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Environment - Materials Science - 04.03.2021

Energy house-keeping
Energy management in a house with a solar system is becoming increasingly complex: When do I turn on the heating so that it is nice and cosy in the evening? How much electricity can the hot water tank hold? Will there still be enough energy for the electric car? Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help solve the problem: Researchers at Empa developed an AI control system that can learn all these tasks - and save more than 25 percent energy in the process.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 03.03.2021

New facility at University of Birmingham accelerates battery recycling research
Researchers working on the Faraday Institution ReLiB (Recycling and Reuse of Li-ion Batteries) project have completed the installation of new battery testing and storage facilities at the University of Birmingham. The new facilities will allow battery scientists and engineers to speed up their research to develop safe, economic and environmentally sound recycling routes that recover large volumes of valuable materials contained in batteries at the end of their first life.

Materials Science - Environment - 03.03.2021

Graphene filter makes carbon capture more efficient and cheaper
Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a graphene filter for carbon capture that surpasses the efficiency of commercial capture technologies, and can reduce the cost carbon capture down to $30 per ton of carbon dioxide. One of the main culprits of global warming is the vast amount of carbon dioxide pumped out into the atmosphere mostly from burning fossil fuels and the production of steel and cement.

Physics - Materials Science - 03.03.2021

A COSMIC Approach to Nanoscale Science
Instrument at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source achieves world-leading resolution of nanomaterials COSMIC, a multipurpose X-ray instrument at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (Berkeley Lab's) Advanced Light Source (ALS), has made headway in the scientific community since its launch less than 2 years ago, with groundbreaking contributions in fields ranging from batteries to biominerals.

Electroengineering - Materials Science - 02.03.2021

Microchips of the Future: Suitable Insulators are Still Missing
Until now, hexagonal boron nitride was considered the insulator of choice for miniaturised transistors. New investigations by TU Wien (Vienna) show: this may not be the way to go. For decades, there has been a trend in microelectronics towards ever smaller and more compact transistors. 2D materials such as graphene are seen as a beacon of hope here: they are the thinnest material layers that can possibly exist, consisting of only one or a few atomic layers.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 02.03.2021

Research paves the way for increased range of electric vehicles
A large consortium led by the University of Bath has reached an important milestone in improving energy storage in lithium-ion batteries. Last updated on Tuesday 2 March 2021 A large consortium led by the University of Bath, investigating ways of improving energy storage in batteries, has made a significant step towards creating higher energy density lithium-ion batteries.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 26.02.2021

Light-emitting tattoo engineered for the first time
Scientists at UCL and the IIT -Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) have created a temporary tattoo with light-emitting technology used in TV and smartphone screens, paving the way for a new type of "smart tattoo" with a range of potential uses. The technology, which uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), is applied in the same way as water transfer tattoos.

Materials Science - Physics - 23.02.2021

New Material is Next Step Toward Stable High-voltage Long-life Solid-state Sodium-ion Batteries
A team of researchers designed and manufactured a new sodium-ion conductor for solid-state sodium-ion batteries that is stable when incorporated into higher-voltage oxide cathodes. This new solid electrolyte could dramatically improve the efficiency and lifespan of this class of batteries. A proof of concept battery built with the new material lasted over 1000 cycles while retaining 89.3% of its capacity-a performance unmatched by other solid-state sodium batteries to date.

Physics - Materials Science - 22.02.2021

Magnetic effect without a magnet
Surprise in solid-state physics: The Hall effect, which normally requires magnetic fields, can also be generated in a completely different way - with extreme strength. Electric current is deflected by a magnetic field - in conducting materials this leads to the so-called Hall effect. This effect is often used to measure magnetic fields.

Physics - Materials Science - 22.02.2021

Concept for a new storage medium
Physicists from Switzerland, Germany and Ukraine have proposed an innovative new data storage medium. The technique is based on specific properties of antiferromagnetic materials that had previously resisted experimental examination. Using nanoscale quantum sensors, an international research team has succeeded in exploring certain previously uncharted physical properties of an antiferromagnetic material.

Materials Science - 22.02.2021

Even multi-story timber buildings can safely survive compartment fires
Realistic full-scale fire experiments on the TUM Garching campus How safe are multi-story timber buildings in case of fire? This question is addressed by the "TIMpuls" research project, led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The scientists' objective is to establish valid basic principles for uniform regulations for the construction of multi-story timber buildings.

Materials Science - 19.02.2021

Unstable foams clean better than stable foams
Historische Kunstund Kulturobjekte haben oft stark verschmutzte Oberflächen, da sie über viele Jahre hinweg unterschiedlichsten Umwelteinflüssen ausgesetzt sind. Ein deutsch-französisches Team um Prof. Cosima Stubenrauch von der Universität Stuttgart erforscht nun, wie man die Kostbarkeiten mit flüssigen Schäumen schonend und umweltfreundlich reinigen kann.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 19.02.2021

New research could boost a solar-powered fuel made by splitting water
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering research could help make hydrogen useful, sustainable fuel Hydrogen is an incredibly powerful fuel, and the ingredients are everywhere-in plain old water. Researchers would love to be able to use it widely as a clean and sustainable energy source. One catch, however, is that a considerable amount of energy is required to split water and make hydrogen.

Materials Science - Environment - 18.02.2021

Three Forward-Looking Research Fields Dominate Battery Research
Smartphones and laptops constantly in use, smart building technology, the expansion of renewable energies, networked charging stations for electric cars or the debate surrounding air taxis: sustainable, safe and efficient batteries are the basis of our lives as well as paving the way for the future.

Physics - Materials Science - 18.02.2021

Multifunctional Nanosystems Destroy SARS-CoV-2
Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin produce virus-rupturing nanomaterials, opening up new possibilities for fighting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus No 029/2021 from Feb 18, 2021 Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin have developed an innovative 2D graphene platform based on nanomaterials that can be used to destroy the membrane envelope of coronavirus cells.

Materials Science - Physics - 17.02.2021

In step toward autonomous materials, researchers design patterns in self-propelling liquid crystals
Materials capable of performing complex functions in response to changes in the environment could form the basis for exciting new technologies. Think of a capsule implanted in your body that automatically releases antibodies in response to a virus, a surface that releases an antibacterial agent when exposed to dangerous bacteria, a material that adapts its shape when it needs to sustain a particular weight, or clothing that senses and captures toxic contaminants from the air.

Physics - Materials Science - 17.02.2021

Novel sandwich technology improves sensitivity of rapid tests
Scientists have developed a method for boosting the sensitivity of rapid-detection tests like those used for the new coronavirus. The results of their feasibility study have just been published in Nano Letters. Pregnancy tests and rapid-detection tests for the new coronavirus work in the same way. They contain a surface - usually made of metal - on which chemical nanosensors detect specific compounds in a sample of urine, saliva or blood that indicate the presence of a given protein or part of a virus.

Physics - Materials Science - 16.02.2021

A sharper look at the interior of semiconductors
A research team is developing a high-resolution imaging technique that can be used to investigate materials in a non-destructive manner and with nanometre precision Light Images provide information - what we can observe with our own eyes enables us to understand. Constantly expanding the field of perception into dimensions that are initially hidden from the naked eye, drives science forward.

Physics - Materials Science - 15.02.2021

The transforming power of light
A group of researchers from the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society and the Humboldt University of Berlin have found out that semiconductors can be converted to metals and back more easily and more quickly than previously thought. This discovery may increase the processing speed and simplify the design of many common technological devices.

Materials Science - Physics - 10.02.2021

Captured lithium
Neutrons show effective lithium and electrolyte distribution in lithium-ion cells In our smartphones, our computers and in our electric cars: We use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries everywhere. But their capacity drops after a while. Now a German-American research team has investigated the structure and functionality of these batteries using neutron diffraction: They discovered that the electrolyte fluid's decomposition products capture mobile lithium in the battery and that the distribution of lithium within the cell is surprisingly uneven.