Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

The potential of this discovery in terms of reducing energy use and therefore our energy bills is really exciting. Dr Lidija Šiller, joint lead author, Newcastle University

Experts have created a new form of highly-efficient, low-cost, sustainable insulation based on the wings of a dragonfly. The material, known as an aerogel, is the most porous material known to man and ultralight, with a piece the size of a family car weighing less than a kilogram. Starting out as a wet silica gel, similar in structure to jelly, the material is carefully dried to create a strong, porous material...

A: Food materials are pulverized under ultra-low temperature close to -100 degrees Celsius. B: Micro-sized food materials are reconstructed into a porous film-shaped material by jetting bonding an agent under optimized water content and heat conditions. The process to build film-type materials is repeated layer by layer to form to a three-dimensional food block. C: The exterior of foods and internal microstructure of a food block with specific porosity is designed to give texture with controlled human body absorption while eating and ingesting. Credit: Jin-Kyu Rhee, Ewha Womans University

Researchers 3D print food with customized texture and body absorption characteristics...

2018 EECS Forrest Organic Solar Cell. Credit: Michigan Engineering

In an advance that makes a more flexible, inexpensive type of solar cell commercially viable, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated organic solar cells that can achieve 15% efficiency. This level of efficiency is in the range of many solar panels, or photovoltaics, currently on the market. “Organic photovoltaics can potentially cut way down on the total solar energy system cost, making solar a truly ubiquitous clean energy source,” said Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and Paul G. Goebel Professor of Engineering, who led the work.

At 15% efficiency and given a 20-year lifetime, researchers estimate organic solar cells could produce electricity at a cost o...

This shows the reaction mechanism for converting hydrogen fluoride (HF) impurity from the electrolyte into lithium fluoride (LiF) in the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) with release of hydrogen gas (H2). The SEI layer is shown on a substrate of gold (Au) atoms, which serves as a simplified model system. Scientists determined this mechanism using advanced computational methods (density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations). Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

An international team makes breakthrough in understanding the chemistry of the microscopically thin layer that forms between the liquid electrolyte and solid electrode in lithium-ion batteries. The results are being used in improving the layer and better predicting battery lifetime...