Materials Science
Teijin enhances heat and impact resistance of its bioplastic
April 3, 2013 3:11 pm | News | CommentsJapan-based Teijin Limited has developed technology to significantly enhance the heat and impact resistance of PLANEXT, the company’s high-performance bioplastic. The technology modifies the molecular design of PLANEXT to achieve greatly improved heat resistance with a glass-transition temperature of 120 C, as well as superior resistance to impact.
Manipulating ultrafast spin at terahertz frequencies
April 3, 2013 10:46 am | News | CommentsThe use of femtosecond light pulses—the fastest man-made event—with photon energies ranging from X-rays (as used for instance at the HZB femto-slicing facility) to terahertz spectral range has proved to be an indispensable tool in ultrafast spin and magnetization dynamics studies. Researchers have recently demonstrated a simple but powerful way of manipulating the spins at these unprecedented speeds.
A new understanding of metallic glass
April 3, 2013 9:00 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGelatin sets by forming a solid matrix full of random, liquid-filled pores—much like a saturated sponge. It turns out that a similar process also happens in some metallic glasses, substances whose molecular behavior has now been clarified by new Massachusetts Institute of Technology research detailing the “setting” of these metal alloys.
Nanoengineered plastic film is the future of 3D on-the-go
April 2, 2013 12:40 pm | News | CommentsDitch the 3D glasses. Thanks to a simple plastic filter, mobile device users can now view unprecedented, distortion-free, brilliant 3D content with the naked eye. This latest innovation from researchers in Singapore is the first ever glasses-free 3D accessory that can display content in both portrait and landscape mode, and measures less than 0.1 mm in thickness.
Inorganic materials display massive swelling and shrinkage
April 1, 2013 8:15 pm | News | CommentsThere is high interest in methods to produce 2D crystals by exfoliating materials with layered structures, but certain ions or solvents can infiltrate materials with layered structures, forcing exfoliation spontaneously and complicating efforts to build practical materials. While working to develop these procedures, researchers in Japan have reported an unusual phenomenon that layered materials undergo drastic swelling without breaking into separate 2D crystal layers.
Engineers enable bulk silicon to emit visible light for the first time
March 27, 2013 2:56 pm | News | CommentsCertain semiconductors, when imparted with energy, in turn emit light; they directly produce photons, instead of producing heat. This phenomenon is commonplace and used in light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Research from the University of Pennsylvania has enabled "bulk" silicon to emit broad-spectrum, visible light for the first time, opening the possibility of using the element in devices that have both electronic and photonic components.
Clays expand under pressure
March 27, 2013 8:20 am | News | CommentsIt was always believed that water is “squeezed” out of the clay structure under pressure, but physicists at Umeå University, together with German colleagues, show that this appears to be not always true if excess of liquid water is available around.
Hybrid ribbons a gift for powerful batteries
March 25, 2013 12:21 pm | by Mike Williams, Rice University | News | CommentsAccording to recent research at Rice University, vanadium oxide and graphene may be a key new set of materials for improving lithium-ion storage. Ribbons created at Rice from these two materials are thousands of times thinner than a sheet of paper, yet have potential that far outweighs current materials for their ability to charge and discharge very quickly. Initial capacity remains at 90% or more after more than 1,000 cycles.
Nanowire solar cells raise efficiency limit
March 25, 2013 8:35 am | News | CommentsThe typical solar cell efficiency limit―called the "Shockley-Queisser Limit"―has for many years has been a landmark for solar cell efficiency. Scientists from at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and other colleagues have shown that a single nanowire can increase this limit by concentrating sunlight up to 15 times normal intensity.
Paint-on plastic electronics
March 25, 2013 7:51 am | News | CommentsSemiconducting polymers are an unruly bunch, but University of Michigan engineers have developed a new method for getting them in line that could pave the way for cheaper, greener, "paint-on" plastic electronics.
New solar cell design based on dots, wires
March 25, 2013 7:40 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsUsing exotic particles called quantum dots as the basis for a photovoltaic cell is not a new idea, but attempts to make such devices have not yet achieved sufficiently high efficiency in converting sunlight to power. A new wrinkle added by a team of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—embedding the quantum dots within a forest of nanowires—promises to provide a significant boost.
Engineers explain physics of fluids over 100 years after original discovery
March 22, 2013 2:12 pm | News | CommentsSome 135 years ago, the English physicist Lord Baron Rayleigh wrote that two fluid jets or drops do not always merge into one body of liquid, a counter-intuitive phenomena in physics that has since been studied in much detail. Much work has been done in drop-bath bouncing, but no work has been done in bouncing jets except for a couple of demonstrations in textbooks. Researchers at Virginia Tech have demonstrated and explain this phenomenon for the first time.
Engineers explain physics of fluids over 100 years after original discovery
March 22, 2013 2:12 pm | News | CommentsSome 135 years ago, the English physicist Lord Baron Rayleigh wrote that two fluid jets or drops do not always merge into one body of liquid, a counter-intuitive phenomena in physics that has since been studied in much detail. Much work has been done in drop-bath bouncing, but no work has been done in bouncing jets except for a couple of demonstrations in textbooks. Researchers at Virginia Tech have demonstrated and explain this phenomenon for the first time.
Engineers explain physics of fluids over 100 years after original discovery
March 22, 2013 2:12 pm | News | CommentsSome 135 years ago, the English physicist Lord Baron Rayleigh wrote that two fluid jets or drops do not always merge into one body of liquid, a counter-intuitive phenomena in physics that has since been studied in much detail. Much work has been done in drop-bath bouncing, but no work has been done in bouncing jets except for a couple of demonstrations in textbooks. Researchers at Virginia Tech have demonstrated and explain this phenomenon for the first time.
Carbon dioxide could help produce valuable chemical cheaply
March 21, 2013 5:09 pm | News | CommentsChemical companies each year churn out billions of tons of acrylate, a valuable commodity chemical involved in the manufacture of everything from polyester cloth to disposable diapers. It is usually made by heating propylene, a compound derived from crude oil. Researchers at Brown and Yale universities have demonstrated a new “enabling technology” that could instead use excess carbon dioxide to produce acrylate.
Researchers trap light, improve laser potential of MEH-PPV polymer
March 21, 2013 8:33 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have come up with a low-cost way to enhance a polymer called MEH-PPV's ability to confine light, advancing efforts to use the material to convert electricity into laser light for use in photonic devices.
X-ray laser explores how to write data with light
March 21, 2013 7:52 am | News | CommentsUsing laser light to read and write magnetic data by quickly flipping tiny magnetic domains could help keep pace with the demand for faster computing devices. Now experiments with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser have given scientists their first detailed look at how light controls the first trillionth of a second of this process, known as all-optical magnetic switching.
Magnetic nano-droplet discovery presents telecom opportunity
March 20, 2013 5:06 pm | News | CommentsA team that includes researchers from Sweden has successfully created a magnetic soliton, a spin torque-generated nano-droplet that could lead to technological innovation in such areas as mobile telecommunications. This construct was first theorized 35 years ago and scientists have long believed that they exist in magnetic environments, but until now they had never been observed
Researchers use simple sonochemical method to synthesize zinc oxide nanostructures
March 20, 2013 7:51 am | News | CommentsA research team from the U.S., Iran, and Malaysia has produced of zinc oxide nanostructures by using zinc acetate as the initiator through a new, fast, and simple sonochemical method. The chemicals required for the synthesis of zinc oxide include zinc acetate salt, sodium hydroxide, and ammonia solution without the need to other structure controlling agents or surfactants. It does not require high temperature or highly toxic materials.
3D printing turns models into reality
March 19, 2013 10:23 am | by Steve Koppes, University of Chicago | News | CommentsProfessor Heinrich Jaeger's laboratory at the University of Chicago uses 3D printing to test complex qualities and phenomona of shapes made via computer. One such phenomenon is jamming, in which aggregates of randomly placed particles, including spheres or more complicated shapes, or even molecules, transition from fluid-like to solid-like behavior. Recent analysis shows how the properties of a jammed material can be tuned by changing the shape of the constituent particles.
Honeycomb nets from bismuth cubes
March 19, 2013 8:07 am | News | CommentsResearchers from Dresden have discovered a new material that conducts electric currents without loss of power over its edges and remains an insulator in its interior. The material is made out of bismuth cubes packed in a honeycomb motif that is known from the graphene structure. As opposed to graphene, the new material exhibits its peculiar electrical property at room temperature, giving it promise for applications in nanoelectronics.
Researchers synthesize negative-charge carrying molecular structures
March 18, 2013 4:24 pm | News | CommentsUniversity of Oregon chemists have synthesized organic molecular structures that move both positive and negative electrical charges—a highly desired but often difficult combination to achieve in current efforts to create highly flexible electronic devices and other new-age technologies.
Researchers improve laser potential of MEH-PPV polymer
March 18, 2013 1:45 pm | News | CommentsMEH-PPV is a low-cost polymer that can be integrated with silicon chips, and researchers have sought to use it to convert electricity into laser light for use in photonic devices. However, attempts to do this have failed because the amount of electricity needed to generate laser light in MEH-PPV was so high that it caused the material to degrade. Researchers have recently come up with a low-cost way to enhance MEH-PPV’s ability to confine light, protecting the material.
Peratech working on “nose in clothes" for wearable electronics
March 18, 2013 10:49 am | News | CommentsTouch technology company is working with the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London to develop wearable electronics that use Peratech's QTC sensors. This years-long research project is exploring the needs base and applications for wearable technology bringing together the expertise of industry and academe in a highly creative way.
Scientists create flexible mineral inspired by deep-sea sponges
March 15, 2013 11:10 am | News | CommentsImitating the structural elements found in most sea sponges, researchers in Germany have created a new synthetic hybrid material that is extremely flexible yet has a mineral content of almost 90%. They recreated the sponge’s spicules using natural calcium carbonate and integrated a protein of the sponge. The invention is even more flexible than its natural counterpart.
