Engineers in Australia have found a way to make stronger and crack-resistant concrete with scrap carpet fibres, rolling out the red carpet for sustainability in the construction sector. The research team is engaging with partners including Textile Recyclers Australia, Godfrey Hirst Australia and councils in Victoria to conduct field studies of on-ground slabs made of reclaimed textiles. Lead researcher Dr Chamila Gunasekara from RMIT University said the team had developed a technique using waste carpet fibres to reduce early-age shrinkage…

With the increase of new technology and artificial intelligence, the demand for efficient and powerful semiconductors continues to grow. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have achieved a new material that will be pivotal in making the next generation of high-power electronics faster, transparent and more efficient. This artificially designed material allows electrons to move faster while remaining transparent to both visible and ultraviolet light, breaking the previous record. The research, published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, marks a…

As demand surges for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, lithium-ion batteries need to deliver higher energy densities at lower costs. While conventional cathode materials like LiFePO4 and Li-Ni-Co-Mn-O are widely used, they often fail to balance performance with affordability. Lithium-rich manganese oxides (LRMOs) have emerged as a potential alternative due to their high capacity and cobalt-free composition. However, their low initial Coulombic efficiency and rapid voltage decay have limited their broader application. Addressing these challenges requires deeper research to…

New laser-based bubble printing technique creates ultra-flexible liquid metal circuits. As tiny as bubbles may seem, in engineers’ hands they can spark big innovations. Yokohama National University scientists have developed a promising bubble printing method that enables high-precision patterning of liquid metal wiring for flexible electronics. This technique offers new options for creating bendable, stretchable, and highly conductive circuits, ideal for devices such as wearable sensors and medical implants. Their study was published in Nanomaterials on Oct. 17. Wiring technology…

In the construction and building sector, sustainable solutions for reducing energy requirements and improving the carbon footprint are more in demand than ever. In view of rising energy prices and strict regulations for lower energy consumption in buildings, innovative technologies such as perovskite and organic solar cells offer great potential. However, the cost, durability and efficiency of these solar cells pose a major challenge. As part of the EU-funded PEARL and BOOSTER projects, the Fraunhofer FEP is developing new coating…

… best quality at minimum cost thanks to precise stabilisation. Online characterisation, plastic formulations, more profitable. All organic substances, including plastics such as polypropylene (PP), undergo auto-oxidation in the presence of oxygen.This happens millions of times faster at the high temperatures of compounding and injection moulding. The result for PP is a degradation of the polymer chains, i.e. reduction in molecular weight, which means that products made from these plastics can no longer be recycled. Antioxidants added during the manufacturing…

Fraunhofer IBP Is Driving the Development of Climate-Friendly Construction Materials. Cutting carbon emissions by more than two-thirds with consistently high quality: Specialists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP are working on future ways to manufacture the popular construction material with as little climate impact as possible. They will be showcasing their solutions at the BAU trade show in Munich from January 13 to 17, 2025. What would perfect concrete be like? The researchers at Fraunhofer IBP are tackling…

In the dark ocean depths, seals hunt prey with their highly sensitive whiskers, which detect vibrations. And it is the design of those hairs that inspired a University of Texas at Dallas researcher to develop a sensor to monitor turbulence in the deep ocean. “The geometry of seal whiskers is not circular; the whisker’s shape is twisted cylinders,” said Dr. Yaqing Jin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. Jin was recently…

Data is power. According to Dinesh Bharadia, an associate professor at UC San Diego in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Qualcomm Institute (QI), “data will be the next decade’s ‘silicon.’” The rapid growth of the Internet of Things means that data is more readily available and easily accessible than ever. Sensors, “smart” devices and software connect our world to the cloud, gathering information and enabling new…

Using hydrogen to generate electricity does not cause any climate-damaging emissions. But storing and transporting the gas pose technical challenges. With this in mind, Fraunhofer researchers use ammonia, a hydrogen derivative that is easier to handle, as a starting material. Ammonia is cracked in a high-temperature fuel cell stack, and the hydrogen produced in this process is converted to electricity. The waste heat can be used as heat energy, for example. There are high hopes for hydrogen and its derivatives…

Advancements in industry and technology are constantly demanding new solutions for the manufacturing of microchips regarding the technical, economic and also ecological perspective. The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS has established itself as a strong partner to industry with its pioneering research and state-of-the-art equipment. The range of services includes all steps “from lab to fab” – from consulting and process development to pilot production. While systems and components have to meet ever higher performance requirements, it is also…

Thermoplastic blends, produced by a new process, have better resilience. Now, experiments at the IRIS beamline show, why: nanocrystalline layers increase their performance. Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic materials and can be recycled after use. Their resilience can be improved by blending bio-based thermoplastics with other thermoplastics. However, the interface between the materials in these blends sometimes requires enhancement to achieve optimal properties. A team from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has now investigated at…

MXene nanomaterials enable wireless charging in textiles. Researchers demonstrate printed textile-based energy grid using MXene ink. The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the lab to the wardrobe is figuring out how to power the garment gizmos without unfashionably toting around a solid battery. Researchers from Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Accenture Labs in California have taken a new approach to the challenge by building a full textile energy grid that can…

Takeout containers get your favorite noodles from the restaurant to your dining table (or couch) without incident, but they are nearly impossible to recycle if they are made from foil-lined plastics. Research published in ACS Omega suggests that replacing the plastic layer with paper could create a more sustainable packaging material. The researchers used mechanical demonstrations and computer simulations to identify paper-aluminum laminate designs that won’t compromise on performance. Protective packaging, like containers made from polyethylene and aluminum laminates, combines…

Singlet fission can be promoted by chiral molecular self-assemblies that absorb light. In organic molecules an exciton is a particle bound pair of an electron (negative charge) and its hole (positive charge). They are held together by Coulombic attraction and can move within molecular assemblies. Singlet fission (SF) is a process where an exciton is amplified, and two triplet excitons are generated from a singlet exciton. This is caused by the absorption of a single particle of light, or photon,…

Piezoelectric coatings play a key role in the manufacturing of ultrasound microscopes that examine ever smaller semiconductor components and biological cell structures. However, the increasing demands on the quality and reproducibility of these coatings place high demands on the complex coating processes, which require many parameters to be precisely coordinated. In order to meet this challenge, Fraunhofer FEP is developing a digital twin of the coating process for piezoelectric thin films. This enables the digital mapping and optimization of the…