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Materials Science - Health - 29.05.2020

Wearable Health
There is more than cool looks about hip clothing for top performance: Thanks to a variety of smart technologies, high-tech clothing today is capable of analyzing body functions or actively optimizing the microclimate. The basis of these novel textiles are "smart" fibers and biocompatible composites that also contribute to innovations in biomedical research such as sensors, drug delivery systems or tissue engineering.

Health - Materials Science - 27.05.2020

Uncovering the role of membrane sugars in flu infection
Chemistry graduate students Corleone Delaveris (left) and Bette Webster (right). Image courtesy of Corleone Delaveris and Bette Webster ) ChEM-H graduate students reveal how the forest of sugars on a cell's surface could help in the defense against flu infection. By Rebecca McClellan The flu virus relies on using human cells to reproduce and spread.

Materials Science - Physics - 26.05.2020

Watching single protons moving at water-solid interfaces
Scientists at EPFL have been able to observe single protons moving at the interface between water and a solid surface. Their research reveals the strong interactions of these charges with surfaces. The H+ proton consists of a single ion of hydrogen, the smallest and lightest of all the chemical elements.

Physics - Materials Science - 26.05.2020

Understanding ceramic ’mortar’ of materials may reveal ways to improve them
When most people think of ceramics, they might envision their favorite mug or a flowerpot. But modern technology is full of advanced ceramics, from silicon solar panels to ceramic superconductors and biomedical implants. Many of those advanced polycrystalline ceramics are combinations of crystalline grains which, at the microscopic level, resemble a stone fence held together with limestone mortar.

Physics - Materials Science - 25.05.2020

Lossless conduction at the edges
Atomically thin layers of the semimetal tungsten ditelluride conduct electricity losslessly along narrow, one-dimensional channels at the crystal edges. The material is therefore a second-order topological insulator. By obtaining experimental proof of this behavior, physicists from the University of Basel have expanded the pool of candidate materials for topological superconductivity.

Materials Science - Transport - 22.05.2020

Solar energy farms could offer second life for electric vehicle batteries
Modeling study shows battery reuse systems could be profitable for both electric vehicle companies and grid-scale solar operations. As electric vehicles rapidly grow in popularity worldwide, there will soon be a wave of used batteries whose performance is no longer sufficient for vehicles that need reliable acceleration and range.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 20.05.2020

Team of Canadian and Italian researchers breaking new ground in materials science
A study by a team of researchers from Canada and Italy recently published could usher in a revolutionary development in materials science, leading to big changes in the way companies create modern electronics. The goal was to develop two-dimensional materials, which are a single atomic layer thick, with added functionality to extend the revolutionary developments in materials science that started with the discovery of graphene in 2004.

Materials Science - Physics - 20.05.2020

Machine-learning tool could help develop tougher materials
Engineers develop a rapid screening system to test fracture resistance in billions of potential materials. For engineers developing new materials or protective coatings, there are billions of different possibilities to sort through. Lab tests or even detailed computer simulations to determine their exact properties, such as toughness, can take hours, days, or more for each variation.

Physics - Materials Science - 18.05.2020

Efficient, "green" quantum-dot solar cells exploit defects
Quantum-dot approach shows promise for a new type of toxic-element-free, inexpensive, defect-tolerant solar cells This quantum-dot approach shows great promise for a new type of toxic-element-free, inexpensive solar cells that exhibit remarkable defect tolerance. Victor Klimov LOS ALAMOS, N.M. May 18, 2020-Novel quantum dot solar cells developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory match the efficiency of existing quantum-dot based devices, but without lead or other toxic elements that most solar cells of this type rely on.

Physics - Materials Science - 18.05.2020

Quantum Hall effect ’reincarnated’ in 3D topological materials
2D order protects several entangled states that could be used in quantum computing U.S. and German physicists have found surprising evidence that one of the most famous phenomena in modern physics - the quantum Hall effect - is "reincarnated” in topological superconductors that could be used to build fault-tolerant quantum computers.

Materials Science - Physics - 14.05.2020

Making Quantum ’Waves’ in Ultrathin Materials
Study co-led by Berkeley Lab reveals how wavelike plasmons could power up a new class of sensing and photochemical technologies at the nanoscale Wavelike, collective oscillations of electrons known as "plasmons" are very important for determining the optical and electronic properties of metals. In atomically thin 2D materials, plasmons have an energy that is more useful for applications, including sensors and communication devices, than plasmons found in bulk metals.

Health - Materials Science - 14.05.2020

How to assure high-quality masks
Empa researchers have worked with the Swiss textile industry to develop technologies and quality standards for textile masks. Hence so-called community masks can now be produced in Switzerland. In order to be able to provide Switzerland with effective protective material during the corona crisis, Empa researchers, together with the textile industry and other partners, have been working under high pressure in recent weeks on technologies and quality standards for so-called community masks.

Materials Science - Environment - 11.05.2020

Working up a sweat could power future wearable devices
A new generation of wearable devices could be powered by human sweat instead of conventional, environmentally-unfriendly batteries, scientists say. In a new paper published today in the journal Advanced Materials, engineers from the Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) group at the University of Glasgow describe how working up a sweat could be enough to generate power for exercise monitors and other electronic devices in the future.

Physics - Materials Science - 07.05.2020

Laser loop couples quantum systems over a distance
For the first time, researchers have succeeded in creating strong coupling between quantum systems over a greater distance. They accomplished this with a novel method in which a laser loop connects the systems, enabling nearly lossless exchange of information and strong interaction between them. In the scientific journal Science, the physicists from the University of Basel and University of Hanover reported that the new method opens up new possibilities in quantum networks and quantum sensor technology.

Physics - Materials Science - 07.05.2020

Researchers map tiny twists in "magic-angle" graphene
Results could help designers engineer high-temperature superconductors and quantum computing devices. Made of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern, graphene's structure is simple and seemingly delicate. Since its discovery in 2004, scientists have found that graphene is in fact exceptionally strong.

Environment - Materials Science - 06.05.2020

Filtering out toxic chromium from water
EPFL chemists have developed sponges to capture various target substances, like gold, mercury and lead, dissolved in solution. The sponges are actually porous crystals called metal organic frameworks, and now one exists for capturing toxic hexavalent chromium from water. Hexavalent chromium continues to contaminate water sources around the world, with one US company fined just this February for having put employees at risk.

Environment - Materials Science - 06.05.2020

Going against the trend
Global warming has affected the entire planet's surface, except for one particular area of the ocean, which has bucked the trend. A research team comprising scientists from ETH Zurich and Princeton University has unravelled the causes of this conundrum. Climate and marine scientists are observing pervasive warming of the ocean and the land surfaces across the globe.

Materials Science - Environment - 06.05.2020

New material engineered to capture carbon dioxide emissions
Researchers at UCL and Newcastle University have developed a new class of self-forming membrane to separate carbon dioxide from a mixture of gases. Operating like a coffee filter, it lets harmless gases, such as nitrogen, exit into the atmosphere and allows the carbon dioxide to be processed separately.

Physics - Materials Science - 05.05.2020

Less gold is Sometimes Better
Using an ultra-thin gold layer, scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) succeeded in creating an almost optimal infrared absorber. Possible applications range from astrophysics to virus detection. Infrared detectors play an important role in research: many molecules absorb electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range in a very characteristic way.

Environment - Materials Science - 30.04.2020

Largest amount of microplastics found on ocean floor
Our researchers have helped record the highest level of microplastics ever found on the ocean floor - with up to 1.9 million pieces in an area of just one square metre. The discovery highlights the problem of plastic pollution in our seas, 99 per cent of which lies beneath the waves. Working as part of an international team the researchers have shown how deep-sea currents act as conveyor belts, transporting tiny plastic fragments and fibres across the seafloor.