MIT Scientists Break a 20-Year Rule And Unlock Never-Before-Seen Crystal Structures — Live Feedhttps://www.live-feeds.com/feed/mit-scientists-break-a-20-year-rule-and-unlock-never-before-seen-crystal-structuresContinuously updated, source-cited coverage. MIT breaks 20-year nanoparticle rule with flexible polymer connectorshttps://www.live-feeds.com/feed/mit-scientists-break-a-20-year-rule-and-unlock-never-before-seen-crystal-structureshttps://www.live-feeds.com/feed/mit-scientists-break-a-20-year-rule-and-unlock-never-before-seen-crystal-structures#u193272Wed, 11 Nov 2026 07:10:24 +0000MIT researchers led by Robert Macfarlane have overturned two decades of materials-science dogma by using highly flexible, charged polymer chains instead of rigid molecular links to assemble nanoparticles into ordered superlattices. The approach, reported in Nature Materials, produced crystal structures never observed before. The team showed that flexible ligands enable spontaneous valency and symmetry breaking, giving a new, versatile route to designer nanomaterials.Why it mattersFor roughly 20 years, the field assumed that rigid connectors were essential for nanoparticles to lock into predict