October 9 is National Nanotechnology Day—the day that celebrates the potency of the world at the scale of one nanometer, 10-9 or one billionth of a meter. Every year, we celebrate 10/9 to shine a light on the potential of nanoscale discoveries and innovations to help solve some of the biggest challenges facing society today.
This year, inspired by MIT's Curiosity on a Mission, MIT.nano is launching our new video series: Curiosity on a Mission... at the nanoscale. Step inside our labs to see how researchers are using the tools and instruments of MIT.nano to create solutions and advancements for a better world for all.
Some assembly required: Building materials one atom at a time
Materials make everything we encounter in our everyday life. If we can better understand these materials, down to the atomic level, we can improve the technologies built out of them. Make a solar cell more efficient in harvesting light, for example, or have a computer compute more quickly. In this Curiosity on a Mission... at the nanoscale, Julian Klein, research scientist in Frances M Ross research group in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at MIT, reveals through his work the mysteries of atomic quantum systems.
Powered by light: Paper thin solar cells for any surface
A traditional solar panel weighs about 50 lbs, but what if it could be as light as just 1 lb? This would reduce delivery, installation, and labor costs, and would allow solar panels to be more readily deployed in disaster relief, in remote areas, and to rooftops of warehouses and factories across America that cannot hold the weight of traditional solar panels. In this Curiosity on a Mission... at the nanoscale, Karen Yang, PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at MIT, describes her work on manufacturing flexible, lightweight solutions for solar energy.
Qubit construction zone: Growing the quantum computing future
Quantum computing could offer solutions to materials discovery, drug discovery, cryptography, and more. But right now, the hardware is not quite there. In this Curiosity on a Mission... at the nanoscale, Patrick Strohbeen, research scientist in the Engineering Quantum Systems lab at MIT, discusses his work on studying materials for building quantum computers.