Sea cucumbers have a bumpy and oblong shape. They are soft but stiffen up quickly when touched. They can shrink or stretch to several meters, and their original shape can be recovered even after they die and shrivel up with the regulation of water uptake. Recently, a POSTECH research team has developed a soft actuator inspired by this unique behavior of sea cucumbers. A research team led by Professor Dong Sung Kim, Dr. Andrew Choi (currently the director of R&D…
Physicists find a way to make components for low-cost electronics using a material that’s highly rated for its performance in next-gen solar cells and LEDs. Physicists have found a way to make transistors using materials that are highly rated for their performance in next-generation solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The researchers have overcome the problem of the material’s ion content interfering with the flow of electronic current through a transistor. This breakthrough may pave the way for research into…
For a climate-neutral economy, every opportunity must be exploited to reduce energy requirements and use resources efficiently. Highly efficient industrial processes are a key element in this. To this end, in the R2R-Net network, 18 European partners from industry and research are further developing reel-to-reel systems and processes that are used in production in a variety of ways. Companies benefit from the expertise, the support during scale-up and ramping up of the production, and the technical exchange. On September 7,…
New research published in Scientific Reports has revealed that a simple but robust algorithm can help engineers to improve the design of cellular materials that are used in a variety of diverse applications ranging from defence, bio-medical to smart structures and the aerospace sector. The way in which cellular materials will perform can be uncertain and so calculations to help engineers predict how they will react for a particular design, for a given set of loads, conditions and constraints, can…
Our electrical infrastructure has remained largely unchanged since World War II, but advances in technology — specifically materials — opened doors we never would have thought possible in the past. These advances have set the stage to redesign our electrical infrastructure for the next 100 years and beyond. The redesign is critical because every day we put more stress on the electrical grid, demand faster computer processing, and push toward electrical transportation. The advanced and miniaturized semi-conductors powering these devices…
Scientists engineer materials’ electrical and optical properties with plasmon engineering. The Science Researchers have developed an innovative technique for creating nanomaterials. These are materials only atoms wide. They draw on nanoscience to allow scientists to control their construction and behavior. The new electron beam nanofabrication technique is called plasmon engineering. It achieves unprecedented near-atomic scale control of patterning in silicon. Structures built using this approach produce record-high tuning of electro-optical properties. The Impact In this research, scientists used plasmon engineering to control…
Ultimate control of stereochemistry and conjugation length. Polyacetylene (PA) is one-dimensional carbon chain with alternating single and double carbon-carbon bonds, which is also the first synthesized conductive polymer. Although the structural unit is simple, the control on molecular weight and stereochemistry of PA chains are challenging via conventional acetylene polymerization pathway. Interestingly, normal alkanes (n-alkanes) present the same carbon skeleton as all-trans PA. Direct alkane dehydrogenation has been intensively explored in petrochemical processes to produce industrial chemicals like mono-olefins and…
A unique coating camouflages the temperature of an underlying material. The Science Scientists demonstrated that ultrathin films of samarium nickel oxide can mask the thermal radiation emitted by hot materials. Samarium nickel oxide is a quantum material. These are materials that have strange and incredible properties due to quantum mechanics. The cloaking mechanism is due to the material undergoing a unique, gradual transition from insulator to heat-conducting metal. This transition occurs over a temperature range from 100 to 140 degrees…
A new approach to producing metamaterials draws on kirigami techniques to make three-dimensional, reconfigurable building blocks that can be used to create complex, dynamic structures. Because the design approach is modular, these structures are easy to both assemble and disassemble. “Applying kirigami to three-dimensional materials offers a new level of reconfigurability for these structures,” says Jie Yin, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University. Researchers…
Researchers at the Skoltech Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials and their colleagues have developed and experimentally verified the model of a thermoplastic composite material chaotically reinforced by short glass fibers. The effectiveness and applicability of this model was demonstrated on strength calculations of promising composite valves and safety devices for portable tanks for road, rail and maritime transportation of chemical substances. The results were published in International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping. One of the most significant scientific and engineering problems…
Patented technology will improve production of many electronic and computer components. University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering researchers have invented a cheaper, safer, and simpler technology that will allow a “stubborn” group of metals and metal oxides to be made into thin films used in many electronics, computer components, and other applications. The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, high-impact…
Multi-institutional team provides a foundation for unraveling the mysteries of magnetic materials. The Science Researchers have for the first time used a quantum computer to generate accurate results from materials science simulations that can be verified with practical techniques. The team used a form of quantum computing called quantum annealing. This approach uses quantum physics to simplify a computer model. The team overcame quantum hardware limitations by programming various parameters into a materials science model. Next, they embedded the model into team…
New project “Superman” launched at Fraunhofer IFAM in Dresden. The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden has launched a new project called “Innovative sinterable nickel-based superalloy paste for the additive manufacturing of functional metallic components with the new MoldJet® process”, short “Superman”. With its partners Tritone Technologies and MIMplus Technologies GmbH & Ko. KG, the institute has come together in the first joint public project on the MoldJet® process. Since 1 May 2021, the partners…
Photons trapped in a cavity can cause a crystal known as strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) to become ferroelectric, according to a new study by the MPSD’s theory group. The photons that are randomly created and destructed in the vacuum of a cavity – as determined by the laws of quantum mechanics – can significantly change the way the material’s electrons and atoms behave, as in the case of SrTiO₃. These theoretical predictions, now published in PNAS, demonstrate the great potential of…
From modern smartphones to televisions: organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are an emerging technology that promises, among other benefits, excellent image contrast and low power consumption. The complexity of an OLED pixel makes it difficult to design new molecular materials. Denis Andrienko, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and his team have now compared a wide range of computer-simulated and experimentally measured properties of OLED thin films, trying to understand whether OLED design can be guided solely…
A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen has developed a hybrid additive manufacturing process that combines wire-based and powder-based laser cladding (LMD). The new process can be used to apply protective coatings of high-strength tool steel to workpieces and repair surface defects at low cost. The tool coatings produced in this way are more wear-resistant, resource-efficient and cost-efficient than those produced by other methods. Following successful test series with tool components, there are…
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