Category Physics

Schematic illustration and chemical structure of semi-printed plastic solar cells in air, using food additive o-MA as solvent. Credit: Long Ye, NC State

Researchers have created an efficient, semi-printed plastic solar cell without environmentally hazardous halogen solvents. These solar cells can be manufactured at room temperature, which has implications for large-scale commercial production. Plastic solar cells, or organic photovoltaics, are popular because they are lightweight, flexible, transparent and inexpensive to manufacture, making them useful in multiple applications. Unfortunately, the halogen-containing solvents used in their manufacture are an obstacle to large-scale commercialization...

Cross-section of a 3-D printed adult human femur.

A Northwestern Engineering research team has developed a 3-D printable ink that produces a synthetic bone implant that rapidly induces bone regeneration and growth. This hyperelastic “bone” material, whose shape can be easily customized, one day could be especially useful for the treatment of bone defects in children. Bone implantation surgery is never an easy process, but it is particularly painful and complicated for children. With both adults and children, often times bone is harvested from elsewhere in the body to replace the missing bone, which can lead to other complications and pain. Metallic implants are sometimes used, but this is not a permanent fix for growing children.

“Adults have more options when it comes to implants,” said ...

TUM researchers (l-r) Fabian Steiner, Georg Böcherer, and Patrick Schulte with the statue of Claude Shannon, father of information theory. Credit: Denise Panyik-Dale/Alcatel-Lucent

Researchers have achieved unprecedented transmission capacity and spectral efficiency in an optical communications field trial with a new modulation technique. The breakthrough research could extend the capability of optical networks to meet surging data traffic demands.

In an optical communications field trial, Nokia Bell Labs, Deutsche Telekom T-Labs and the TU Munich showed that the flexibility and performance of optical networks can be maximized when adjustable transmission rates are dynamically adapted to channel conditions and traffic demands...