… achieves efficiency of over 99.7 percent. In the Fraunhofer lighthouse project ElKaWe, researchers are working on the development of electrocaloric heat pumps as an alternative to the currently prevailing compressor technology. These new types of heat pumps promise higher efficiency and do not require refrigerants. Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have now reached a milestone in power electronics: They have realized an ultra-efficient circuit topology for voltage converters with over 99.74 percent electrical efficiency. This result is a worldwide benchmark…

For decades, scientists have been probing the potential of two-dimensional materials to transform our world. 2D materials are only a single layer of atoms thick. Within them, subatomic particles like electrons can only move in two dimensions. This simple restriction can trigger unusual electron behavior, imbuing the materials with “exotic” properties like bizarre forms of magnetism, superconductivity and other collective behaviors among electrons — all of which could be useful in computing, communication, energy and other fields. But researchers have…

…for safer, cheaper, more powerful batteries. A good battery needs two things: high energy density to power devices, and stability, so it can be safely and reliably recharged thousands of times. For the past three decades, lithium-ion batteries have reigned supreme — proving their performance in smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But battery researchers have begun to approach the limits of lithium-ion. As next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft start to arrive on the market, the search for safer, cheaper,…

… dry manufacturing process. The lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles are key to a clean energy economy. But their electrodes are usually made using a wet slurry with toxic solvents, an expensive manufacturing approach that poses health and environmental risks. Early experiments at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have revealed significant benefits to a dry battery manufacturing process. This eliminates the solvent while showing promise for delivering a battery that is durable, less weighed down…

Researchers turn to an everyday shop tool to study how materials behave. Testing how materials deform and fail under harsh conditions is key to manufacturing processes, crash testing and defense. Researchers at Texas A&M University are taking a traditional manufacturing tool — metal cutting — and developing a more accessible method for understanding the behavior of metals under extreme conditions. Metal cutting – scraping a thin layer of material from a metal’s surface using a sharp knife (not unlike how…

When raindrops fall from the sky, they can produce a small amount of energy that can be harvested and turned into electricity. It is a small-scale version of hydropower, which uses the kinetic energy of moving water to produce electricity. Researchers have proposed that the energy collected from raindrops could be a potential source of clean, renewable power. However, this technology has been difficult to develop on a large scale, which has limited its practical application. To collect raindrop energy,…

Containers attract, trap organic molecules that frequently foul nanosurfaces. Rice University engineers have created containers that can keep volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from accumulating on the surfaces of stored nanomaterials. The portable and inexpensive storage technology addresses a ubiquitous problem in nanomanufacturing and materials science laboratories and is described in a paper published this week in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. “VOCs are in the air that surrounds us every day,” said study corresponding author Daniel Preston, an…

… in South Africa and Namibia. Partnership on equal terms: In South Africa’s capital, Cape Town, and near the Namibian port city of Walvis Bay, so-called microgrids will contribute to a sustainable and emission-free power supply. These systems combine electrolyzers for green hydrogen production with fuel cells for its reconversion to electricity: the microgrids store electricity generated from solar and wind power as hydrogen and convert it back to electricity when needed. In Walvis Bay, a local school will use…

New hub will provide state-of-the-art metrology systems to accelerate semiconductor research and enhance development projects with chipmakers and ecosystem partners across Europe, particularly in ICAPS* market segments Collaboration to accelerate learning, develop novel methods and prove new metrology equipment, methods, algorithms and software Applied Materials, Inc., the leader in materials engineering solutions, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, Germany´s leading advanced 300mm semiconductor research center, today announced a landmark collaboration to create Europe´s largest technology hub for semiconductor…

A proton-driven approach that enables multiple ferroelectric phase transitions sets the stage for ultralow power, high-capacity computer chips. A proton-mediated approach that produces multiple phase transitions in ferroelectric materials could help develop high-performance memory devices, such as brain-inspired, or neuromorphic, computing chips, a KAUST-led international team has found[1]. Ferroelectrics, such as indium selenide, are intrinsically polarized materials that switch polarity when placed in an electric field, which makes them attractive for creating memory technologies. In addition to requiring low operating…

… used to create more secure type of QR code. A research group led by Dr. Jialei He of Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering has developed a method for processing cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) into micrometer-sized spherical particles. CLCs are a type of liquid crystal that possess a helical structure, giving them unique optical properties and the ability to selectively reflect light. By combining spherical CLC particles with commercially available pigments, the researchers developed a unique anti-counterfeiting QR code…

…may provide cooling in next-gen electronics. Next-generation electronics will feature smaller and more powerful components that require new solutions for cooling. A new thermoelectric cooler developed by Penn State scientists greatly improves the cooling power and efficiency compared to current commercial thermoelectric units and may help control heat in future high-power electronics, the researchers said. “Our new material can provide thermoelectric devices with very high cooling power density,” said Bed Poudel, research professor in the Department of Materials Science and…

LZH researches laser processes for formable hybrid components. Using expensive materials on high-performance components only where they are needed: This is the vision of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1153 “Tailored Forming”. Scientists at the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) are researching two laser-based processes. Hybrid semi-finished products can save material and costs in production if only those parts of a component are made from a high-priced material that is subject to high demands in later use and therefore has…

Scientists leverage a novel polymer interlocking mechanism to produce tough yet additive-free latex films. Synthetic polymer materials, such as plastics and rubbers, have become ubiquitous in our daily lives. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that they are safe, durable, and sustainable. This is especially true for synthetic latex films, which are widely used in packaging, biomedicine, and electronics. But what exactly are synthetic latex films? Simply put, they are a type of nanoparticle-based films that are produced by drying…

Fraunhofer IPMS drives the Revolution in Vehicle Architecture. The vehicles of the future will be automated and networked to drive autonomously in road traffic and to relieve the driver. This requires new vehicle architectures and high-performance components. The Fraunhofer IPMS is working on various research projects to create the necessary conditions. Automated connected driving is leading to an explosion in bandwidth and computing requirements in vehicles. To cope with this, zonal arrangements with zone gateways and central computers and a…

…for dense photonic integration. Defying conventional wisdom, researchers have uncovered a novel coupling mechanism involving leaky mode, previously has been considered unsuitable for high-density integration in photonic circuits. This unexpected finding opens new possibilities for dense photonic integration, revolutionizing the scalability and application of photonic chips in optical computing, quantum communication, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), optical metrology, and biochemical sensing. In a recent Light Science & Application publication, Sangsik Kim, associate professor of electrical engineering at Korea Advanced Institute…