Researchers at the Institute of Natural Products Engineering at TU Dresden have developed an insulating material made from recycled paper for shipping temperature-sensitive foods and medicines. As part of a research and development project, the fundamentals were laid for the production of ecologically sustainable fresh food shipping packaging and thus for an alternative to environmentally harmful Styrofoam and plastic packaging. Thermally insulated packaging keeps shipping goods within a certain temperature range. The packaging provides passive cooling, often with additional coolants,…

Like a person breaking up a cat fight, the role of catalysts in a chemical reaction is to hurry up the process – and come out of it intact. And, just as not every house in a neighborhood has someone willing to intervene in such a battle, not every part of a catalyst participates in the reaction. But what if one could convince the unengaged parts of a catalyst to get involved? Chemical reactions could occur faster or more efficiently….

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. The scientists are investigating a type of alloys called high-entropy alloys, a novel class of materials that are highly sought after for a host of unusual and potentially beneficial properties. They are lightweight in relation to their strength, fracture-resistant, highly corrosion…

Scientists show ultrasonication is a cost-effective approach to enhance the properties of magnesium diboride superconductors. Superconductivity already has a variety of practical applications, such as medical imaging and levitating transportation like the ever-popular maglev systems. However, to ensure that the benefits of applied superconductors keep spreading further into other technological fields, we need to find ways of not only improving their performance, but also making them more accessible and simpler to fabricate. In this regard, magnesium diboride (MgB2) has attracted…

TU-scientists develop new material for tomorrow’s technology Smartphones with large glass housings and displays are impressive, but they are also very prone to get cracked and scratched. To prevent these kinds of damages, a material combining the hardness of diamond and the deformability of metals would be ideal – and is indeed considered the holy grail of structural materials. Professor Gerold Schneider of the Hamburg University of Technology and other Hamburg materials researchers, together with colleagues in Berkeley, California, have…

Robotics researchers at the University of Zurich show how onboard cameras can be used to keep damaged quadcopters in the air and flying stably – even without GPS. As anxious passengers are often reassured, commercial aircrafts can easily continue to fly even if one of the engines stops working. But for drones with four propellers – also known as quadcopters – the failure of one motor is a bigger problem. With only three rotors working, the drone loses stability and…

Development of flexible thermoelectric devices with maximized flexibility and high efficiency; enabling mass production with high yield by automated process, commercialization of self-powered wearable devices. A thermoelectric device is an energy conversion device that utilizes the voltage generated by the temperature difference between both ends of a material; it is capable of converting heat energy, such as waste heat from industrial sites, into electricity that can be used in daily life. Existing thermoelectric devices are rigid because they are composed…

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. The research was published and featured on the cover of Nano Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society. In general, metamaterials are materials made in the…

Max Planck scientists publish their findings in the journals Nature Communications and Nano Energy How to increase the efficiency of solar cells and thus pave the way for a higher usage of green energy in industry? Dr. Torsten Schwarz, senior researcher in the group “Nanoanalytics and Interfaces” at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, analysed how surface treatments of chalcogenide semiconductors influence their defect concentrations and thus their performance and which adjustments during the manufacturing of solar cells are needed to achieve…

In a surprising discovery, Princeton physicists have observed an unexpected quantum behavior in an insulator made from a material called tungsten ditelluride. This phenomenon, known as quantum oscillation, is typically observed in metals rather than insulators, and its discovery offers new insights into our understanding of the quantum world. The findings also hint at the existence of an entirely new type of quantum particle. The discovery challenges a long-held distinction between metals and insulators, because in the established quantum theory…

Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Engineering have developed a battery anode based on a new nanostructured alloy that could revolutionize the way energy storage devices are designed and manufactured. The zinc- and manganese-based alloy further opens the door to replacing solvents commonly used in battery electrolytes with something much safer and inexpensive, as well as abundant: seawater. Findings were published today in Nature Communications. “The world’s energy needs are increasing, but the development of next-generation electrochemical energy…

Concept of high entropy alloys provides a discovery platform for new superconductors. Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University mixed and designed a new, high entropy alloy (HEA) superconductor, using extensive data on simple superconducting substances with a specific crystal structure. HEAs are known to preserve superconducting characteristics up to extremely high pressures. The new superconductor, Co0.2Ni0.1Cu0.1Rh0.3Ir0.3Zr2, has a superconducting transition at 8K, a relatively high temperature for an HEA. The team’s approach may be applied to discovering new superconducting materials with…

Photovoltaic and solar thermal systems are not always considered aesthetically enhancing to a building. The coloured modules, however, being developed at the Fraunhofer ISE are refreshingly challenging this perspective. Inspired by the phenomen that causes the shimmerings shades of blue or green of the wings of the morpho butterfly, the underlying mechanism of spectrally selective reflectance allows the finished modules to be a homogenously uniform colour. Whether you want gorgeous bright tones or more subdued greys it is possible to…

People who are required to serve a large number of customers at a checkout or counter are at a particularly high risk of exposure to COVID-19. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, a type of air lock was therefore developed to shield work stations from the surrounding air using constant ventilation. This “protective canopy” will be unveiled to the public from January 13 to 15, 2021, at the online BAU trade fair. The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed…

Estimating the cost of a major construction project is complicated and time-consuming. That is why a Fraunhofer team developed a tool that makes the planning process and cost estimates in particular significantly easier – digital interior specifications, which will be exhibited at the online BAU 2021 trade show from January 13 to 15, 2021. It is especially suited for recording the specifications of complex research facilities that do not come off-the-shelf. Constructing a public building and a research institute in…

In an additive manufacturing process, miniature loudspeakers can be produced efficiently and cost-effectively as part of piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems – so-called piezo-MEMS – using a combination of inkjet printing and laser technology. This has been demonstrated by scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, the Institute for Materials in Electrical Engineering 2 (IWE2) at RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT. The partners manufactured a corresponding demo component as part of the recently completed…