Plastic waste is a major environmental issue. New research into plastics’ fundamental chemistry may help industry transform waste into useful products and make cyclical plastics that can be recycled over and over again.
A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how to stabilize it with pressure from a diamond anvil cell. The required pressure is well within the reach of today's manufacturing processes.
A multidisciplinary research team has developed a strategy to validate computer simulations of oxide/water interfaces at the atomic scale using X-ray reflectivity experiments. Such interfaces are key in many energy applications.
A Velcro-like fastener with a microscopic design that looks like tiny mushrooms could mean advances for everyday consumers and scientific fields. Currently available fasteners are called hook and loop fasteners and require harder, stiff material. In Biointerphases, researchers describe a design that can use softer materials and still be strong enough to work. The team believes a 3D mushroom design can be made with softer, more flexible materials and provide sufficient interlocking force on the fabric and hold strong.
India has an energy problem. It currently relies heavily on coal and consumer demand is expected to double by 2040, making its green energy targets look out of reach.
UPTON, NY—Marking a major achievement in the field of spintronics, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yale University have demonstrated the ability to control spin dynamics in magnetic materials by altering their thickness. The study, published today in Nature Materials, could lead to smaller, more energy-efficient electronic devices.
In groundbreaking materials research, a team led by University of Minnesota Professor K. Andre Mkhoyan has made a discovery that blends the best of two sought-after qualities for touchscreens and smart windows—transparency and conductivity.
Computational materials science experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory enhanced an algorithm that borrows its approach from the nesting habits of cuckoo birds, reducing the search time for new high-tech alloys from weeks to mere seconds.
By combining large amounts of low-fidelity data with smaller quantities of high-fidelity data, nanoengineers at UC San Diego have developed a machine learning method to more accurately predict the properties of new materials including, for the first time, disordered materials.
Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered how to locally add electrical charge to an atomically thin graphene device by layering flakes of another thin material, alpha-RuCl3, on top of it. A paper published with scientists at Boston College describes the charge transfer process in detail. Gaining control of the flow of electrical current through atomically thin materials is important to potential future applications in photovoltaics or computing.
A team of researchers co-led by Berkeley Lab and Columbia University has developed a new material called avalanching nanoparticles that, when used as a microscopic probe, offers a simpler approach to taking high-resolution, real-time snapshots of a cell’s inner workings at the nanoscale.
A panel of five judges from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley investment community chose the PNNL innovation from 10 product pitches.
Sodium-ion batteries are a potential replacement for lithium batteries, but different anodes are needed for the same level of performance. Amorphous carbon is known to be a useful anode, because it has defects and voids that can be used to store sodium ions. Nitrogen/phosphorus-doped carbon also offers appealing electrical properties. In Applied Physics Reviews, researchers describe how they applied basic physical concepts of atomic scale to build high-performance anodes for sodium-ion batteries.
Cars, trains, planes: For two thirds of the European population, traffic noise is part of everyday life. However, the right environment can have a major impact on this nuisance, as Empa researchers have found out. Green spaces in urban areas help to make road and railroad noise less of a nuisance. Only in the case of aircraft noise does this seem counterproductive: the greener the surroundings, the more disturbing the aircraft noise.
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 11, 2021 – Often admired for their flawless appearance to the naked eye, crystals can have defects at the nanometer scale, and these imperfections may affect the thermal and heat transport properties of crystalline materials used in a variety of high-technology devices. Employing newly developed electron microscopy techniques, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have, for the first time, measured the spectra of phonons – quantum mechanical vibrations in a lattice – at individual crystalline faults, and they discovered the propagation of phonons near the flaws.
Researchers from Texas A&M Engineering and the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Métiers are collaborating to advance the science and technology for biocomposite manufacturing. Biocomposites are a composite material formed by a matrix (resin) and a reinforcement of natural fibers, that is more environmentally friendly.
Researchers have developed an analytical measurement “framework” which could allow organic solar cell researchers and manufacturers to determine which materials will produce the most stable solar cells prior to manufacture.
When an LNO catalyst with a nickel-rich surface carries out a water-splitting reaction, its surface atoms rearrange from a cubic to a hexagonal pattern and its efficiency doubles. Deliberately engineering the surface to take advantage of this phenomenon offers a way to design better catalysts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen hardware developers clamouring to make 'open source' technology to support our frontline services.
A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered a groundbreaking one-step process for creating materials with unique properties, called metamaterials. Their results show the realistic possibility of designing similar self-assembled structures with the potential of creating “built-to-order” nanostructures for wide application in electronics and optical devices.
High-performance fibres that have been exposed to high temperatures usually lose their mechanical properties undetected and, in the worst case, can tear precisely when lives depend on them. For example, safety ropes used by fire brigades or suspension ropes for heavy loads on construction sites. Empa researchers have now developed a coating that changes color when exposed to high temperatures through friction or fire.
For Immediate Release Pennington, NJ – The Electrochemical Society (ECS) is proud to announce that the 17th International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XVII) takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, from 18-23 July, 2021. The ECS High-Temperature Energy, Materials, & Processes Division and The SOFC Society of Japan are the meeting co-sponsors.
With all the remarkable changes and challenges that took place in 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory had a banner year in science.
While researchers have been studying chloride’s corrosive effects on various materials for decades, high-performance computers were recently used to create detailed simulations to provide new insight on how chloride leads to corrosion.
A research team at Sandia National Laboratories has successfully used machine learning — computer algorithms that improve themselves by learning patterns in data — to complete cumbersome materials science calculations more than 40,000 times faster than normal.
ORNL story tips: Nanoscale commuting, easy driver and defect detection
Inspired by the color-changing skin of cuttlefish, octopuses and squids, Rutgers engineers have created a 3D-printed smart gel that changes shape when exposed to light, becomes “artificial muscle” and may lead to new military camouflage, soft robotics and flexible displays. The engineers also developed a 3D-printed stretchy material that can reveal colors when light changes, according to their study in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Polarons affect a material’s behavior, and may even be the reason that solar cells made with lead hybrid perovskites achieve extraordinarily high efficiencies in the lab. Now scientists have directly seen and measured their formation for the first time.
As catalysts for fuel cells, batteries and processes for carbon dioxide reduction, alloy nanoparticles that are made up of five or more elements are shown to be more stable and durable than single-element nanoparticles.
Applying his passions for science and art, Nikhil Tiwale—a postdoc at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials—is fabricating new microelectronics components.
Skyrmions are small magnetic objects that could revolutionize the data storage industry and also enable new computer architectures. However, before they can be utilized in such applications, there are still a number of challenges that need to be overcome. A team of Empa researchers has now succeeded for the first time in producing a tunable multilayer system in which two different types of skyrmions – the future bits for "0" and "1" – can exist at room temperature, as they recently reported in the renowned journal Nature Communications.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a new family of cathodes with the potential to replace the costly cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today’s lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
Ames Laboratory will partner with Electron Energy Corporation to improve a mainstay of magnet technology-- the samarium cobalt (SmCo) magnet.
Fibrous proteins such as collagen and fibrinogen form a thin solid layer on the surface of an aqueous solution similar to the “skin” that forms on warm milk, according to a team of Penn State researchers, who believe this finding could lead to more efficient bioprinting and tissue engineering.
The Weizmann Institute's Prof. Ron Milo has shown that the mass of materials humans produce is now equal to that of all living things on Earth – and we're doubling that rate every 20 years. He warns that we are at the crossover point and must all “take responsibility.”
Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have proven that the coronavirus can be killed efficiently, quickly, and cheaply using ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). They believe that the UV-LED technology will soon be available for private and commercial use.
A research team from NUS Engineering has developed a new range of strain sensors that are 10 times more sensitive when measuring minute movements. These sensors are ultra-thin, battery-free and can transmit data wirelessly, making them attractive for a wide range of applications such as precision manufacturing, soft robotic rehabilitation glove and robotic surgery.
A multi-institutional effort led to the design of a highly active and more durable catalyst made from cobalt, which sets the foundation for fuel cells to power transportation, stationary and backup power, and more.
From working at the CIA to designing science facilities at Fermilab, Kate Sienkiewicz enjoys tackling complex problems. Currently, she oversees the team tasked with designing and building conventional facilities at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility near site for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment — all with the overarching goal of understanding the universe.
As the inevitable growth of transport electrification continues, the types of batteries that will be used in such vehicles, their charging parameters, infrastructure and timeframes are key considerations that will speed up the transition to electrification.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Critical Materials Institute has developed a low-cost, high performance permanent magnet by drawing inspiration from an out-of-this-world source: iron-nickel alloys in meteorites. The magnet rivals widely used “Alnico” magnets in magnetic strength and has the potential to fill a strong demand for rare-earth- and cobalt-free magnets in the market.
Researchers used the powerful X-rays of the Advanced Photon Source to see the preserved remains of an ancient Egyptian girl without disturbing the linen wrappings. The results of those tests point to a new way to study mummified specimens.
Anyone who wants to protect themselves and others from a COVID-19 infection wears a mask these days. But what about the environmental impact of this mass product, which is used millions of times over? Which factors are relevant for sustainable design? Empa researchers have examined these questions by means of life cycle assessment analyses, using cotton masks and disposable masks as an example.
To address PPE shortages during the pandemic, scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley are developing a rechargeable, reusable, anti-COVID N95 mask and a 3D-printable silicon-cast mask mold.
The MIPT Center for Photonics and 2D Materials has been named among the winners of the eighth competition for megagrants from the Russian government. The funding will go toward research on advanced nanophotonics: quantum materials and artificial intelligence.
A collaborative research team, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Stuttgart (Germany), University of New Mexico, and Sandia National Laboratories, has developed a proton conductor for fuel cells based on polystyrene phosphonic acids that maintain high protonic conductivity up to 200 C without water.
When Materials Day 2020 was in the planning stages back in 2019, none of the Materials Research Institute (MRI) faculty and staff involved in developing Penn State’s marquee materials science and engineering event had any thoughts about doing any part of it virtually — until a pandemic hit.
The Materials Research Institute (MRI) has announced the three winners of the 2020 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award.
Scientists improved the performance of bismuth vanadate, an electrode material for converting solar energy to hydrogen—an energy-dense and clean-burning fuel.
In groundbreaking new research, an international team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has developed a unique process for producing a quantum state that is part light and part matter.
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