Category Technology/Electronics

High-performance golf clubs and airplane wings are made out of titanium, which is as strong as steel but about twice as light. These properties depend on the way a metal’s atoms are stacked, but random defects that arise in the manufacturing process mean that these materials are only a fraction as strong as they could theoretically be. An architect, working on the scale of individual atoms, could design and build new materials that have even better strength-to-weight ratios.

In a new study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Enginee...

Device made from flexible, inexpensive materials could power large-area electronics, wearables, medical devices, and more. Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity that could power electronics.

Devices that convert AC electromagnetic wave...

Current methods of harvesting solar charges are expensive and inefficient—with a theoretical efficiency limit of 33%. New nanomaterials developed by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) could provide a pathway to more efficient and potentially affordable harvesting of solar energy.

The materials, created by scientists with the ASRC’s Nanoscience Initiative...

New form of graphene oxide is fun to play with – and solves manufacturing challenges. A Northwestern University team is reshaping the world of graphene – literally. The team has turned graphene oxide (GO) into a soft, moldable and kneadable play dough that can be shaped and reshaped into free-standing, three-dimensional structures.

Called “GO dough,” the product might be fun to play with it, but it’s more than a toy. The malleable material solves several long-standing – and sometimes explosive – problems in the graphene manufacturing industry.

“Currently graphene oxide is stored as dry solids or powders, which are prone to co...