In the search for sustainable energy storage, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, present a new concept to fabricate high-performance electrode materials for sodium batteries. It is based on a novel type of graphene to store one of the world’s most common and cheap metal ions – sodium. The results show that the capacity can match today’s lithium-ion batteries. Even though lithium ions work well for energy storage, lithium is an expensive metal with concerns regarding its long-term supply…

Researchers use perovskite to develop a memory device readable through both electrical and optical methods. In a step toward a future of higher performance memory devices, researchers from National Taiwan Normal University and Kyushu University have developed a new device that needs only a single semiconductor known as perovskite to simultaneously store and visually transmit data. By integrating a light-emitting electrochemical cell with a resistive random-access memory that are both based on perovskite, the team achieved parallel and synchronous reading…

Outdoor stadium seats, ski bindings, tire reinforcements and other products that require strength, durability and weather resistance are all made with a type of nylon called nylon 6-6. However, producing this material requires an environmentally unfriendly process, the first step of which uses the endangered element zinc as a catalyst. Now, researchers have developed “greener” methods for this step that use alternative metals. They might even be able to substitute waste iron in the form of rust, or ferric oxide,…

The sale of electric vehicles (EV’s) has grown exponentially in the past few years as is the need for renewable energy sources to power them, such as solar and wind. There were nearly 1.8 million registered electric vehicles in the U.S. as of 2020, which is more than three times as many in 2016, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Electric vehicles require power to be available anywhere and anytime without delay to recharge, but solar and wind are intermittent energy…

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba successfully grow a Li@C60 film on a copper surface to study the molecular orbitals. As well as making it one of the most widely recognized molecules, the distinctive soccer ball shape of C60 gives it some useful properties. One of which is thought to be electrical conductivity when multiple molecules are close together. Efforts have therefore been made to optimize C60 so that it can be applied to electronic devices. Now, researchers at the…

New study finds they’re a tad rubbery, paving the way for better products. A breakthrough by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) and collaborating institutions around the world could pave the way for better products, such as improved batteries, automobile paint and cellphone screens. When you zoom in on many modern materials, such as those in some of the newest batteries that are made with glassy polymers – which include many plastics – they don’t appear uniform. Instead,…

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Fraunhofer IZM and its 17 partners on the PLC 2.0 consortium have achieved excellent results within the first year. All partners met in a virtual meeting for two days. The time difference for such world-wide meetings is a challenge, therefore several sessions have taken place over the whole day to have easy access form Asia, Europe and the US. In 2016, Fraunhofer IZM teamed up with a group of industry leaders from Europe, the US, and…

Sea cucumbers have a bumpy and oblong shape. They are soft but stiffen up quickly when touched. They can shrink or stretch to several meters, and their original shape can be recovered even after they die and shrivel up with the regulation of water uptake. Recently, a POSTECH research team has developed a soft actuator inspired by this unique behavior of sea cucumbers. A research team led by Professor Dong Sung Kim, Dr. Andrew Choi (currently the director of R&D…

Jülich researchers, together with Italian and German colleagues, have developed a particularly cost-effective infrared detector that can be easily integrated into existing camera chips and smartphones. The new sensor can make two technically important ranges of infrared radiation visible, which previously were not covered by conventional photodiodes. The findings were published in the journal ACS Photonics. The world looks much clearer in shortwave infrared, or SWIR: Cameras operating in this range of the spectrum produce images in greyscale that are…

Tandem solar cells with world-record efficiency of 29.52% could help rapidly scale up solar energy. Many countries around the world are committed to reducing emissions or reaching net-zero emissions to meet the United Nations’ climate goals of maintaining temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. Renewable energy technologies, particularly solar energy panels, will play a significant role in achieving these goals. To fully harness the potential of sunlight — the world’s most abundant energy resource — scientists have been…

Physicists find a way to make components for low-cost electronics using a material that’s highly rated for its performance in next-gen solar cells and LEDs. Physicists have found a way to make transistors using materials that are highly rated for their performance in next-generation solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The researchers have overcome the problem of the material’s ion content interfering with the flow of electronic current through a transistor. This breakthrough may pave the way for research into…

Researchers have developed prototype technology that can double the power harvested from ocean waves, in an advance that could finally make wave energy a viable renewable alternative. The untapped potential of ocean wave energy is vast – it has been estimated that the power of coastal waves around the world each year is equivalent to annual global electricity production. But the challenges of developing technologies that can efficiently extract that natural power and withstand the harsh ocean environment have kept…

For a climate-neutral economy, every opportunity must be exploited to reduce energy requirements and use resources efficiently. Highly efficient industrial processes are a key element in this. To this end, in the R2R-Net network, 18 European partners from industry and research are further developing reel-to-reel systems and processes that are used in production in a variety of ways. Companies benefit from the expertise, the support during scale-up and ramping up of the production, and the technical exchange. On September 7,…

Expanding the possibilities with silver nanowires. Scientists improve the longevity of silver nanowires to enhance capabilities in electronic devices. Today’s nanoscale technologies are sophisticated enough to be applied in an endless number of useful devices, from sensors in touch screen devices and household appliances to wearable biosensors that can monitor chemical levels in our blood, muscle movement, breathing and pulse rate. In addition, there are technologies for precision devices such as high-resolution scanning probe microscopes which enable one to visualize…

New research published in Scientific Reports has revealed that a simple but robust algorithm can help engineers to improve the design of cellular materials that are used in a variety of diverse applications ranging from defence, bio-medical to smart structures and the aerospace sector. The way in which cellular materials will perform can be uncertain and so calculations to help engineers predict how they will react for a particular design, for a given set of loads, conditions and constraints, can…

Our electrical infrastructure has remained largely unchanged since World War II, but advances in technology — specifically materials — opened doors we never would have thought possible in the past. These advances have set the stage to redesign our electrical infrastructure for the next 100 years and beyond. The redesign is critical because every day we put more stress on the electrical grid, demand faster computer processing, and push toward electrical transportation. The advanced and miniaturized semi-conductors powering these devices…