[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Nanoscale device simultaneously steers and shifts frequency of optical light
Researchers at California Institute of Technology built a metasurface patterned with miniscule tunable antennas capable of reflecting an incoming beam of optical light to create many sidebands, or channels, of different optical frequencies.
ENERGY
Machine learning advances the clean-energy economy
Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers used machine learning to explore the effects of cushion gasses on underground hydrogen storage.
Opportunities for manufacturing perovskite solar panels with a long-term vision
National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers identified critical sustainability concerns for each component of a perovskite solar panel and highlighted different ways to think about the circularity of perovskite panels.
Researchers develop innovative battery recycling method
Rice University researchers developed a solvent- and water-free flash Joule heating method combined with magnetic separation to restore fresh cathodes from waste cathodes, followed by solid-state relithiation.
Lithium-ion batteries could soon work much better in extreme temperatures
Japanese technology company Asahi Kasei found a way to improve lithium-ion battery performance in temperatures as low as –40°F and as high as 140°F. The key to these marked performance improvements comes down to the chemical compound acetonitrile, which offers a superior ability to store electrical energy coupled with low viscosity.
BIOMATERIALS
Researchers explore the interplay between high-affinity DNA and carbon nanotubes
Pusan National University researchers functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes using high-affinity single-stranded DNA sequences identified through high-throughput selection. They demonstrated the effectiveness and stability of these constructs using molecular dynamics simulations.
Researchers from Brno University of Technology are developing ceramic implants for the spine. Additionally, in cooperation with the Children’s Hospital in Brno, Czech Republic, they are working on implants for the treatment of cleft palates.
ENVIRONMENT
Message in a bottle: Combining mixed-color glass an option to boost recycling
Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University found that mass-produced soda-lime silicate glass from post-consumer bottles of different colors can be safely melted together in the recycling process, which could potentially lead to more bottles being recycled.
How Saharan dust regulates hurricane rainfall
New research underscores the close relationship between dust plumes transported from the Sahara Desert in Africa and rainfall from tropical cyclones along the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida.
MANUFACTURING
Novel process for 3D printing macro-sized fused silica parts with hi-res features
UpNano GmbH and Glassomer GmbH co-developed a novel manufacturing process for 3D-printed fused quartz objects based on two-photon polymerization.
Faster, more energy-efficient way to manufacture an industrially important chemical
Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory and Ames National Laboratory found that zirconium, when combined with silicon nitride, enhances the catalytic conversion of propane into the in-demand plastic propylene in a way that is faster and uses less energy than more traditional means.
OTHER STORIES
A step closer to optical computers: Researchers develop all-optical universal gate
Researchers from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia and the University of Wuppertal in Germany created a universal NOR digital logic gate. It is based on polariton condensates, operates at room temperature, has multiple inputs, can work hundreds of times faster than electronic analogues, and is also completely optical.
‘Self-healing’ glass unlocked through gamma radiation exposure
Researchers led by the University of Central Florida showed that microscopic defects in a chalcogenide glass made of germanium, antimony, and sulfur are reversed when exposed to gamma radiation.
NASA’s Curiosity Rover discovers a surprise in a Martian rock
On May 30, 2024, a rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove over cracked open to reveal something never seen before on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals. Past detections have been of sulfur-based minerals but not pure, elemental sulfur.