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    Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Engineers produce the World’s Longest Flexible Fiber Battery

    December 21, 2021, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    The fiber battery continues to power an LED even after partial cutting indicating that the fiber battery system is free from electrolyte loss and from short-circuiting.

    Researchers have developed a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the form of an ultra-long fiber that could be woven into fabrics. The battery could enable a wide variety of wearable electronic devices, and might even be used to make 3D-printed batteries in virtually any shape.

    The researchers envision new possibilities for self-powered communications, sensing, and computational devices that could be worn like ordinary clothing, as well as devices whose batteries could also double as structural parts.

    In a proof of concept, the team behind the new battery technology has produced the world’s longest flexible fiber ...

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    New Smart-Roof Coating enables Year-Round Energy Savings

    December 17, 2021, Categories  Physics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Samples of an all-season smart-roof coating designed to keep homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer – without consuming natural gas or electricity. The device looks like Scotch tape, and can be affixed to solid surfaces such as a rooftop. Research findings by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory point to a groundbreaking technology that outperforms commercial cool-roof systems in energy savings. Credit: Junqiao Wu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

    Scientists have developed an all-season smart-roof coating that keeps homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer—without consuming natural gas or electricity. Research findings reported in the Dec...

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    Scientists Develop Biodegradable Printed Paper Batteries

    December 16, 2021, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Fabrication and characterizations of hydrogel cellulose paper (HCP). a) Schematic of original CP and HCP. b) Optical image of HCP (top) and original CP (bottom) with printed circuit patterns. c) One piece of HCP under mechanical deformation. SEM images of d) CP and e) HCP. f) Stress–strain curves of HCP and CP. g) The biodegradability tests of CP (left) and HCP (right) under moist soil. Yellow dash circles show outline of the samples. h) Photograph of a dry HCP (left) and a swollen HCP (right) with printed patterns. Blue dash squares with the same size of 30 mm × 30 mm show the boundaries of HCP. i) Galvanostatic plating/stripping curves of zinc symmetrical cells at a current density of 5 mA cm−2 and a cut-off capacity of 1 mAh cm−2. Credit: DOI: 10.1002/advs.202103894

    Scienti...

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    Liquid Crystals for Fast Switching Devices

    December 9, 2021, Categories  Physics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Credit: CC0 Public Domain

    An international team has investigated a newly synthesized liquid-crystalline material that promises applications in optoelectronics. Simple rod-shaped molecules with a single center of chirality self-assemble into helical structures at room temperature. Using soft X-ray resonant scattering at BESSY II, the scientists have now been able to determine the pitch of the helical structure with high precision. Their results indicate an extremely short pitch at only about 100 nanometres which would enable applications with particularly fast switching processes.

    Liquid crystals are not solid, but some of their physical properties are directional — like in a crystal. This is because their molecules can arrange themselves into certain patterns...

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