When it comes to designing and optimizing mechanical systems, scientists understand the physical laws surrounding them well enough to create computer models that can predict their properties and behavior. However, scientists who are working to design better electrochemical systems, such as batteries or supercapacitors, don’t yet have a comprehensive model of the driving forces that…
Take a Break
The properties of a solid depend on the arrangement of its atoms, which form a periodic crystal structure. At the nanoscale, arrangements that break this periodic structure can drastically alter the behavior of the material, but this is difficult to measure. Recent advances by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory…
Organic Solar Cells Eyed as Cheaper Solution to Inorganic
Organic solar cells could be an inexpensive and versatile alternative to inorganic solar cells. However, their low efficiencies and limited lifetimes currently render them impractical for commercial use. As part of an effort to enable performance improvements and bring these solar cells closer to practical adoption, researchers at the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center (ANSER),…
An Electronic Forget-Me-Not
Even as the power of our modern computers grows exponentially, biological systems — like our brains — remain the ultimate learning machines. By finding materials that act in ways similar to the mechanisms that biology uses to retain and process information, scientists hope to find clues to help us build smarter computers. Inspired by human…