection as the novel coronavirus could be just the ticket. Such coronavirus-like nanoparticles, developed by nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego, would serve as something called a positive control for COVID-19 tests. Full Story
Weakness is strength for this low-temperature batteryFebruary 25, 2021
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have discovered new fundamental insights for developing lithium metal batteries that perform well at ultra-low temperatures; mainly, that the weaker the electrolyte holds on to lithium ions, the better. By using such a weakly binding electrolyte, the researchers developed a lithium metal battery that can be repeatedly recharged at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius—a first in the field. Full Story
IMDD Seminar: The Innovation Ecosystem at UC San Diego
January 25, 2021
Paul Roben, Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Commercialization at UC San Diego, will provide information on how the Office for Innovation and Commercialization can help you translate your reserach from the lab to the marketplace on Friday, February 5. Full Story
IMDD Seminar: Introduction and Materials for Quantum Communication
January 19, 2021
Dr. Bhagawan Sahu from the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UC San Diego will give an IMDD Seminar presentation titled 'Introduction and Materials for Quantum Communication on January 28 at 10 am. Full Story
New Method Makes Better Predictions of Material Properties Using Low Quality DataJanuary 14, 2021
By combining large amounts of low-fidelity data with smaller quantities of high-fidelity data, nanoengineers at UC San Diego have developed a machine learning method to more accurately predict the properties of new materials including, for the first time, disordered materials. Full Story