Putting nanoparticles from shrimp shells into cement paste made the material significantly stronger — an innovation that could lead to reduced seafood waste and lower carbon emissions from concrete production. Reporting in the journal Cement and Concrete Composites, a team of Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers created nanocrystals and nanofibers of chitin, the second most abundant biopolymer in nature, from waste shrimp shells. When these tiny bits of chitin, which are about 1,000 times smaller than a human…

Findings could pave the way for a cost-efficient, high-performing calcium-ion battery. Concerns regarding scarcity, high prices, and safety regarding the long-term use of lithium-ion batteries has prompted a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to propose a greener, more efficient, and less expensive energy storage alternative. In research published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), corresponding author Nikhil Koratkar, the John A. Clark and Edward T. Crossan Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer, and his team,…

Wearable electronics, from health and fitness trackers to virtual reality headsets, are part of our everyday lives. But finding ways to continuously power these devices is a challenge. University of Washington researchers have developed an innovative solution: the first-of-its kind flexible, wearable thermoelectric device that converts body heat to electricity. This device is soft and stretchable, yet sturdy and efficient — properties that can be challenging to combine. The team published these findings July 24 in Advanced Energy Materials. “It’s…

Just add a drop of water. The battery, devised by Gustav Nyström and his team, is made of at least one cell measuring one centimeter squared and consisting of three inks printed onto a rectangular strip of paper. Salt, in this case simply sodium chloride or table salt, is dispersed throughout the strip of paper and one of its shorter ends has been dipped in wax. An ink containing graphite flakes, which acts as the positive end of the battery…

The new air-powered hand provides a lightweight, low-maintenance and easy-to-use body-powered prosthetic option particularly well suited for children and those in low and middle-income countries. A revolutionary new hand prosthesis powered and controlled by the user’s breathing has been developed by researchers at the University of Oxford. The simple lightweight device offers an alternative to Bowden cable-driven body-powered prosthetics initially developed in the early 19th century – particularly for those too young or anatomically unsuited to an uncomfortable harness and…

A team at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has used food industry waste to develop a nasal plug designed to tackle nosebleeds. Nosebleeds, also known as epistaxis, are one of the most frequent otolaryngologic (ENT) emergencies worldwide. It is estimated that 60% of the world’s population will experience an episode of epistaxis at least once in their lifetime, although only 6-10% of them will seek medical attention. There are several methods for treating epistaxis and one of the most…

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising solar technologies. Although low-cost wet processing has shown advantages in small-area PSC fabrication, the preparation of uniform charge transport layers with thickness of several nanometers from solution for meter-sized large area products is still challenging. Recently, a research group led by Prof. LIU Shengzhong from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed a facile surface redox engineering (SRE) strategy for vacuum-deposited NiOx to match the slot-die-coated perovskite, and fabricated high-performance…

The use of an imperfect 2D material, contrary to conventional approaches, was found to increase carrier mobility by two orders at room temperature. This discovery paves a smoother path to 2D materials for semiconductors. Two dimensional (2D) semiconductors have a unique property that allows their thickness to be reduced to one or few atoms – and this property could potentially minimise the short channel effects that remain an issue in advanced silicon-based transistors, for example, turning on a transistor prematurely….

Cheap and quick to produce, these digitally manufactured plasma sensors could help scientists predict the weather or study climate change. MIT scientists have created the first completely digitally manufactured plasma sensors for orbiting spacecraft. These plasma sensors, also known as retarding potential analyzers (RPAs), are used by satellites to determine the chemical composition and ion energy distribution of the atmosphere. The 3D-printed and laser-cut hardware performed as well as state-of-the-art semiconductor plasma sensors that are manufactured in a cleanroom, which…

Semiconductor microfabrication technology enables voltage output greater than 0.5 V. Using a semiconductor microfabrication technology, a research team consisting of NIMS, AIST and the University of Tsukuba has succeeded in developing a thermoelectric device consisting of an array of π junctions, each composed of two types of thermoelectric layers connected by a metal electrode layer (figure (a)). This device demonstrated the ability to generate voltages greater than 0.5 V, meeting a criterion for certain IoT (internet of things) device operations….

Graphene scientists from The University of Manchester have created a novel ‘nano-petri dish’ using two-dimensional (2D) materials to create a new method of observing how atoms move in liquid Publishing in the journal, Nature, the team led by researchers based at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) used stacks of 2D materials like graphene to trap liquid in order to further understand how the presence of liquid changes the behaviour of the solid. The team were able to capture images of…

Transparent glassy material could be used to provide a light-based readout of stress in the body or buildings. Researchers have created a new glass-ceramic that emits light in response to mechanical stress, a property known as mechanoluminescence. With further development, the new material could be used to create a light source that is switched on by mechanical stress. This could be useful for monitoring stress in artificial joints in the body or providing warnings of dangerous stress or fractures in…

Solar thermal power plants – whether parabolic trough or solar tower – are mostly constructed in desert areas with plenty of sun. In such places, soiling from sand and dust causes high uncertainties in the yield forecast and increased operating costs. In the “AVUSpro” project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, PSE Instruments GmbH, TSK Flagsol Engineering GmbH and Dornier Suntrace GmbH have developed a fully automatic device to measure soiling. The four partners have successfully tested the…

Materials by recipe: Powder-based laser beam melting (LPPF) is probably the best-known AM process and has great potential for industrial applications. But how can the limited range of materials for this process be circumvented and the market potential further expanded? This question was addressed by the IWM of RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer IFAM in the “LPBF powder kit” project funded by the AiF. The result was the development of a sustainable solution for the individual and robust processing…

NV-doped diamond is one of the most promising materials for the realization of quantum technologies. So far, however, the availability in industrially suitable quality and quantity is severely limited. In the BMBF-funded project GrodiaQ, Fraunhofer IAF is developing innovative processes and equipment in cooperation with five German companies to enable the industrial use of (111)-oriented diamond substrates and the establishment of a European supply chain for quantum devices. To ensure the availability of high-purity as well as large-area diamond wafers…

Nature creates layered materials like bone and mother-of-pearl that become less sensitive to defects as they grow. Now researchers have created, using biomimetic proteins patterned on squid ring teeth, composite layered 2D materials that are resistant to breaking and extremely stretchable. “Researchers rarely reported this interface property for the bone and nacre because it was difficult to measure experimentally,” said Melik Demirel, Lloyd and Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair in Biomimetic Materials and director of the Center for Advanced Fiber Technologies,…