Basic science

Ultrathin rust films trap sunlight for splitting water

By Eileen De Guire / November 13, 2012

A photograph of ultrathin film α-Fe2O3 photoanodes in action. Credit: Rothschild; Technion If you think about it, water molecules are a great place to store hydrogen. Now that the “hydrogen…

Read More

Video: Varshneya recounts mentor’s influence in Cooper Lecture

By Eileen De Guire / November 6, 2012

[flash http://ceramictechweekly.org/wp-content/video/varshneya_cooperlecture_12.flv mode=1 f={image=http://ceramictechweekly.org/wp-content/video/varshneya_cooperlecture_12.jpg}] Arun Varshneya delivers the Cooper Lecture titled, “Science and Technology of Chemical Strengthening of Glass,” at MS&T’12. Serendipity was smiling on Arun Varshneya when he met…

Read More

Other materials science stories that may be of interest

By / November 6, 2012

While manganese (blue) fills out this lithium ion battery nanoparticle evenly, nickel (green) clumps in certain regions, interfering with the material’s smooth operation. Credit: Chongmin Wang; PNNL. Lots of good…

Read More

Nature’s nanomaterials—To be or not to be bioinspired?

By Eileen De Guire / November 2, 2012

Figure 1. Synthetic sea shells. Credit: MaterialsViews; Wiley. Editor’s note: The other day I told you about a conference on bioinspired materials that I attended as a guest. In this…

Read More

Ceramics and glass business news of the week

By / November 2, 2012

Here is what we are hearing: The solar saga continues: Siemens flees solar market (GigaOm) Energy giant Siemens is leaving the solar market after investing heavily in solar technology and…

Read More

Other materials stories that may be of interest

By / October 30, 2012

This 3D image of a ceramic composite specimen imaged under load at 1,750°C shows the detailed fracture patterns that LBNL researchers are able to view using ALS Beamline 8.3.2. The…

Read More

A castle vacation, poster session included

By Eileen De Guire / October 30, 2012

Germany’s Max Planck Society hosts small scientific conferences year-round at Schloss Ringberg in southern Bavaria. Credit: Schloss Ringberg; MPS. You may find it surprising that the highlight of my recent…

Read More

Engineered nanoglass material could clean up petro drilling, past and present

By / October 26, 2012

In one of our news “roundups” posted last week, there was a brief mention of NSF support for work being done on a family of organically-modifiable silica products that is being…

Read More

ACerS/NIST phase diagrams collection enters 80th year

By Eileen De Guire / October 23, 2012

Ideas that stand the test of time often have modest beginnings. The ACerS/NIST Phase Equilibria Diagram database is a case in point. The seed for today’s collection of nearly 25,000…

Read More

Science, art or both? Winners of Cambridge University engineering department photography competition

By Eileen De Guire / October 23, 2012

Zinc oxide grown on a nanoporous substrate. The exterior morphology gives the bump a tortoise shell look, but a gap on the left side shows that these are pillars growing…

Read More