Project aims to understand — and use — this quasiparticle’s role in next-gen optoelectronics. In the U.S. military, the use of sensors can make the difference between life or death and success or failure on the battlefield. In everyday life, sensors perform indispensable roles in our health, safety and security. Optoelectronic sensors — those that use the physics of light particles to interact with electrons to produce a beautiful TV picture, allow a soldier to see at night or detect…
A research group led by Professor Minoru Osada (he, him) and postdoctoral researcher Yue Shi (she, her) at the Institute for Future Materials and Systems (IMaSS), Nagoya University in Japan, has developed a new technology to fabricate nanosheets, thin films of two-dimensional materials a couple of nanometers thick, in about one minute. This technology enables the formation of high-quality, large nanosheet films with a single click without the need for specialized knowledge or technology. Their findings are expected to contribute…
An international research team led by the german University of Jena has now developed a promising approach to significantly reducing blood clotting on the heart valve material titanium. Around 25,000 artificial heart valves are implanted in Germany per year because the original heart valve is damaged, for example, by an infection. The mechanical heart valves are made of titanium dioxide, among other materials, and last for many years. However, because blood tends to clot on contact with these material surfaces,…
University of Missouri researchers designed a prototype of a small, lightweight active ‘metamaterial’ that can control the direction and intensity of energy waves. For more than 10 years, Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, has been investigating the unconventional properties of “metamaterials” — an artificial material that exhibits properties not commonly found in nature as defined by Newton’s laws of motion — in his long-term pursuit of designing an ideal metamaterial….
Sensitive, reliable and durable sensors created for multiple industries. Extreme environments in several critical industries – aerospace, energy, transportation and defense – require sensors to measure and monitor numerous factors under harsh conditions to ensure human safety and integrity of mechanical systems. In the petrochemical industry, for example, pipeline pressures must be monitored at climates ranging from hot desert heat to near arctic cold. Various nuclear reactors operate at a range of 300-1000 degrees Celsius, while deep geothermal wells hold…
EU qualification programme brings together international doctoral researchers in chemistry, materials science and sensor technology. Air pollution is considered to be one of the world’s biggest environmental problems, but it is often only associated with outdoor air. Yet people spend an average of 22 hours a day indoors, where furniture, carpets or wall paints can release harmful solvents over time. The scientists in the international doctoral programme “SENNET” aim to detect such pollutants. They want to develop reliable sensors based…
More than 100 years ago, scientists discovered how to turn water into hydrogen gas — a highly desired green energy that’s been nicknamed “the fuel of the future.” Despite this breakthrough, hydrogen has not latched on as a dominant fuel source. Breaking down water into hydrogen can be inefficient and costly and the transformation process, called electrolysis, remains unperfected. Now, engineers at The University of Texas at El Paso have proposed a low-cost, nickel-based material to help split water more…
A team of Florida State University researchers has further developed a new generation of organic-inorganic hybrid materials that can improve image quality in X-ray machines, CT scans and other radiation detection and imaging technologies. Professor Biwu Ma from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and his colleagues have developed a new class of materials that can act as highly efficient scintillators, which emit light after being exposed to other forms of high energy radiations, such as X-rays. The team’s most…
Licensed AMCM technology prints finished part in minutes, hastens pace for carbon-free mobility. An Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed advanced manufacturing technology, AMCM, was recently licensed by Orbital Composites and enables the rapid production of composite-based components, which could accelerate the decarbonization of vehicles, airplanes and drones. Additive manufacturing compression molding, or AMCM, uses short-fiber-filled polymer and continuous fiber to print directly onto a mold with precise orientation to make parts such as propeller blades or battery boxes. Compression molding then turns the…
Leading the way in regenerative medicine: Materials made of spider silk can be specifically modified or processed in such a way that living cells of a certain type adhere to them, grow and proliferate. This has been discovered by researchers at the University of Bayreuth under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel. Cell-specific effects of the materials can be generated by biochemical modifications of the silk proteins, but also by surface structuring of spider silk coatings. The research findings,…
A new method could provide detailed information about internal structures, voids, and cracks, based solely on data about exterior conditions. Maybe you can’t tell a book from its cover, but according to researchers at MIT you may now be able to do the equivalent for materials of all sorts, from an airplane part to a medical implant. Their new approach allows engineers to figure out what’s going on inside simply by observing properties of the material’s surface. The team used…
Effect of microstructure on magnetic properties clarified. Iron oxide nanoparticles are often used in medical technology – as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging or as transport agents for drugs in the bloodstream, for example in tumour therapy. For these applications, the nanoparticles have to be biocompatible and superparamagnetic. Thus, they must be strongly magnetizable in a magnetic field and have to lose their magnetization, when the magnetic field is switched off. Using analytical high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, a team…
The device would be a key component of a portable mass spectrometer that could help monitor pollutants or perform medical diagnoses in remote parts of the world. Mass spectrometers are extremely precise chemical analyzers that have many applications, from evaluating the safety of drinking water to detecting toxins in a patient’s blood. But building an inexpensive, portable mass spectrometer that could be deployed in remote locations remains a challenge, partly due to the difficulty of miniaturizing the vacuum pump it…
A better understanding of oxide catalysts could inspire solutions for clean energy. Researchers at Binghamton University partnered with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) — a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory — to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions. They were able to observe these quick changes with two…
Together with project partners CG TEC, Cordenka, ElringKlinger, Fiber Engineering and Technikum Laubholz, DITF is developing a new fiber composite material (CELLUN) with reinforcing fibers made of cellulose. CELLUN made from renewable biopolymers enables the replacement of glass or carbon fibers in the production of industrial molded parts.The matrix of the material is a thermoplastic cellulose derivative that can be processed in industrial processing methods such as hot pressing or pultrusion. Organosheets are increasingly being used within the fast-growing segment…
In the RUBIO project, 18 partners are turning the vision of a sustainable plastics industry into reality. Their goal is to use regionally available plant residues to create versatile, sustainable products that are recyclable and biodegradable. As part of the project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP is developing new types of the bioplastic polybutylene succinate (PBS) so that it can be used for significantly more applications. Together with the company POLIFILM EXTRUSION GmbH, the Fraunhofer IAP has…
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