… for next-generation quantum and electronic devices. New approach leverages artificial intelligence to augment automated experiments. Two-dimensional materials, which consist of a single layer of atoms, exhibit unusual properties that could be harnessed for a wide range of quantum and microelectronics systems. But what makes them truly special are their flaws. “That’s where their true magic lies,” said Alexander Weber-Bargioni at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Defects down to the atomic level can influence the material’s…

The EU project ReMade@ARI starts on September 1st under the coordination of the HZDR. According to the European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan, the industry can determine up to 80 percent of a product’s subsequent environmental impact at the design phase. However, the linear manufacturing pattern offers few incentives to make products more sustainable. The research infrastructure project ReMade@ARI, which deals with innovative materials for key components in various areas such as electronics, packaging or textiles, wants to change this:…

Researchers create organic molecules that spontaneously align on a surface to generate controlled electric fields that could improve OLED performance and lead to new devices. In a molecular feat akin to getting pedestrians in a scramble crosswalk to spontaneously start walking in step, researchers at Kyushu University have created a series of molecules that tend to face the same direction to form a ‘giant surface potential’ when evaporated onto a surface. The researchers hope to utilize the approach to generate…

H2Mare is one of three hydrogen flagship projects, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a total of up to 740 million euros. In H2Mare, the production of green hydrogen and a range of different secondary products with offshore wind power, will be investigated together with around 32 partners from science and industry, over the four year lifetime of the project. With four of its institutes, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon supports technology development for sustainable and…

Engineers at RMIT University have developed a method to use disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) to make concrete stronger, providing an innovative way to significantly reduce pandemic-generated waste. The RMIT team is the first to investigate the feasibility of recycling three key types of PPE – isolation gowns, face masks and rubber gloves – into concrete. Published in the journals Case Studies in Construction Materials, Science of the Total Environment and Journal of Cleaner Production, the studies by RMIT School…

KIST develops membrane distillation methods using hydrothermal and solar energy. The goal is to maximize system efficiency through customized membrane distillation technologies for regional climate characteristics. Clean water is essential for human survival. However, less than 3% of fresh water can be used as drinking water. According to a report published by the World Meteorological Organization, there is scarcity of drinking water for approximately 1 billion people worldwide, which is expected to rise to 1.4 billion by 2050. Seawater desalination…

Made from inexpensive, abundant materials, an aluminum-sulfur battery could provide low-cost backup storage for renewable energy sources. As the world builds out ever larger installations of wind and solar power systems, the need is growing fast for economical, large-scale backup systems to provide power when the sun is down and the air is calm. Today’s lithium-ion batteries are still too expensive for most such applications, and other options such as pumped hydro require specific topography that’s not always available. Now,…

Penn State-led collaboration builds on decades-old research to engineer advanced material. Someone taps your shoulder. The organized touch receptors in your skin send a message to your brain, which processes the information and directs you to look left, in the direction of the tap. Now, Penn State and U.S. Air Force researchers have harnessed this processing of mechanical information and integrated it into engineered materials that “think”. The work, published today (Aug. 24) in Nature, hinges on a novel, reconfigurable alternative…

Ocean trash and overflowing landfills have drawn widespread attention to the plastic waste that we put into our environment. In response, communities around the world work hard to reduce, reuse, and recycle. But what does it mean for something to be recyclable? A research team led by Guoliang “Greg” Liu, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, is working to expand the frontiers of plastic recycling. Many of us are comfortable tossing a metal can or a glass jar into the…

Making the construction of prototypes more efficient, cost-effective, faster and flexible – this will be possible with the world’s largest industrial delta 3D printer. The four-meter-high machine was developed by Professor Yilmaz Uygun’s research group at Jacobs University Bremen. The project, supported by the Kieserling Foundation, exhibits promising potential for industrial application and further research and cooperation opportunities for the university in Bremen-Nord. In industries such as spare parts management, prototype construction, and mechanical and plant engineering, individualized parts are…

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba report a new procedure to produce microscopic single crystals in the shape of hollow vases based on spontaneous crystal growth, which may provide a source of storage containers for nanotechnology applications. Scientists from the Department of Materials Science at the University of Tsukuba developed a new method to produce micrometer-scale single crystals in the form of hollow vessels. By drop-casting an ethanol solution onto a quartz substrate, the molecules can spontaneously assemble into the…

EPFL researchers have discovered that Vanadium Dioxide (VO2), a compound used in electronics, is capable of “remembering” the entire history of previous external stimuli. This is the first material to be identified as possessing this property, although there could be others. Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, a PhD student at EPFL’s Power and Wide-band-gap Electronics Research Laboratory (POWERlab), made a chance discovery during his research on phase transitions in Vanadium Dioxide (VO2). VO2 has an insulating phase when relaxed at room temperature,…

Adaptive control helps realize more stable lifting of particles from surfaces. Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have successfully enhanced technology to lift small particles using sound waves. Their “acoustic tweezers” could already lift things from reflective surfaces without physical contact, but stability remained an issue. Now, using an adaptive algorithm to fine-tune how the tweezers are controlled, they have drastically improved how stably the particles can be lifted. With further miniaturization, this technology could be deployed in a vast range…

Neutron scattering monitors structures during post-production heat treatment to validate production models. The Science Researchers are optimizing industrial designs to produce more efficient parts using additive manufacturing (AM). AM involves “printing” 3-D metal parts layer by layer. Material made using AM methods that employ lasers can have residual strain resulting from rapid heating and cooling during printing. Heat treating, or annealing, parts after they are printed reduces the strain. But too much heat can cause unwanted structural changes. Using neutron…

… could lead to novel ways to manipulate electron flow with much less energy loss. Newly discovered magnetic interactions in the Kagome layered topological magnet TbMn6Sn6 could be the key to customizing how electrons flow through these materials. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of TbMn6Sn6 to better understand the material and its magnetic characteristics. These results could impact future technology advancements in fields such as quantum…

Researchers have developed floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed ultra-thin, flexible devices, which take their inspiration from photosynthesis – the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. Since the low-cost, autonomous devices are light enough to float, they could be used to generate a sustainable alternative to petrol without taking up space on land. Outdoor tests…