Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science (CBES)

Director

Samuel Stupp

Lead Institution

Northwestern University

Class

2009-2024

Mission

To develop the next frontier in soft materials relevant to energy challenges by designing structures that emulate functions we see in biological systems. CBES tackles the challenge of encoding synthetic soft materials with the ability to transduce energy forms and move autonomously in ways that are characteristic of “living matter”.

Partner Institutions

Northwestern
Columbia
Harvard
MIT
NYU
Univ of Michigan
Univ of Pittsburgh

Quick Facts

Single Slide Overview
Technical Summary
https://cbes.northwestern.edu

BES Staff Contact

Jennifer Roizen

Grand Challenges Addressed

Transformative Opportunities Addressed

Mastering Hierarchical Architectures and Beyond-Equilibrium Matter

Trans. Opp. #1

Understanding the Critical Roles of Heterogeneity, Interfaces, and Disorder

Trans. Opp. #2

Revolutionary Advances in Models, Mathematics, Algorithms, Data, and Computing

Trans. Opp. #4

Exploiting Transformative Advances in Imaging Capabilities across Multiple Scales

Trans. Opp. #5

BES Reports Addressed

Highlights

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Applying a voltage to lanthanum strontium manganite (LSMO) can cause it to separate into distinct regions with dramatically different magnetic properties, as illustrated by the red and blue colors in the above figure.

Tuning Magnetism With Voltage Opens a New Path to Neuromorphic Circuits

Experiments show that applied voltage can dramatically alter the magnetic properties of quantum materials.

A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.