The breakthrough combines excellent electromagnetic shielding with ease of manufacture and electrical isolation. As electronic devices saturate all corners of public and personal life, engineers are scrambling to find lightweight, mechanically stable, flexible, and easily manufactured materials that can shield humans from excessive electromagnetic radiation as well as prevent electronic devices from interfering with each other. In a breakthrough report published in Advanced Materials–the top journal in the field– engineers at the University of California, Riverside describe a flexible film…

They have improved a process for vertically depositing a solution made from an inexpensive perovskite solute onto a moving substrate below. Not only have they discovered the crucial role played by one of the solvents used, but they have also taken a closer look at the aging and storage properties of the solution. Solar cells made of crystalline silicon still account for the lion’s share of roof installations and solar farms. But other technologies have long since become established as…

An electrode material with modified surface atoms generates more electrical current, which drives the sunlight-powered reactions that split water into oxygen and hydrogen–a clean fuel. -Scientists have demonstrated that modifying the topmost layer of atoms on the surface of electrodes can have a remarkable impact on the activity of solar water splitting. As they reported in Nature Energy on Feb. 18, bismuth vanadate electrodes with more bismuth on the surface (relative to vanadium) generate higher amounts of electrical current when…

Fueling the ‘methanol economy’ of the future Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered a way to convert the methane in natural gas into liquid methanol at room temperature. This discovery, reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could potentially provide a cleaner energy source for many of our everyday activities. When burned, natural gas — the fuel used to heat homes, cook food and generate electricity — produces carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse…

Anyone needing a tomography gets the clearest possible images of an organ or other body structure slice by slice. But the further inside the potential problem lies, the more difficult it is to obtain high-resolution images in magnetic resonance imaging. An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has developed a high-frequency coil that allows for much better range inside the body – among other advantages. The scientific journal “Nature Communications” covers the topic. Magnetic resonance…

TU scientists are studying clay minerals found on the Red Planet On 18 February 2021, the Mars 2020 Mission will finally land on the Red Planet. The Mars Perseverance Rover is scheduled to touch down at Jezero Crater, a large crater which scientists believe was once a lake. If there ever was any life on Mars, proof could be found here due to the previous habitable conditions provided by the water. The rover will pursue a number of scientific objectives,…

Nanomaterial developments could lead to computers and phones running thousands of times faster. The tiniest microchips yet can be made from graphene and other 2D-materials, using a form of ‘nano-origami’, physicists at the University of Sussex have found. This is the first time any researchers have done this, and it is covered in a paper published in the ACS Nano journal. By creating kinks in the structure of graphene, researchers at the University of Sussex have made the nanomaterial behave…

Nanoscientists from Chemnitz and Dresden develop adaptive microelectronics that can move independently according to sensor data and align themselves specifically for activities – possible applications in biomedicine and bioneural interfacing Flexible and adaptive microelectronics is considered an innovation driver for new and more effective biomedical applications. These include, for example, the treatment of damaged nerve bundles, chronic pain, or the control of artificial limbs. For this to work, close contact between electronics and neural tissue is essential for effective electrical…

Neutrons show effective lithium and electrolyte distribution in lithium-ion cells. In our smartphones, our computers and in our electric cars: We use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries everywhere. But their capacity drops after a while. Now a German-American research team has investigated the structure and functionality of these batteries using neutron diffraction: They discovered that the electrolyte fluid’s decomposition products capture mobile lithium in the battery and that the distribution of lithium within the cell is surprisingly uneven. The outstanding characteristics of…

The light side of the Force A group of researchers from the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have found out that semiconductors can be converted to metals and back more easily and more quickly than previously thought. This discovery may increase the processing speed and simplify the design of many common technological devices. From smartphones to computer processors – much of the technology we nowadays use heavily features transistors. They connect many…

Service robots can help ensure that buildings and means of transport are cleaned and disinfected regularly and with consistently high quality. Since October 2020, twelve institutions of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been working on the development of new technologies for this field of application. Led by Fraunhofer IPA, the partners are pooling their expertise in the »Mobile Disinfection” (MobDi) research project to contribute to a safe »New Normal« in times of pandemic. The project is part of the »Fraunhofer vs. Corona«…

Graphene Flagship researchers report a new method to integrate graphene and 2D materials into semiconductor manufacturing lines, a milestone for the recently launched 2D-EPL project. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a huge potential for providing devices with much smaller size and extended functionalities with respect to what can be achieved with today’s silicon technologies. But to exploit this potential we must be able to integrate 2D materials into semiconductor manufacturing lines – a notoriously difficult step. A team of Graphene Flagship…

A team at the University of Colorado Boulder has designed new kinds of liquid crystals that mirror the complex structures of some solid crystals–a major step forward in building flowing materials that can match the colorful diversity of forms seen in minerals and gems, from lazulite to topaz. The group’s findings, published today in the journal Nature, may one day lead to new types of smart windows and television or computer displays that can bend and control light like never…

Plasma processing modifies carbon black powder to catalyze valuable chemical. Rice University researchers have created a “defective” catalyst that simplifies the generation of hydrogen peroxide from oxygen. Rice scientists treated metal-free carbon black, the inexpensive, powdered product of petroleum production, with oxygen plasma. The process introduces defects and oxygen-containing groups into the structure of the carbon particles, exposing more surface area for interactions. When used as a catalyst, the defective particles known as CB-Plasma reduce oxygen to hydrogen peroxide with…

Filaments made of polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles are obtained by exposing the material to a magnetic field under controlled temperature; the applications are myriad and include transporting substances into cells or directing fluids. Researchers at the University of Campinas’s Chemistry Institute (IQ-UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have developed a template-free technique to fabricate cilia of different sizes that mimic biological functions and have multiple applications, from directing fluids in microchannels to loading material into a cell, for…

Study describes passive cooling system that aims to help impoverished communities, reduce cooling and heating costs, lower CO2 emissions. Passive cooling, like the shade a tree provides, has been around forever. Recently, researchers have been exploring how to turbo charge a passive cooling technique — known as radiative or sky cooling — with sun-blocking, nanomaterials that emit heat away from building rooftops. While progress has been made, this eco-friendly technology isn’t commonplace because researchers have struggled to maximize the materials’…