Material Science

Injuries to peripheral nerves — tissues that transmit bioelectrical signals from the brain to the rest of the body — often result in chronic pain, neurologic disorders, paralysis or disability. Now, researchers have developed a stretchable conductive hydrogel that could someday be used to repair these types of nerves when there’s damage. They report their…

Carbon nanotubes exhibit remarkable properties such as mechanical strength 100x that of steel at 1/6 the weight and could revolutionize numerous industries. Unfortunately, existing manufacturing approaches have not adequately lowered the production cost of this game-changing material, preventing mainstream adoption. SkyNano overcame this limitation by creating a manufacturing process that significantly reduces carbon nanotube production…

Dow (NYSE:DOW) announced the winners of the 2020 Packaging Innovation Awards recognizing breakthrough packaging achievements in design, technology, sustainability and user experience. The highest honor, the Diamond Award, went to Henkel’s  Social Plastic Ecosystem in collaboration with Plastic Bank. To create a new line of sustainable cosmetic packaging, Henkel conducted a pilot program that utilized recycled…

DuPont (NYSE: DD), a producer of silicone-based technology and innovations for healthcare, is making significant investments in both capital and resources to strengthen strategic capabilities of its Liveo brand healthcare silicone solutions. Underscoring its long-term commitment to the healthcare industry – and confidence in its growth potential – DuPont is investing in innovation, as well…

Argonne National Laboratory’s ElectroCorrosion Toolkit is the only testing protocol that predicts the corrosion behavior of materials under actual in-service conditions, thereby enabling manufacturers to accurately evaluate and qualify their materials and coatings. The Toolkit has a wide range of commercial, industrial, medical, defense, civil, nuclear and other applications. It includes the use of techniques…

Clear optical properties, reliable and durable protection, easy and robust processing are key characteristics for LED luminaire encapsulants in harsh environments. Lighting under harsh environments (outdoor, explosion-proof) particularly suffers from heavy and costly fixtures for protecting the electronic parts, and to penetrate this market, lightweight LED luminaires require sustainable and reliable protection. The luminaire market…

Superclean Glass has developed a new technology that has potential to reduce the cost of solar energy: New generation of electrostatic based self-cleaning technology for increasing energy yield from dusty solar panels. The original concept was used by NASA to prevent Martian dust deposition on solar panels of the Mars rovers, where the screen of…

Argonne National Laboratory and Northern Illinois University developed a new versatile method for preparing highly effective electro-catalyst for CO2 to chemical conversion. At over 90% selectivity under low-voltage, at notably reduced onset potential with remarkable long-term stability, these results represent state-of-the-art performances, outperforming the best-published works in recent literature. Key to this breakthrough technology in…

By Karen K Dunlap An international multi-institution team of scientists has synthesized graphene nanoribbons – ultrathin strips of carbon atoms – on a titanium dioxide surface using an atomically precise method that removes a barrier for custom-designed carbon nanostructures required for quantum information sciences.   Graphene is composed of single-atom-thick layers of carbon taking on…

The Three Electrodes Coin Cell, invented by General Motors, has a novel non-swagelok type 3-electrode cell design, providing many benefits and advantages compared with other Swagelok type cells. The coin format design offers compatibility with the current coin format cell electrode and cell parts on the commercial market. The non-swagelok design also enables a tight…

Most farming regions that experience severe droughts have abundant brackish water aquifers that are too expensive to access. Membrion’s Ceramic Ion Exchange Membranes, made from silica gel, the desiccant in the bottom of a beef jerky package, provide a 30% reduction to the levelized cost of brackish water purification compared to the gold standard currently…

By Chris Adam, [email protected] Purdue University innovators are taking cues from nature to develop 3D photodetectors for biomedical imaging. The Purdue researchers used some architectural features from spider webs to develop the technology. Spider webs typically provide excellent mechanical adaptability and damage-tolerance against various mechanical loads such as storms. “We employed the unique fractal design…

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s transformative Self-Healing Cement fills cracks and restores cement to its original mechanical integrity in intense, high-temperature environments. The combination of synthetic polymer and cement outperforms conventional concrete. The pollution-preventing technology extends the life of cement by at least 30 years. The cement also reduces drilling interruptions and costly repairs. Self-healing cement…

By Karen K Dunlap Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee designed and demonstrated a method to make carbon-based materials that can be used as electrodes compatible with a specific semiconductor circuitry. The work bridges nanoscale 3D printing and widely available processes for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, or CMOS, technologies to enable biosensors…

By varying the energy and dose of tightly focused electron beams, researchers have demonstrated the ability to both etch away and deposit high-resolution nanoscale patterns on two-dimensional layers of graphene oxide. The 3D additive/subtractive “sculpting” can be done without changing the chemistry of the electron beam deposition chamber, providing the foundation for building a new…

By Diana Anderson Vehicles powered by polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are energy-efficient and eco-friendly, but despite increasing public interest in PEMFC-powered transportation, current performance of materials that are used in fuel cells limits their widespread commercialization. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory led a team to investigate reactions…

By Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office MIT engineers have designed a Velcro-like food sensor, made from an array of silk microneedles, that pierces through plastic packaging to sample food for signs of spoilage and bacterial contamination. The sensor’s microneedles are molded from a solution of edible proteins found in silk cocoons and are designed…

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used quantum optics to advance state-of-the-art microscopy and illuminate a path to detecting material properties with greater sensitivity than is possible with traditional tools. “We showed how to use squeezed light – a workhorse of quantum information science – as a practical resource for microscopy,”…

by University of California San Diego Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered a new anode material that enables lithium-ion batteries to be safely recharged within minutes for thousands of cycles. Known as a disordered rocksalt, the new anode is made up of earth-abundant lithium, vanadium and oxygen atoms arranged in a similar way as…

By Chris Adam Purdue University researchers have passed another significant milestone as they work to take a new two-dimensional nanomaterial to market for use in nanoelectronics, quantum devices and infrared technology used in national defense tools and biochemical sensors. The Purdue team received a U.S. patent for the nanomaterial, derived from the rare element tellurium,…

by Cornell University A Cornell University-led collaboration has created the first microscopic robots that incorporate semiconductor components, allowing them to be controlled – and made to walk – with standard electronic signals. These robots, roughly the size of paramecium, provide a template for building even more complex versions that utilize silicon-based intelligence, can be mass…

by Theresa Duque (Adapted from news release by Robert Perkins, Caltech) The quest for renewable fuels harvested from the sun continues, as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced two new major awards focused on advancing artificial photosynthesis technologies for the production of fuels from sunlight. As part of this effort, DOE has awarded…

A team of scientists at the University of Southampton have established significant results in the elimination of Covid-19 within minutes, on a copper-based alloy, demonstrating its ability to reduce coronavirus transmission rates, via commonly touched surfaces, manufactured with this metal. Working with Sylatech, an engineering business in North Yorkshire, U.K., Professor Bill Keevil, Dr. SandraWilks…

By Lee Teschler Engineers trying to shield RF-sensitive circuitry a few years from now may have the option of using material that absorbs RF energy rather than just reflecting it. So say researchers at Drexel University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. They are researching a class of material called MXenes, and more…

By Lee Teschler If you’ve used an ink-jet printer or a tiny hearing aid, chances are those devices have employed lead-zirconium-titanium oxide (PZT, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3) piezoelectric ceramics as a means of generating ink droplets and amplified audio. These and numerous other applications have long used actuators and sensors employing piezoelectric materials which deform in response to…