EU qualification programme brings together international doctoral researchers in chemistry, materials science and sensor technology. Air pollution is considered to be one of the world’s biggest environmental problems, but it is often only associated with outdoor air. Yet people spend an average of 22 hours a day indoors, where furniture, carpets or wall paints can release harmful solvents over time. The scientists in the international doctoral programme “SENNET” aim to detect such pollutants. They want to develop reliable sensors based…

What is the optimal role of limited biomass in the national energy transition and what are the priority target markets for bioenergy sources? These questions were addressed by a team of researchers from the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in the successfully completed research project “SoBio – Scenarios of optimal biomass use for energy by 2030 and by 2050”. Bioenergy makes a significant contribution to meeting the energy needs of the transport,…

More than 100 years ago, scientists discovered how to turn water into hydrogen gas — a highly desired green energy that’s been nicknamed “the fuel of the future.” Despite this breakthrough, hydrogen has not latched on as a dominant fuel source. Breaking down water into hydrogen can be inefficient and costly and the transformation process, called electrolysis, remains unperfected. Now, engineers at The University of Texas at El Paso have proposed a low-cost, nickel-based material to help split water more…

A team of Florida State University researchers has further developed a new generation of organic-inorganic hybrid materials that can improve image quality in X-ray machines, CT scans and other radiation detection and imaging technologies. Professor Biwu Ma from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and his colleagues have developed a new class of materials that can act as highly efficient scintillators, which emit light after being exposed to other forms of high energy radiations, such as X-rays. The team’s most…

Research project in Germany aims to improve the stability of this novel battery type. Lithium-air batteries, also known as lithium-oxygen batteries, are candidates for the next generation of high-energy electricity storage devices. Their theoretical energy storage capacity is ten times that of conventional lithium-ion batteries of the same weight, but they are not yet chemically stable enough to provide a reliable solution. Now a newly launched collaborative research project in which a team from the University of Oldenburg, Germany, led…

An electric snowmobile at LASER World of PHOTONICS 2023 in the summer! Why? Trade show visitors have the Finnish startup Aurora Powertrains Oy from Rovaniemi to thank for this premiere of the Arctic kind. Aurora has developed cold-resistant batteries with extremely high energy density for the Arctic temperatures of this region, and the customized joining technology required for this comes from the laser welding experts at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen. Probably one of the smallest…

“Wind.EnergyAutonomous Schools in the Metropolitan Region Northwest ” – this is the name of a new research project led by Dr. Yilmaz Uygun, Professor at Constructor University in Bremen. The project runs in collaboration with the County of Friesland (Germany) and ist funded by the Metropolitan Region Northwest. The aim is to further develop and validate a proprietary vertical-axis wind turbine that will be produced by using the world’s largest industrial delta-type 3D printer. The turbines are intended to serve…

After decades of effort, scientists have finally seen the process by which nature creates the oxygen we breathe using SLAC’s X-ray laser. Photosynthesis plays a crucial role in shaping and sustaining life on Earth, yet many aspects of the process remain a mystery. One such mystery is how Photosystem II, a protein complex in plants, algae and cyanobacteria, harvests energy from sunlight and uses it to split water, producing the oxygen we breathe. Now researchers from the Department of Energy’s…

Licensed AMCM technology prints finished part in minutes, hastens pace for carbon-free mobility. An Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed advanced manufacturing technology, AMCM, was recently licensed by Orbital Composites and enables the rapid production of composite-based components, which could accelerate the decarbonization of vehicles, airplanes and drones. Additive manufacturing compression molding, or AMCM, uses short-fiber-filled polymer and continuous fiber to print directly onto a mold with precise orientation to make parts such as propeller blades or battery boxes. Compression molding then turns the…

Leading the way in regenerative medicine: Materials made of spider silk can be specifically modified or processed in such a way that living cells of a certain type adhere to them, grow and proliferate. This has been discovered by researchers at the University of Bayreuth under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel. Cell-specific effects of the materials can be generated by biochemical modifications of the silk proteins, but also by surface structuring of spider silk coatings. The research findings,…

An increasing number of people are riding electric bikes. Compared to cars, electric bikes are cheaper, more environmentally friendly and free up space in urban areas. The drawback is that there are often no spare parts for defective components such as motors or batteries, meaning they have to be completely replaced with expensive new components. A team of researchers from the Fraunhofer IPA demonstrated that electric bike motors can be remanufactured in keeping with the concept of a modern circular…

University of Bayreuth involved in pilot project on turbine development. The use of industrial waste heat can develop into an important component of an energy industry that is independent of fossil fuels. To convert large amounts of waste heat into electricity as efficiently as possible, turbines with a high degree of efficiency are required that work with a special conversion process – the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). In a pilot project for the development of such a turbine, the Center…

The latest competition car from student group TUfast Eco makes its debut. The new electric vehicle builds on previous successes and sets new standards in terms of efficiency. Lower weight, increased efficiency in individual components and significantly reduced aerodynamic drag distinguish the new model from its predecessor. The car will be put to the test in competition with other European student groups at the Shell Eco Marathon in May 2023. Industry players aren’t the only ones to accept the major…

Additive Manufacturing of XXL components: Research institutes and companies from Lower Saxony have jointly developed a giant 3D printer. It can produce steel components weighing several tons – and is intended to save resources in production. Manufacturing individual large-scale components is usually an energy- and material-intensive affair. In the “XXL3DDruck” project, scientists at the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) have joined forces with partners to test a more resource-efficient way of producing XXL components. To this end, they produced parts…

A new method could provide detailed information about internal structures, voids, and cracks, based solely on data about exterior conditions. Maybe you can’t tell a book from its cover, but according to researchers at MIT you may now be able to do the equivalent for materials of all sorts, from an airplane part to a medical implant. Their new approach allows engineers to figure out what’s going on inside simply by observing properties of the material’s surface. The team used…

Electrical current modulation in wood electrochemical transistor. Researchers at Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed the world’s first transistor made of wood. Their study, published in the journal PNAS, paves the way for further development of wood-based electronics and control of electronic plants. Transistors, invented almost one hundred years ago, are considered by some to be an invention just as important to humanity as the telephone, the light bulb or the bicycle. Today, they are…