Category Physics

HASEL actuators can be designed as soft grippers to handle and manipulate delicate objects, like this raspberry. Credit: Keplinger Lab / University of Colorado Boulder

A new class of soft, electrically activated devices mimics the expansion and contraction of natural muscles. These devices, which can be constructed from a wide range of low-cost materials, are able to self-sense their movements and self-heal from electrical damage, representing a major advance in soft robotics. Such soft robots contain tremendous potential for future applications as they adapt to dynamic environments and are well-suited to closely interact with humans.

A central challenge in this field known as “soft robotics” is a lack of actuators or “artificial muscles” that can replicate the versatility and performance ...

Simulations by Rice University scientists show how carbon nanomaterials may be optimized to replace expensive platinum in cathodes for electricity-generating fuel cells for transportation and other applications. Credit: Yakobson Research Group/Rice University

Simulations by scientists show how carbon nanomaterials may be optimized to replace expensive platinum in cathodes for electricity-generating fuel cells. Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes, CNTs, or modified graphene nanoribbons may be suitable replacements for platinum for fast O2 reduction, the key reaction in fuel cells that transform chemical energy into electricity, according to Rice University researchers. Their study reveals the atom-level mechanisms by which doped nanomaterials catalyze oxygen reduction reactions (ORR).

Theoretic...

This is a closer look at the target of frozen solution that contains the building blocks for the solar cell material. Credit: E. Tomas Barraza

Delicate hybrid organic-inorganic crystals open new possibilities for light-based technologies. Materials scientists at Duke University have developed a method to create hybrid thin-film materials that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to make. The technique could be the gateway to new generations of solar cells, LEDs and photodetectors.

Perovskites are a class of materials that – with the right combination of elements – have a crystalline structure that makes them particularly well-suited for light-based applications...

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboraotry are creating double-pane solar windows that generate electricity with greater efficiency and also create shading and insulation. It’s all made possible by a new window architecture which utilizes two different layers of low-cost quantum dots tuned to absorb different parts of the solar spectrum. The approach complements existing photovoltaic technology by adding high-efficiency sunlight collectors to existing solar panels or integrating them as semitransparent windows into a building’s architecture.

Using two types of “designer” quantum dots, researchers are creating double-pane solar windows that generate electricity with greater efficiency and create shading and insulation for good measure...