Category Technology/Electronics

Computers Create Recipe for 2 new Magnetic Materials

1. A microscopic look at the atomic structure of a cobalt-manganese-titanium mixture (Co2MnTi) that is one of the newly predicted and manufactured magnetic materials. Each color shows the distribution of a different element. The uniformity for each material matches the predictions for a stable three-element material. 2. A microscopic look at the atomic structure of a manganese-platinum-palladium mixture (Mn2PtPd), that is one of the newly predicted and manufactured magnetic materials. Each color shows the distribution of a different element. The uniformity for each material -- with the exception the small spots indicating a different phase state -- matches the predictions for a stable three-element material.

1. A microscopic look at the atomic structure of a cobalt-manganese-titanium mixture (Co2MnTi) that is one of the newly predicted and manufactured magnetic materials. Each color shows the distribution of a different element. The uniformity for each material matches the predictions for a stable three-element material.
2. A microscopic look at the atomic structure of a manganese-platinum-palladium mixture (Mn2PtPd), that is one of the newly predicted and manufactured magnetic materials. Each color shows the distribution of a different element. The uniformity for each material — with the exception the small spots indicating a different phase state — matches the predictions for a stable three-element material.

Magnets built atom-by-atom in first effort of its kind, using high-throughput computa...

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Battery Prototype Powered by Atmospheric Nitrogen

The Structure and Rechargeability of a Room-Temperature Li-N2 Battery (A) Structure of a Li-N2 battery with a Li-foil anode, ether-based electrolyte, and CC cathode. (B) N2 fixation (blue) and N2 evolution (red) curves of a Li-N2 battery with a CC cathode at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2. (C) CV curves of a Li-N2 battery at a scan rate of 0.05 mV s−1 in N2-saturated (black) and Ar-saturated (red) atmospheres. (D) Cyclic performance of a Li-N2 battery at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2.

The Structure and Rechargeability of a Room-Temperature Li-N2 Battery
(A) Structure of a Li-N2 battery with a Li-foil anode, ether-based electrolyte, and CC cathode.
(B) N2 fixation (blue) and N2 evolution (red) curves of a Li-N2 battery with a CC cathode at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2.
(C) CV curves of a Li-N2 battery at a scan rate of 0.05 mV s−1 in N2-saturated (black) and Ar-saturated (red) atmospheres.
(D) Cyclic performance of a Li-N2 battery at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2.

As the most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, nitrogen has been an attractive option as a source of renewable energy...

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Device Pulls Water from Dry Air, powered only by the Sun

This is the water harvester built at MIT with MOFs from UC Berkeley. Using only sunlight, the harvester can pull liters of water from low-humidity air over a 12-hour period. Credit: MIT photo from laboratory of Evelyn Wang

This is the water harvester built at MIT with MOFs from UC Berkeley. Using only sunlight, the harvester can pull liters of water from low-humidity air over a 12-hour period. Credit: MIT photo from laboratory of Evelyn Wang

Metal-organic framework sucks up water from air with humidity as low as 20%. Imagine a future in which every home has a solar appliance that pulls all the water the household needs out of the air, even in desert climates. That future may be around the corner, with the demonstration this week of a water harvester that uses only ambient sunlight to pull liters of water out of the air each day with very low humidity. The solar-powered harvester was constructed at MIT using a special material – a metal-organic framework, or MOF – produced at UC, Berkeley.

Omar Yaghi, scienti...

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High-flying Experiments demonstrate potential of Balloon-borne Infrasound Detection

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High-Flying Experiments Demonstrate Potential of Balloon-Borne Infrasound Detection

Experiments conducted high in the skies over New Mexico suggest that balloon-borne sensors could be useful in detecting the infrasound signals generated by small, extraterrestrial debris entering Earth’s atmosphere, according to a report at the 2017 Seismological Society of America’s (SSA) Annual Meeting. Infrasound, sometimes called low-frequency sound, is sound waves that occur at frequencies lower than the limit of human hearing. Infrasound signals can remain strong as they travel over large distances, making them useful for pinpointing the location and size of events such as nuclear explosions, meteorite strikes, volcanic eruptions and sometimes earthquake ruptures.

Ground sensors can detect these signa...

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