Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

C. metallidurans can produce small gold nuggets. Credit: American Society for Microbiology

High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. One interesting side-effect: the formation of tiny gold nuggets. A team of researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Adelaide in Australia has discovered the molecular processes that take place inside the bacteria.

The rod-shaped bacterium C. metallidurans primarily lives in soils that are enriched with numerous heavy metals...

This is MIT professor Stefanie Mueller, pictured in her lab. Credit: Jason Dorfman, MIT CSAIL

3D printing has come a long way since the first “rapid prototyping” patent was rejected in 1980. Still, there’s a big issue: once objects are printed, they’re final. But imagine if, for example, you could recolor your iPhone case or earrings to match whatever outfit you’re wearing. Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have gotten closer to making that a reality. In a new paper, they present “ColorFab,” a method for repeatedly changing the colors of 3D printed objects after fabrication.

Using their own 3D printable ink that changes color when exposed to UV light, the team can recolor a multi-colored object in just over 20 minutes – and they say they...

Schematic showing the sequences in the overall fabrication process. Credit: UNIST

A team has succeeded in developing world’s first stretchable aqueous Li-ion batteries that may power the next generation of wearable devices. A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has presented a bioinspired Jabuticaba-like hybrid carbon/polymer (HCP) composite that was developed into a stretchable current collector using a simple and cost-effective solution process. Using the HCP composite as a stretchable current collector, the research team has, for the first time, developed a highly stretchable rechargeable lithium-ion battery (ARLB) based on aqueous electrolytes.

Stretchable electronic devices have recently attracted tremendous attention as next-generation devices due to their immense flexibility...

A type of battery first invented nearly five decades ago could catapult to the forefront of energy storage technologies, thanks to a new finding by researchers at MIT. Credit: Illustration modified from an original image by Felice Frankel

A new battery technology, based on a metal-mesh membrane and electrodes made of molten sodium and nickel chloride, could open the way for more intermittent, renewable power sources on the grid. It could make wind and solar capable of delivering reliable baseload electricity...