Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

This is a lithium battery temperature sensor. Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

Researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick have developed a new direct, precise test of Lithium-ion batteries’ internal temperatures and their electrodes potentials and found that the batteries can be safely charged up to five times faster than the current recommended charging limits.

The new technology works in-situ during a battery’s normal operation without impeding its performance and it has been tested on standard commercially available batteries...

These are rectangular shapes printed at the TU Eindhoven 3-D-concrete printer. Suiker elaborated his equations for rectangular layouts like these. Credit: Rob Wolfs/Eindhoven University of Technology

3D-printed materials commonly are soft and flexible during printing, leaving printed walls susceptible to collapse or falling over. Akke Suiker, professor in Applied Mechanics at Eindhoven University of Technology, had a Eureka moment and saw the solution to this structural problem. He developed a model with which engineers can now easily determine the dimensions and printing speeds for which printed wall structures remain stable. His formulae are so elementary that they can become commonplace in the fast growing field of 3D printing.

Conventional concrete deposited in formwork typically is al...

Examples of the new smart material, left to right: A flexible strip; a flexible strip that stiffened when twisted; a flexible strip transformed into a hard composite that can hold up a weight. Credit: Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University

Scientists have developed a rubbery material that transforms itself into a hard composite when bent, twisted or squeezed. The new material could be used in medicine to support delicate tissues or in industry to protect valuable sensors. Stress a muscle and it gets stronger. Mechanically stress the rubbery material – say with a twist or a bend – and the material automatically stiffens by up to 300%, the engineers said...

Computer modeling shows how a tiny lattice is 3-D printed in 150-nanometer layers. When the structure is heated, it can shrink by 80 percent. Credit: Greer Lab/Caltech

By mixing metal ions and organic ligands, scientists have developed a process for the 3D printing of metal structures that are smaller than ever before. The process, once scaled up, could be used in a wide variety of applications, from building tiny medical implants to creating 3D logic circuits on computer chips to engineering ultralightweight aircraft components. It also opens the door to the creation of a new class of materials with unusual properties that are based on their internal structure.

In 3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing – an object is built layer by layer, allowing for the creation of structure...