Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Lithium-ion batteries are notorious for developing internal electrical shorts that can ignite a battery’s liquid electrolytes, leading to explosions and fires. Engineers at the University of Illinois have developed a solid polymer-based electrolyte that can self-heal after damage – and the material can also be recycled without the use of harsh chemicals or high temperatures.

The new study, which could help manufacturers produce recyclable, self-healing commercial batteries, is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

As lithium-ion batteries go throug...

Researchers have reproduced Michelangelo’s David as a miniature in metal. Their achievement highlights the potential of a special 3D printing method. There he is, standing upon his pedestal: David by Michelangelo. A world-famous statue that nearly every child can recognise. But this David is just 1 millimeter tall, pedestal included, and is made not of marble like the 5.17-meter original, but of pure copper.

It was created using 3D printing by Giorgio Ercolano from Exaddon, an offshoot of ETH spin-off Cytosurge, together with the team led by ETH Professor Tomaso Zambelli from the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics...

Non-flammable, cost-efficient, and effective battery. As the lithium-ion batteries that power most phones, laptops, and electric vehicles become increasingly fast-charging and high-performing, they also grow increasingly expensive and flammable.

In research published recently in Energy Storage Materials, a team of engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how they could – by using aqueous electrolytes instead of the typical organic electrolytes – assemble a substantially safer, cost-efficient battery that still performs well.

If you were to take a look inside a battery, you’d find two electrodes – an anode and a cathode...

Researchers create a polymer thermal regulator that can quickly transform from a conductor to an insulator, and back again. This control of heat flow at the nanoscale opens up new possibilities in developing switchable thermal devices, solid-state refrigeration, waste heat scavenging, thermal circuits, and computing. This is the first time that this work has been demonstrated experimentally.

Polymers are used to develop various materials, such as plastics, nylons, and rubbers...