Chemical protective suits (CSA) protect against contact with chemical, biological or radioactive substances. The suits easily weigh in at 25 kilograms. New materials and an improved design make them more comfortable to wear. Integrated sensors monitor vital functions. In the event of hazards from chemical, biological or radioactive substances, chemical protective suits (CSA) protect people from physical contact. CSAs consist of breathing apparatus, head protection, carrying frames and the suit itself. This adds up to a weight of around 25…
With a new, user-friendly interface, researchers can quickly design many cellular metamaterial structures that have unique mechanical properties. Engineers are constantly searching for materials with novel, desirable property combinations. For example, an ultra-strong, lightweight material could be used to make airplanes and cars more fuel-efficient, or a material that is porous and biomechanically friendly could be useful for bone implants. Cellular metamaterials — artificial structures composed of units, or cells, that repeat in various patterns — can help achieve these…
The new technique uses laser pulses to slice diamond into thin wafers, paving the way for its adoption as a next-generation semiconductor material. Silicon-based materials are currently the undisputed leaders in the field of semiconductors. Even so, scientists around the world are actively trying to find superior alternatives for next-generation electronics and high-power systems. Interestingly, diamonds are among the most promising materials for applications such as fast telecommunications and power conversion in electric vehicles and power plants. Despite their attractive…
Terahertz measurement system for slush skins. According to the Government Statistics Office, more than 358,000 people were injured in traffic accidents in Germany in 2022. Airbags often prevent more serious injuries. They are hidden behind a plastic panel called a slush skin. For the skin to tear open along the right lines, it is perforated meticulously after manufacture. For the airbag to fully deploy in an emergency, the material and the intended tear lines must be matched as closely as…
A further step in unravelling materials’ properties down to the atomic scale. Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung develop a workflow and code to characterize defects in steels and publish their results in the journal Nature Communications. To develop advanced materials, a deep understanding of their underlying microstructure and chemistry is necessary. Knowing how defects influence the interplay between microstructure and chemical composition is crucial, as they are the entry gate for material’s failure due to corrosion or crack initiation….
Kick-off meeting for the “ScaleH2” project. Shipping the sunshine – How can green hydrogen be transported cost-efficiently from Australia to Germany? This question is being addressed by the Fraunhofer IST in collaboration with German and Australian project partners. The consortium plans to go beyond feasibility studies and to transport green hydrogen from Australia to Germany by means of validated developments in electrolysis technology and model-based evaluations of the hydrogen value chain. The objective of the “ScaleH2” project within the BMBF’s…
An international team finds new single-crystalline oxide thin films with fast and dramatic changes in electrical properties via Li-ion intercalation through engineered ionic transport channels. An international research team from the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany, the University of Cambridge, UK and the University of Pennsylvania, USA reported the first realization of single-crystalline T-Nb2O5 thin films having two-dimensional (2D) vertical ionic transport channels, which results in a fast and colossal insulator-metal transition via Li ion intercalation…
Researchers fabricate moisture-adsorbent porous graphene using a bottom-up process, with high designability and controllability of pore structures. Separation processes are essential in the purification and concentration of a target molecule during water purification, removal of pollutants, and heat pumping, accounting for 10–15% of global energy consumption. To make the separation processes more energy efficient, improvement in the design of porous materials is necessary. This could drastically reduce energy costs by about 40–70%. The primary approach to improving the separation performance…
New Method to Assemble Unconventional Materials. A hot bath is a place to relax. For scientists, it is also where molecules or tiny building blocks meet to form materials. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) take it to the next level and use the energy of swimming bacteria to forge materials. A recent study in Nature Physics shows us how this works and the potential sustainability benefits that may arise from this innovative approach. You never…
SUTD researchers uncover the promising capability of chitin as a sustainable smart biomaterial. Through water exchange with the environment, humidity-responsive chitinous films can generate energy for potential use in engineering applications. The wings of a butterfly are made of chitin, an organic polymer that is the main component of the shells of arthropods like crustaceans and other insects. As a butterfly emerges from its cocoon in the final stage of metamorphosis, it will slowly unfold its wings into their full…
Dr. Amir Asadi, an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University, is making groundbreaking strides in the field of composite materials. His research explores embedding patterned nanostructures composed of multiple materials into high-performance composites to achieve the desired multifunctionality without sacrificing any other properties. This could lead to advancements in various fields, including electronics, energy storage, transportation and consumer products. Asadi’s work has significant implications, as it addresses the challenge of simultaneously…
New material concept eliminates unwanted effects by impurities in organic light-emitting diodes. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are now widely used. For use in displays, blue OLEDs are additionally required to supplement the primary colours red and green. Especially in blue OLEDs, impurities give rise to strong electrical losses, which could be partly circumvented by using highly complex and expensive device layouts. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has now developed a new material concept that potentially…
Self-folding origami sheets create 3D shapes quickly, cheaply and efficiently. 3D printing of complex objects typically takes a long time due to the printing process necessarily laying down a large number of 2D layers to build up the object. The process usually wastes a lot of material required to support the unfinished object. Some novel ways to make flat materials self-fold into 3D shapes exist, but have shortcomings. For the first time, researchers combined 2D printing, origami, and chemistry to…
For decades, scientists have been probing the potential of two-dimensional materials to transform our world. 2D materials are only a single layer of atoms thick. Within them, subatomic particles like electrons can only move in two dimensions. This simple restriction can trigger unusual electron behavior, imbuing the materials with “exotic” properties like bizarre forms of magnetism, superconductivity and other collective behaviors among electrons — all of which could be useful in computing, communication, energy and other fields. But researchers have…
…for safer, cheaper, more powerful batteries. A good battery needs two things: high energy density to power devices, and stability, so it can be safely and reliably recharged thousands of times. For the past three decades, lithium-ion batteries have reigned supreme — proving their performance in smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But battery researchers have begun to approach the limits of lithium-ion. As next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft start to arrive on the market, the search for safer, cheaper,…
Researchers turn to an everyday shop tool to study how materials behave. Testing how materials deform and fail under harsh conditions is key to manufacturing processes, crash testing and defense. Researchers at Texas A&M University are taking a traditional manufacturing tool — metal cutting — and developing a more accessible method for understanding the behavior of metals under extreme conditions. Metal cutting – scraping a thin layer of material from a metal’s surface using a sharp knife (not unlike how…
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