Crucial to our everyday use the Li-ion battery can be found everywhere. Research has now resulted in a hybrid electrolyte that is both more stable while also retaining excellent conductivity. This will pave the way to a safer polymeric solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries with a myriad of applications.

Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the most used batteries that support modern ITC society, including smartphones and EVs. LIBs are repeatedly charged and discharged by Li-ions passing back and forth between the positive and negative electrodes, with the Li-ion electrolyte acting as a passageway for the ions.

Normally, organic electrolytes such as liquid ethylene carbonate (EC) and their gels have been used as the Li-ion electrolyte due to their voltage resistance and ionic cond...

An international research team including astronomers at the University of Birmingham, has just announced the discovery of two “super-Earth” planets orbiting LP 890-9, a small, cool star located about 100 light-years from Earth.

The star, also called TOI-4306 or SPECULOOS-2, is the second-coolest star found to host planets, after the famous TRAPPIST-1. This rare discovery is the subject of a forthcoming publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The system’s inner planet, called LP 890-9b, is about 30% larger than Earth and completes an orbit around the star in just 2.7 days. This first planet was initially identified as a possible planet candidate by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space mission searching for exoplanets orbiting nearby stars...

Opioid use is highly effective for pain management but is associated with high rates of addiction and deaths due to overdose. Now, an international team of researchers has developed a soft, bioresorbable, implantable device which can provide a cooling effect to peripheral nerves, leading to blocking of pain signals. The device demonstrated high precision and efficacy in rat models with spared nerve injuries and can serve as an effective substitute for opioids.

Owing to their high efficacy, opioids are used widely for the management of neuropathic pain, despite the increasing rates of opioid addiction and deaths due to overdose. To avoid these side effects, there is an urgent need for pain management approaches that can substitute opioid use.

It is well known that cold temperatur...

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made a technological breakthrough and constructed a perovskite solar cell with the dual benefits of being both highly efficient and highly stable.

The work was done in collaboration with scientists from the University of Toledo, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the University of California-San Diego.

A unique architectural structure enabled the researchers to record a certified stabilized efficiency of 24% under 1-sun illumination, making it the highest reported of its kind...