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Categories: Energy: Technology, Mathematics: Puzzles
Published Global experts propose a path forward in generating clean power from waste energy


Scientists have created a comprehensive 'roadmap' to guide global efforts to convert waste energy into clean power.
Published Robot caterpillar demonstrates new approach to locomotion for soft robotics


Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward and dip under narrow spaces. The caterpillar-bot's movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires that use heat to control the way the robot bends, allowing users to steer the robot in either direction.
Published New invention: The oxygen-ion battery


An oxygen-ion-battery has been invented, based on ceramic materials. If it degrades, it can be regenerated, therefore it potentially has an extremely long lifespan. Also, it does not require any rare elements and it is incombustible. For large energy storage systems, this could be an optimal solution.
Published Cracking the concrete code


New research introduces metamaterial concrete for the development of smart civil infrastructure systems. Researchers present a new concept for lightweight and mechanically-tunable concrete systems that have integrated energy harvesting and sensing functionality.
Published Synthesis gas and battery power from sunlight energy


Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight. Now researchers have applied this principle as the basis for developing new sustainable processes which in the future may produce syngas (synthetic gas) for the large-scale chemical industry and be able to charge batteries.
Published 'Y-ball' compound yields quantum secrets


Scientists investigating a compound called 'Y-ball' -- which belongs to a mysterious class of 'strange metals' viewed as centrally important to next-generation quantum materials -- have found new ways to probe and understand its behavior.
Published High-energy-density, long life-cycle rechargeable lithium metal batteries


Research shows promise for developing high-energy-density rechargeable lithium-metal batteries and addressing the electrochemical oxidation instability of ether-based electrolytes.
Published 'Green' hydrogen: How photoelectrochemical water splitting may become competitive


Sunlight can be used to produce green hydrogen directly from water in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells. So far, most systems based on this 'direct approach' have not been energetically competitive. However, the balance changes as soon as some of the hydrogen in such PEC cells is used in-situ for a catalytic hydrogenation reaction, resulting in the co-production of chemicals used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The energy payback time of photoelectrochemical 'green' hydrogen production can be reduced dramatically, the study shows.
Published Researchers create breakthrough spintronics manufacturing process that could revolutionize the electronics industry


Researchers have developed a breakthrough process for making spintronic devices that has the potential to create semiconductors chips with unmatched energy efficiency and storage for use in computers, smartphones, and many other electronics.
Published Minimizing electric vehicles' impact on the grid


Some projections show that widespread adoption of electric vehicles might require costly new power plants to meet peak loads in the evening. A new study shows that placing EV charging stations strategic ways and setting up systems to initiate charging at delayed times could lessen or eliminate the need for new power plants.
Published Propeller advance paves way for quiet, efficient electric aviation


Electrification is seen as having an important role to play in the fossil-free aviation of tomorrow. But electric aviation is battling a trade-off dilemma: the more energy-efficient an electric aircraft is, the noisier it gets. Now, researchers have developed a propeller design optimization method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation.
Published Game-changing high-performance semiconductor material could help slash heat emissions


Researchers have engineered a material with the potential to dramatically cut the amount of heat power plants release into the atmosphere.
Published Researchers develop soft robot that shifts from land to sea with ease


Most animals can quickly transition from walking to jumping to crawling to swimming if needed without reconfiguring or making major adjustments. Most robots cannot. But researchers have now created soft robots that can seamlessly shift from walking to swimming, for example, or crawling to rolling using a bistable actuator made of 3D-printed soft rubber containing shape-memory alloy springs that react to electrical currents by contracting, which causes the actuator to bend. The team used this bistable motion to change the actuator or robot's shape. Once the robot changes shape, it is stable until another electrical charge morphs it back to its previous configuration.
Published Are piezoelectrics good for generating electricity? Perhaps, but we must decide how to evaluate them


A 'best practice' protocol for researchers developing piezoelectric materials has been developed by scientists. The protocol was developed by an international team led by physicists in response to findings that experimental reports lack consistency. The researchers made the shocking discovery that nine out of 10 scientific papers miss experimental information that is crucial to ensure the reproducibility of the reported work.
Published 3D internal structure of rechargeable batteries revealed


Researchers have pioneered a technique to observe the 3D internal structure of rechargeable batteries. This opens up a wide range of areas for the new technique from energy storage and chemical engineering to biomedical applications.
Published Experiment unlocks bizarre properties of strange metals


Physicists are learning more about the bizarre behavior of 'strange metals,' which operate outside the normal rules of electricity.
Published Electrocatalysis under the atomic force microscope


A further development in atomic force microscopy now makes it possible to simultaneously image the height profile of nanometer-fine structures as well as the electric current and the frictional force at solid-liquid interfaces. A team has succeeded in analyzing electrocatalytically active materials and gaining insights that will help optimize catalysts. The method is also potentially suitable for studying processes on battery electrodes, in photocatalysis or on active biomaterials.
Published New kind of transistor could shrink communications devices on smartphones


One month after announcing a ferroelectric semiconductor at the nanoscale thinness required for modern computing components, a team has now demonstrated a reconfigurable transistor using that material. Their work paves the way for single amplifiers that can do the work of multiple conventional amplifiers, among other possibilities.
Published New 'camera' with shutter speed of 1 trillionth of a second sees through dynamic disorder of atoms


Researchers have developed a new 'camera' that sees the local disorder in materials. Its key feature is a variable shutter speed: because the disordered atomic clusters are moving, when the team used a slow shutter, the dynamic disorder blurred out, but when they used a fast shutter, they could see it. The method uses neutrons to measure atomic positions with a shutter speed of around one picosecond, a trillion times faster than normal camera shutters.
Published Electric vehicle batteries could get big boost with new polymer coating


Scientists have developed a polymer coating that could enable longer lasting, more powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The advance opens up a new approach to developing EV batteries that are more affordable and easy to manufacture.