Latest Solid Stories
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology By means of special metamaterials, light and sound can be passed around objects. KIT researchers now succeeded in demonstrating that the same materials can also be used to specifically influence the propagation of heat. A structured plate of copper and silicon conducts heat around a central area without the edge being affected. The results are presented in the Physical Review Letters journal. “For the thermal invisibility cloak, both materials have to...
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Chemistry Division scientists have developed a second generation, cost-effective polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-like phthalonitrile-resin demonstrating superior high temperature and flammability properties for use in numerous marine, aerospace, and domestic applications. The resin can be used to make composite components by established industrial methods such as resin transfer molding (RTM), resin infusion molding (RIM),...
A new process for growing forests of manganese dioxide nanorods may lead to the next generation of high-performance capacitors. As an energy-storage material for batteries and capacitors, manganese dioxide has a lot going for it: it’s cheap, environmentally friendly and abundant. However, chemical capacitors made with manganese dioxide have lacked the power of the typical carbon-based physical capacitor. Michigan Technological University scientist Dennis Desheng Meng theorized that the...
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard [ Watch the Video Adaptive Material Demonstration ] Tunable material system designed by Harvard team is easily adaptable for diverse applications in fuel transport, textiles, optical systems, and more Imagine a tent that blocks light on a dry and sunny day, and becomes transparent and water-repellent on a dim, rainy day. Or highly precise, self-adjusting contact lenses that also clean themselves. Or pipelines that can...
Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology show that a recently discovered class of materials can be used to create a new kind of solar cell. Single atomic layers are combined to create novel materials with completely new properties. Layered oxide heterostructures are a new class of materials, which has attracted a great deal of attention among materials scientists in the last few years. A research team at the Vienna University of Technology, together with colleagues from the USA...
A new way of making crystalline silicon, developed by U-M researchers, could make this crucial ingredient of computers and solar cells much cheaper and greener. Silicon dioxide, or sand, makes up about 40 percent of the earth's crust, but the industrial method for converting sand into crystalline silicon is expensive and has a major environmental impact due to the extreme processing conditions. "The crystalline silicon in modern electronics is currently made through a series of...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Surfaces that can shed water and survive harsh environments could have broad applications in a wide range of industries including energy, water, transportation, construction and medicine. The condensation of water is an integral part of many industrial processes, for example, and most electric power plants and desalination plants have condensers. Materials that prevent water from spreading over a surface – hydrophobic materials -...
[ Watch the Video: Using Snail Teeth to Improve Solar Cells and Batteries ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new study led by the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering is using the teeth of a coastal California marine snail to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials in an effort to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries. Published in the recent issue of Advanced Functional Materials, assistant professor of...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Like a fine wine or aged cheese, ultrastable glass takes a long time to make, needs special conditions and is considered quite valuable. Unfortunately, manufacturers who want to take advantage of the strengths of ultrastable glass don’t have the luxury of waiting hundreds of years for it to develop. While exploring ways to create this valuable material on a shorter timetable, researchers from the University of Wisconson-Madison have...
FARMINGTON, Conn., Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- A shortage of sapphire material between 2010 and 2011 created a window of opportunity for new entrants. In just the last two years, more than 80 companies announced their intention to enter the industry. This trend coupled with slow demand from LED makers in 2012, has manifested a challenging environment with cores and wafers often selling at prices at or below manufacturing cost. These difficult market conditions will trigger an...
