A 3-D printer sketches out a schwarzite in a Rice University laboratory. The curved surface of a schwarzite repeats throughout the structure, which shows excellent strength and deformation characteristics. Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

3D Printers to turn century-old theory into complex Schwarzites. Rice University engineers are using 3D printers to turn structures that have until now existed primarily in theory into strong, light and durable materials with complex, repeating patterns. The porous structures called schwarzites are designed with computer algorithms, but Rice researchers found they could send data from the programs to printers and make macroscale, polymer models for testing...

This is an image of near-infrared-light-driven hydrogen evolution from water photo-driven by triruthenium photosensitizer. Credit: Kyushu University

Scientists have synthesized a compound with 3 ruthenium atoms connected by an organic molecule that absorbs near-infrared light to produce hydrogen from water. The absorbed light stimulates electrons to ‘jump’ into orbitals that do not exist in other, similar compounds. This is the first successful use of infrared light to reduce water into hydrogen, which can be used for energy conversion and storage, and other industrial purposes in a future sustainable energy society.

Solar cells must absorb light of particular wavelengths, depending on how much energy the cell needs to drive the reaction...

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering doctoral candidate Joshua DeGraff developed an advanced class of scalable motion sensors using silver ink electrodes and sheets of pure carbon nanotube buckypaper. Credit: FSU Photography Services

Researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering have developed a class of breakthrough motion sensors that could herald a near future of ubiquitous, fully integrated and affordable wearable technology...

The super-Earth exoplanet 55 Cancri e, depicted with its star in this artist’s concept, likely has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s but with ingredients that could be similar to those of Earth’s atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Twice as big as Earth, the super-Earth 55 Cancri e was thought to have lava flows on its surface. The planet is so close to its star, the same side of the planet always faces the star, such that the planet has permanent day and night sides. Based on a 2016 study using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists speculated that lava would flow freely in lakes on the starlit side and become hardened on the face of perpetual darkness...