Parks played an important role for people seeking respite from the toll of social isolation during the pandemic, and according to new research from Drexel University, they did so without increasing the spread of COVID-19. The study looked at how people used 22 parks in Philadelphia and New York during the height of the pandemic and it found no strong correlation between park use and the number of confirmed cases in surrounding neighborhoods.

Drexel University’s MXene material is one step closer to transforming the lives of people suffering from end-stage kidney disease. Nephria Bio, Inc., a U.S.-based spin-off of the South Korean medical device company EOFlow Co., Ltd., has signed a licensing agreement with the University to use the two-dimensional material, discovered at Drexel, as a filter in a wearable artificial kidney device it is developing. The technology could allow many of the millions of people suffering from end-stage kidney disease worldwide to move more freely, without spending hours each week anchored to large dialysis machines.

 

A decade after Drexel University researchers made the pathbreaking discovery of a family of versatile, two-dimensional materials, which they dubbed MXenes, the University is helping to establish a global trade association for researchers, manufacturers and companies that are working with the materials. Called the MXene Association, it will serve as the professional body to establish standards and best practices, connect researchers and corporations and promote the research and development involving the materials.

Researchers at Drexel University’s College of Engineering have reported that fabric coated with a conductive, two-dimensional material called MXene, is highly effective at blocking electromagnetic waves and potentially harmful radiation. The discovery is a key development for efforts to weave technological capabilities into clothing and accessories.

New antennas so thin that they can be sprayed into place are also robust enough to provide a strong signal at bandwidths that will be used by fifth-generation (5G) mobile devices. Performance results for the antennas, which are made from a new type of two-dimensional material called MXene, were recently reported by researchers at Drexel University and could have rammifications for mobile, wearable and connected “internet of things” (IoT) technology.

 

As the sole undergraduate student co-chair of Drexel University’s Anti-Racism Task Force established in June, fourth-year engineering student Tianna Williams is making her voice heard and creating the change she wants to see on campus.

The program, which gives highly motivated first-year students the opportunity to conduct faculty-mentored undergraduate research, supported 101 students this summer with stipends and remote positions, plus more in-person opportunities planned for the upcoming academic year.

Drexel University will host more than 2,000 researchers from around the world for a virtual conference, Aug. 3-7, to share their work and learn about the latest discoveries related to MXene, an extraordinarily versatile family of two-dimensional materials first discovered and studied at Drexel in 2011. Held on the ninth anniversary of their discovery, the MXene Conference 2020 is the fourth international gathering focused exclusively on these materials and the first to be held in the United States.

As we welcome wireless technology into more areas of life, the additional electronic bustle is making for an electromagnetically noisy neighborhood. In hopes of limiting the extra traffic, researchers at Drexel University have been testing two-dimensional materials known for their interference-blocking abilities. Their latest discovery, reported in the journal Science, is of the exceptional shielding ability of a new two-dimensional material that can absorb electromagnetic interference rather than just deflecting back into the fray.

From snowflakes to quartz, nature’s crystalline structures form with a reliable, systemic symmetry. Researchers at Drexel University, who study the formation of crystalline materials, have shown that it’s now possible to control how crystals grow – including interrupting the symmetrical growth of flat crystals and inducing them to form hollow crystal spheres. The discovery is part of a broader design effort focused on the encapsulation of medicine for targeted drug treatments.

Drexel University researchers have discovered a different way to make the atom-thin material that presents a number of new opportunities for using it. The new discovery removes water from the MXene-making process, which means the materials can be used in applications in which water is a contaminant or hampers performance, such as battery electrodes and next-generation solar cells.

For more than a decade, two-dimensional nanomaterials, such as graphene, have been touted as the key to making better microchips, batteries, antennas and many other devices. But a significant challenge of using these atom-thin building materials for the technology of the future is ensuring that they can be produced in bulk quantities without losing their quality. For one of the most promising new types of 2D nanomaterials, MXenes, that’s no longer a problem. Researchers at Drexel University and the Materials Research Center in Ukraine have designed a system that can be used to make large quantities of the material while preserving its unique properties.