Use of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture causes an increase in nitrous oxide concentration in the atmosphere – Comprehensive study with KIT participation in Nature. Concentration of dinitrogen oxide – also referred to as nitrous oxide – in the atmosphere increases strongly and speeds up climate change. In addition to CO2 and methane, it is the third important greenhouse gas emitted due to anthropogenic activities. Human-made nitrous oxide emissions are mainly caused by the use of fertilizers in agriculture. Growing demand…

Nature Communications: KIT researchers identify a new mechanism to control endothelial cell size and arterial caliber – basis for better treatment of heart infarct and stroke. Upon a heart infarct or stroke, rapid restoration of blood flow, and oxygen delivery to the hypo perfused regions is of eminent importance to prevent further damage to heart or brain. Arterial diameter is a critical determinant of blood flow conductance. Scientists of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now discovered a novel…

A new generation of thermomagnetic generators Alloy film thickness and footprint influence electrical power — publication in Joule. Use of waste heat contributes largely to sustainable energy supply. Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Tohoku University in Japan have now come much closer to their goal of converting waste heat into electrical power at small temperature differences. As reported in Joule, electrical power per footprint of thermomagnetic generators based on Heusler alloy films has been increased by a…

KIT researchers develop printing process for inexpensive, three-dimensional thermoelectric generators Thermoelectric generators, TEGs for short, convert ambient heat into electrical power. They enable maintenance-free, environmentally friendly, and autonomous power supply of the continuously growing number of sensors and devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) and recovery of waste heat. Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed three-dimensional component architectures based on novel, printable thermoelectric materials. This might be a milestone on the way towards use of…

Frontera, Anton 2 supercomputers simulate holistic model of SARS-CoV-2 virion. The COVID-19 virus holds some mysteries. Scientists remain in the dark on aspects of how it fuses and enters the host cell; how it assembles itself; and how it buds off the host cell. Computational modeling combined with experimental data provides insights into these behaviors. But modeling over meaningful timescales of the pandemic-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus has so far been limited to just its pieces like the spike protein, a target…

The agricultural cultivation of the staple food of rice harbours the risk of possible contamination with arsenic that can reach the grains following uptake by the roots. In their investigation of over 4,000 variants of rice, a Chinese-German research team under the direction of Prof. Dr Rüdiger Hell from the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS) of Heidelberg University and Prof. Dr Fang-Jie Zhao of Nanjing Agricultural University (China) discovered a plant variant that resists the toxin. Although the plants thrive…

Efficient materials for future solar cells – New model to determine photoluminescence quantum efficiency. Photovoltaics decisively contributes to sustainable energy supply. The efficiency of solar cells in directly converting light energy into electrical energy depends on the material used. Metal-halide perovskites are considered very promising materials for solar cells of the next generation. With these semiconductors named after their special crystal structure, a considerable increase in efficiency was achieved in the past years. Meanwhile, perovskite solar cells have reached an…

Researchers of the 3D matter made to order cluster of excellence use rotons for metamaterials – Nature Communications publishes first results. Acoustic waves in gases, liquids, and solids usually travel at an almost constant speed of sound. So-called rotons are an exception: their speed of sound changes significantly with the wavelength, and it is also possible that the waves travel backwards. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are studying the possibilities of using rotons in artificial materials. These computer-designed…

LSU Quantum researchers rearrange photon distribution to create different light sources. For decades, scholars have believed that the quantum statistical properties of bosons are preserved in plasmonic systems, and therefore will not create different form of light. This rapidly growing field of research focuses on quantum properties of light and its interaction with matter at the nanoscale level. Stimulated by experimental work in the possibility of preserving nonclassical correlations in light-matter interactions mediated by scattering of photons and plasmons, it…

PHENIX data validate approach for future studies of proton spin and structure. Scientists seeking to explore the teeming microcosm of quarks and gluons inside protons and neutrons report new data delivered by particles of light. The light particles, or photons, come directly from interactions of a quark in one proton colliding with a gluon in another at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). By tracking these “direct photons,” members of RHIC’s PHENIX Collaboration say they are getting a glimpse—albeit a blurry one—of gluons’ transverse…

Researchers at KIT develop perovskite/CIS tandem solar cells with an efficiency of nearly 25 percent; combination of materials enables mobile applications. Stacking solar cells increases their efficiency. Working with partners in the EU-funded PERCISTAND project, researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have produced perovskite/CIS tandem solar cells with an efficiency of nearly 25percent– the highest value achieved thus far with this technology. Moreover, this combination of materials is light and versatile, making it possible to envision the use…

Practice-based architecture study reveals importance of wood as sustainable building material for cities – appeal for colored and planted façades – “Vinzent” reference project in Munich. Wood as a building material has deep roots in the cultural memory of many regions. A study by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) now shows how much future building with wood opens up. Considering the cultural, technical, and design aspects of building with wood, the study examines how timber construction can make a comeback…

LiBinfinity project aims to develop an energy-efficient recycling concept for lithium-ion batteries – kit will evaluate recyclates. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is largely involved in a new battery recycling project. LiBinfinity focuses on a holistic concept for recycling materials of lithium-ion batteries. A mechanico-hydrometallurgical process without energy-intensive process steps will be transferred from the lab to an industry-relevant scale. KIT will then check whether the recycled materials are suited for the manufacture of new batteries. The Federal Ministry for…

KIT researchers develop a chip that captures microbial dark matter in air, water, and soil – new tool for biotechnology and medicine. From human intestines to the bottom of the sea: Microorganisms populate nearly any habitat, no matter how hostile it is. Their great variety of survival strategies is of huge potential in biotechnology. Most of these organisms, however, are unknown, because they cannot be cultivated. To make better use of this “microbial dark matter”, a team of researchers from…

KIT researchers work on new qubit approach – publication in Nature Materials. Quantum computers can more rapidly process large amounts of data, because they carry out many computation steps in parallel. The information carrier of the quantum computer is a qubit. Qubits do not only possess the information of “0” and “1,” but also values in between. However, the difficulty consists in producing qubits that are small enough and can be switched quickly enough to execute quantum calculations. A very…

Scientists invented a new way of tracking electronic properties inside materials, and used it to visualize magnetic domains in a previously unseen way. Everyone knows that holding two magnets together will lead to one of two results: they stick together, or they push each other apart. From this perspective, magnetism seems simple, but scientists have struggled for decades to really understand how magnetism behaves on the smallest scales. On the near-atomic level, magnetism is made of many ever-shifting kingdoms—called magnetic…

Students of the University of Stuttgart launch self-built rocket into space. The Hybrid Engine Development (HyEnD) student team at the University of Stuttgart spent around three years developing, manufacturing, and testing its hybrid rocket. In mid-April, the rocket will be launched into space from the Esrange rocket launch site near Kiruna in Sweden. If all goes well, the students will set a new world altitude record for student-built rockets. The hybrid rocket is 7.80 m long and weighs around 70…

Fix the slide, adjust, start with the lowest magnification and then focus through the specimen: This routine is particularly familiar to biology students from microscopy classes. Now, the process also works digitally. More than 200 specimens of plants, animals and microorganisms can be viewed in detail online – without a microscope, free of charge and accessible to everyone. A biologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is making this possible with his project UDE BioSLiDES. “During the pandemic, we were…

DFKI develops innovative AI technologies for autonomous robots to recover munitions. More than one million tons of munitions dumped in the North and Baltic Seas during and after the two world wars posing a threat to both humans and the environment. So far, trained divers had to recover the ammunition. In the future, however, robots will take on this challenging and potentially dangerous task. The technologies required for this are being developed by the Robotics Innovation Center of the German…

KIT researchers see long-term perspective for lithium extraction at geothermal plants. On the way towards climate neutrality, Europe will need large amounts of lithium for battery storage systems. So far, however, its share in the worldwide lithium extraction volume has been one percent only. For this reason, researchers of KIT study ways to extract lithium from geothermal sources. “In theory, geothermal power plants in the Upper Rhine Valley and Northern German Basin might cover between 2 and 12 percent of…