science wire

By Doris Griesser Although microporous crystals are tiny, their potential is enormous. To exploit this, TU Graz has initiated the interdisciplinary lead project Porous Materials@Work.

Summer. Blue sky. Sunshine. But you don't notice much of it in the office or in your home, because the blinds block the view so that the heat stays outside.

The Mars camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has returned its first colour images of the red planet.

Research includes the fabrication of 3D nano-probes, radio-based positioning systems and the porosity of paper at three new Christian Doppler Laboratories to be opened at TU Graz on 25th April.

The eDumper dump truck is the largest electric vehicle in the world and will be in operation in a quarry in Péry in the Bernese Jura from 20 April.

The eDumper dump truck is the largest electric vehicle in the world and will be in operation in the quarry from 20 April.

An e-bike fueled with hydrogen instead of electricity? No, this is not a utopia, but reality: industrial gas specialist Linde has developed a hydrogen pedelec equipped with a compact fuel cell instead of the usual battery. Florian Freund was inspired by the invention for his Matura thesis: He developed a prototype with which the hydrogen e-bike can be refuelled safely at the H2 filling station on the Empa mobility demonstrator move.

In January 2018 the first pan-European database for secondary raw materials, including many "critical" ones, went online. Ever since, we have known more about which raw material depots reside in cars, batteries and electronic devices sold, used and stored in the 28 EU countries - and ultimately recycled or disposed of.

TU Graz, BMVIT, voestalpine, and other industry partners establish Austria's first endowed chair for aerospace research, occupied by Brazilian materials scientist Sergio Amancio.

EPFL chemists have developed a new material that can remove heavy metals from water and make it drinkable in seconds.

By Birgit Baustädter Oliver Hofmann, solid-state physicist at TU Graz, is working on the simulation and prediction of material properties.

Do violins made of wood that had been treated with fungi sound the same as a fine, antique instrument? Acoustics experts at Empa are currently studying the body and soul of instruments made of "mycowood". Precision structure-borne sound measurements and psycho-acoustic tests with volunteers should reveal whether a fungal treatment can really improve an instrument.

A residential module fully constructed from reusable, recyclable, and compostable materials: This is the premise for the newest unit in NEST, the modular research and innovation building run by Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf.

A residential module fully constructed from reusable, recyclable, and compostable materials: This is the premise for the newest unit in NEST, the modular research and innovation building run by Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf.

Today, the Faraday Institution announced up to £42 million in new government funding to four UK-based consortia to conduct application-inspired research aimed at overcoming battery challenges to accelerate the electric vehicle (EV) revolution.

To keep the body warm and dry during winter sports, high-performance clothing is a must. The demands on these textiles are high, as a person sweats up to one liter per hour on his upper body alone when skiing.

To keep the body warm and dry during winter sports, high-performance clothing is a must. The demands on these textiles are high, as a person sweats up to one liter per hour on his upper body alone when skiing.

Michel Calame is Head of Empa's Transport at Nanoscale Interfaces lab. The name says it all: the physicist aims to conduct research at the interface between physics and biology, where damp systems meet dry electronics and nano-devices display quantum mechanical effects because they are so minuscule.

Better thermal insulation means lower heating costs - but this should not be at the expense of exciting architecture.

Water could form the basis for future particularly inexpensive rechargeable batteries. Empa researchers have succeeded in doubling the electrochemical stability of water with a special saline solution. This takes us one step closer to using the technology commercially. In the quest to find safe, low-cost batteries for the future, eventually we have to ask ourselves a question: Why not simply use water as an electrolyte? Water is inexpensive, available everywhere, non-flammable and can conduct ions.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have fabricated an 80 m2 lightweight concrete slab at the DFAB House, making it the world's first full-scale architectural project to use 3D sand printing for its formwork.

Reactive nano-multilayers are considered to be a revolution in joining technology. They are envisaged for joining heat-sensitive materials that would otherwise be damaged or even destroyed upon conventional soldering.

By Thomas Hochrainer The relative ease of plastically deforming metallic materials is a prerequisite for their widespread application in mechanical engineering.

Tanja Zimmermann joined Empa's Board of Directors in September. She runs the new Functional Materials department - another step up in a successful career that began in Empa's Wood lab. Thanks to her inquisitiveness, creativity and an eye for the impossible, Zimmermann helped lift a previously little-known research field onto the international stage "Creativity is a basic requirement in research." Tanja Zimmermann is speaking from experience.

An e-bike fueled with hydrogen instead of electricity? No, this is not a utopia, but reality: industrial gas specialist Linde has developed a hydrogen pedelec equipped with a compact fuel cell instead of the usual battery. Florian Freund was inspired by the invention for his Matura thesis: He developed a prototype with which the hydrogen e-bike can be refuelled safely at the H2 filling station on the Empa mobility demonstrator move.

In January 2018 the first pan-European database for secondary raw materials, including many "critical" ones, went online. Ever since, we have known more about which raw material depots reside in cars, batteries and electronic devices sold, used and stored in the 28 EU countries - and ultimately recycled or disposed of.

Paolo Falcaro has secured a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant for his research into microporous crystals, known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), at TU Graz.

In the future, new designer alloys for aerospace applications can be manufactured using the 3-D laser melting process (Additive Manufacturing).

An artificial heart would be an absolute lifesaver for people with cardiac failure. However, to recreate the complex organ in the laboratory, one would first need to work out how to grow multi-layered, living tissues.

Buildings made of reusable components: that is the aim of a research collaboration between Empa and the University of Luxembourg.

Two interdisciplinary basic research projects in the fields of biomechanics and materials sciences will be funded to the amount of 3.5 million euros from TU Graz funds for three years from 2018.

Each year, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) presents its Publication Award to researchers who have made an exceptional scientific contribution to the field of waste disposal. For the second time in a row, the prize has been won by the Empa researcher David Turner, this year for his analyses of the environmental effects of different methods of waste disposal.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have built a prototype of an ultra-thin, curved concrete roof using innovative digital design and fabrication methods.

Lithium ion batteries are flammable and the price of the raw material is rising. Are there alternatives' Yes: Empa and ETH Zürich researchers have discovered promising approaches as to how we might produce batteries out waste graphite and scrap metal.

Fabien Sorin, an assistant professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Section, has been awarded the 2017 Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching.