Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Novel 3D Printing method embeds sensing capabilities within Robotic Actuators

Soft robots that can sense touch, pressure, movement and temperature. Inspired by our bodies’ sensory capabilities, researchers have developed a platform for creating soft robots with embedded sensors that can sense movement, pressure, touch, and even temperature. Researchers at Harvard University have built soft robots inspired by nature that can crawl, swim, grasp delicate objects and even assist a beating heart, but none of these devices has been able to sense and respond to the world around them.

Inspired by our bodies’ sensory capabilities, researchers at the Harvard John A...

PCN nanolayers under sunlight can split water. Credit: Nannan Meng /Tianjin University

One of the major challenges of the energy transition is to supply energy even when the sun is not shining. Hydrogen production by splitting water with the help of sunlight could offer a solution. Hydrogen is a good energy storage medium and can be used in many ways. However, water does not simply split by itself. Catalysts are needed, for instance Platinum, which is rare and expensive. Research teams the world over are looking for more economical alternatives. Now a team headed by Dr. Tristan Petit from the HZB, together with colleagues led by Prof. Bin Zhang from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, has made important progress using a well-known class of metal-free photocatalysts.

Bin Zhang and his team ...

Image (a) is a cross-sectional SEM image of the Li5La3Nb2O12 crystal layer and image (b) shows computationally simulated trajectories of the Li, La, Nb, and O framework atoms obtained for ?3 (2-1-1) = (1-21) at a temperature of 1300 K. Credit: Nobuyuki Zettsu Ph.D., the Center for Energy and Environmental Science, the Department of Materials Chemistry, Shinshu University

Researchers have developed a new way to improve lithium ion battery efficiency. Through the growth of a cubic crystal layer, the scientists have created a thin and dense connecting layer between the electrodes of the battery...

This is a sketch of the experiment. Credit: HZB

Thermoelectric materials can use thermal differences to generate electricity. Now there is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly way of producing them with the simplest of components: a normal pencil, photocopy paper, and conductive paint are sufficient to convert a temperature difference into electricity via the thermoelectric effect. Thermoelectric materials need to have low thermal conductivity despite their high electrical conductivity. Thermoelectric devices made of inorganic semiconductor materials such as bismuth telluride are already being used today in certain technological applications. However, such material systems are expensive and their use only pays off in certain situations...