PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Nitin Padture is soft-spoken, so when he describes new solar power technology that he is researching his words are all the more striking because they're delivered without bombast and with only a hint of excitement.

"This," he says in his office at Brown University, "is a game changer."

At the nanoscale, familiar materials often take on unexpected properties. Researchers from Brown and NC State have shown that zinc oxide nanowires are highly anelastic, meaning they return to shape slowly after being bent, rather than snapping right back. Anelastic materials are good at dissipating of kinetic energy. This new finding suggest nanowires could be useful in absorbing shocks and vibrations.

Army Research Office June 2015 Workshop Event
June 1 and 2, 2015 

Brown University's Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation (IMNI) hosted a workshop on "Stress Controlled Catalysis via Engineered Nanostructures," supported by the Army Research Office (ARO).