A living passivator for perovskite solar cell stability has been developed by City University of Hong Kong researchers. The progress of solar energy technology took a step forward recently with the development of a groundbreaking living passivator at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) that can substantially enhance the stability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells. This newly developed passivator is a type of corrosion inhibitor that appreciably changes the potential of a metal. The CityUHK technology leverages dynamic covalent…

With partners from industry and research institutions, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is to make battery-powered trucks viable for long-distance cargo transport. Megawatt charging represents an important step towards this goal. The first prototypes were presented to the public on Friday at an event on the Plattling Technology Campus with the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger in attendance. With the new charging post and truck, it will now be possible for the first time to charge the…

A new study by Prof Dr Guy Fournier and his team shows pioneering developments in European mobility. Even the coronavirus pandemic could not stop this ambitious project. What began as ‘AVENUE’ (Autonomous Vehicles to Evolve to a New Urban Experience) has developed into a milestone for the future of European mobility. Guy Fournier and his team, together with numerous European partners, have presented a comprehensive report outlining the results of the AVENUE project and the transition to the follow-up project…

TU Wien (Vienna) has patented a completely new method of dampening vibrations. This is an important step for precision devices such as high-performance astronomical telescopes. When everything shakes, precision is usually impossible – everybody who has ever tried to take a photo with shaky hands or make handwritten notes on a bumpy bus journey knows that. With technical precision measurements, even much smaller vibrations are a major problem, for example with high-performance microscopes or precisely aligned telescope mirrors. Even the…

… to improve their longevity. Borrowing methods from biological imaging, Rochester engineers have developed a way to spot tiny, overheated components that cause electronics’ performance to degrade. When electronic devices like laptops or smartphones overheat, they are fundamentally suffering from a nanoscale heat transfer problem. Pinpointing the source of that problem can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. “The building blocks of our modern electronics are transistors with nanoscale features, so to understand which parts of…

… revolutionizes shaping processes in injection molding and die casting. The new UltraPLAS coating developed by Fraunhofer researchers has proven to be a ground-breaking solution to the challenges of primary forming processes. This advanced release and easy-to-clean coating is applied as a gradient layer using a cold plasma process and is suitable for materials such as tool steel, stainless steel and aluminum. The unique physical properties of UltraPLAS enable perfect molding of even nano-scaled and reflective surfaces. By reducing the…

After creating the world’s first self-organizing drone flock, researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary have now also demonstrated the first large-scale autonomous drone traffic solution. This fascinating new system is capable of far more than what could be executed with human pilots. The staff of the Department of Biological Physics at Eötvös University has been working on group robotics and drone swarms since 2009. In 2014, they created the world’s first autonomous quadcopter flock consisting of at least…

Start-up Kinexon enables more precise refereeing decisions. Kinexon, a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has equipped the European Championship soccer balls with high-precision sensors. The technology helps referees make difficult decisions. Kinexon specializes in the analysis and control of moving objects – whether in sport or in production. The technology is also used to analyze and automate the processes of entire factories. When the final of the European Football Championship will be played on Sunday, the referee…

Researchers grew crystals containing actinium and illuminated them with X-rays to learn how the radioactive metal binds with other elements. That information could help design better cancer treatments. The element actinium was first discovered at the turn of the 20th century, but even now, nearly 125 years later, researchers still don’t have a good grasp on the metal’s chemistry. That’s because actinium is only available in extremely small amounts and working with the radioactive material requires special facilities. But to…

The team’s novel approach involves a pre-treatment process that significantly enhances the performance of existing GAC systems. In a groundbreaking effort to tackle the pervasive issue of PFAS contamination in drinking water, a research team at New Jersey Institute of Technology has received funding from the Bureau of Reclamation’s Desalination and Water Purification Research program. This highly competitive grant, awarded to only eight projects out of over eighty applicants, supports their innovative project titled “Enhanced Coagulation for the Removal of…

A new study reveals a four-fold increase in cycle life for electric aircraft batteries thanks to a novel electrolyte solution discovered using a bioscience technique. When it comes to figuring out why electric aircraft batteries lose power over time, one typically wouldn’t think to turn to a decades-old approach biologists use to study the structure and function of components in living organisms. However, it turns out that omics, a field that helped scientists unravel the secrets of the human genome,…

Environmentally friendly luminescent material made mainly from plant-derived material. 1. A research team at NIMS has successfully developed an environmentally friendly, microspherical fluorescent material primarily made from citric acid. These microbeads emit various colors of light depending on the illuminating light and the size of the beads, which suggests a wide range of applications. Furthermore, the use of plant-derived materials allows for low-cost and energy-efficient synthesis. 2. Conventional luminescent devices commonly utilized thin films of compound semiconductors containing metals or…

Electrochemical reactions in solid state batteries can be precisely monitored during operation unsing hard X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy at BESSY II. Solid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with each charge cycle. But it doesn’t have to stay that way: Researchers are already on the trail of the causes. In the journal ACS Energy Letters, a team from HZB and…

Library of operating data enables analysis of complex electric grid. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have opened a new virtual library where visitors can check out waveforms instead of books. The Grid Event Signature Library is an open-access online collection of datasets containing waveforms, which are visual representations of behaviors of the electric grid. Utilities and research institutions contributed anonymized data including voltage, current and frequency information collected by operating equipment. So far, more than 350 users worldwide have utilized…

The possibility of hydrogen-powered flight means greater opportunities for fossil-free travel, and the technological advances to make this happen are moving fast. New studies from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, show that almost all air travel within a 750-mile radius (1200 km) could be made with hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2045, and with a novel heat exchanger currently in development, this range could be even further.   “If everything falls into place, the commercialisation of hydrogen flight can go really…

Researchers at the Vehicle Safety Institute will team up with national and international partners to make batteries safer, extend their service life and make them more sustainable. The FFG, the provinces Styria and Upper Austria as well as companies are investing about 19 million euros in total. Jörg Moser (left) and Christian Ellersdorfer from the Vehicle Safety Institute at TU Graz at a test bench of the Battery Safety Center Graz. Foto: Helmut Lunghammer / TU Graz It is a…