science wire

We hope to lead you on a gripping journey through the world of research and innovation; you may be surprised at how broad the term «applied research» is defined at Empa.

Scientists supported by the SNSF have produced novel electrolytes for rechargeable sodium and magnesium batteries. The research group's objective was to develop alternatives to lithium-ion technology. A project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) aims to find new materials which can be used in rechargeable batteries and eventually provide alternatives to the current lithium batteries.

At Empa's Electron Microscopy Center, a new transmission electron microscope has recently been used that offers completely new opportunities for the physical and chemical analysis of very small samples. It can be used, for example, to observe the growth of nanocrystals in real time - and to record it on video.

On 1 April 2017, Dominique Derome will become the new Head of the Laboratory for Multiscale Studies in Building Physics.

The building work on the new Solar Fitness & Wellness unit is making steady progress. From August onwards, users will be able to enthusiastically indulge their sporting passions and then afterwards no less enthusiastically relax and recover from their efforts.

Researchers from the Max Born Institute in Berlin, Empa and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have, for the first time, been able to observe minute, ultrafast atomic oscillations in a crystal lattice with the help of a new experimental technique. These oscillations, which are triggered by light pulses, are based on a physical effect - Raman scattering - which was postulated about 100 years ago.

Two students are now living in the NEST unit Vision Wood. Communications intern Ramona Ronner visited Patryk Spera and David Norris in their very unusual flat, and talked to them about their life in a research environment.

Six years after it first appeared, the second edition of the Swiss Cleantech Report was unveiled today at a press conference in Zurich.

A scanning tunneling microscope (STM), used to study changes in the shape of a single molecule at the atomic scale, impacts the ability of that molecule to make these changes; the entropy of the molecule is changed and, in turn, can be measured.

On February 2nd the EU approved Empa's «COFUND» application for financial support to the tune of more than '3.5 million, thereby securing partial funding for 50 post-doc positions at Empa over the next five years within the framework of the EU's Marie Sk'odowska-Curie actions.

Empa offers Switzerland a platform to exchange information and knowhow in the field of Additive Manufacturing: During a technology briefing held at Empa Academy on January 18, experts from industry a

Bridges, houses, dams - for decades, cement has been a permanent feature of our urban environment. What is deemed a robust and lasting material, however, is actually fragile and highly complex on the inside.

Nanotechnology is regarded as the key technology of the 21 st century, delivering the fundamental methods, which allow objects just a few hundred nanometers in size to be produced in any required shape.

Can thermal solar energy be stored until wintertime? Yes, this is possible, using a cheap material like sodium lye.

As of today the All-In-One sleep system developed by the «Polarmond» start-up company is ready for delivery.

The gold thread developed at Empa is having extensive repercussions. Hot on the heels of a dessous collection being refined with the new technology, scarves and luxury watches are now also available.

Aerogel is the perfect material for many insulation purposes. It is heat-resistant up to 600 degrees, ultralight, non-toxic - and provides excellent thermal insulation.

NEST, the modular research and innovation building by Empa and Eawag, is teeming with life. Since it opened its doors in May 2016, over 5,000 visitors have flocked to see the building.

Macroscopic crystal structures can absorb unwanted vibrations or filter noise - without any electronics or electricity whatsoever.

Empa researchers have pulled off a masterstroke of ceramics research: as of now, a dark-red ceramic bezel adorns a Swiss luxury watch - a world premiere and stunning example of top-flight materials science.

A new measurement station for air pollution monitoring has been opened in Beromünster, Canton Lucerne, the first since 1990. The measurement station, operated by Empa and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment is located on the site of the former international radio transmitter and monitors air pollution in the rural area of the Swiss Plateau.

Several peptides have an antibacterial effect - but they are broken down in the human body too quickly to exert this effect.

Empa has launched Switzerland's first hydrogen station for passenger cars on its campus in Dübendorf.

Empa is delighted to acknowledge the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 to Bernard L. Feringa, Fraser Stoddart and Jean-Pierre Sauvage - as it made a major contribution in 2011 to a research project carried out by Bernard L. Feringa.

For twelve years, the space probe Rosetta served mankind. The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is now drawing to a close as the probe reaches its final resting place on the target comet Tschuri on September 30, 2016.

A research team at Empa and ETH Zurich has developed single crystals made of lead halide perovskites, which are able to gage radioactive radiation with high precision. Initial experiments have shown that these crystals, which can be manufactured from aqueous solutions or low-priced solvents, work just as well as conventional cadmium telluride semi-conductors, which are considerably more complicated to produce.

A local festival, a pleasant summer's evening, a friendly game of boules - and suddenly a deafening bang.

The Reliability Science and Technology lab is set to focus on the topic of nanoscale transport phenomena and will have a new head, Michel Calame.

The much-travelled European research satellite Eureca was taken from the aerospace exhibition in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne and loaded onto a truck before setting off on yet another adventure.

Empa researcher Bernd Nowack is one of the editors-in-chief of the trade journal NanoImpact, which was launched in May, the first journal to focus solely on nanosafety research.

On 29 June the Swiss Federal Office of Energy hosted an information event at Empa presenting the annual report 2015 of the role model function of the Federal Administration for energy efficiency ("Energie-Vorbild Bund").

An international team of researchers headed by the University of Zurich and with participation of Empa has developed a system that enables them to electrically switch back and forth between adhesion and stiction (static friction) of a water drop on a solid surface.

Although terahertz radiation is as harmless as a lukewarm cup of tea, it can penetrate textiles and come into with the surface of the skin.

An international team of researchers led by the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and with the participation of researchers from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, has demonstrated how fine dust particles (so-called aerosols) in the atmosphere are formed from natural substances such as those evaporated from trees.

A unique research and innovation platform has opened its doors: on 23 May 2016, the modular experimental building NEST was inaugurated on the Dübendorf campus of the two research institutes Empa and Eawag.

Empa scientists have developed a technique that can repair old, cracked asphalt. They got their inspiration from a method used in cancer treatment based on nanoparticles.

At Empa's new Coating Competence Center, which has just opened, tailor-made surface technologies find their way from the research labs to marketable industrial applications.

Levels of greenhouse gas CO2 continue to rise and are about to exceed the next threshold. Empa makes sure that this and other air pollutants can be measured correctly and in a globally comparable way.

Researchers from Empa and the University of Basel have developed a new method of electrospraying which enables artificial muscles to be fabricated from nanometer-thin silicone layers.