Materials & Innovations

Less platinum, better efficiency for fuel cells

By / August 20, 2010

The multimetallic nanoparticle created by Brown University chemists for fuel-cell reactions uses a palladium core and an iron-platinum shell. Credit: Sun Lab/Brown University According to a Brown University press release,…

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Missouri S&T gets funding to develop battlefield ‘smart dust’

By / August 19, 2010

Smart dust components. (Credit: University of California Berkeley Roboticsand Intelligent Machines Lab.) A significant trend in electronics technology is the increasing ability to provide adaptive features into smaller and smaller…

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A123’s launching new lithium flow battery project: ’24M’

By / August 19, 2010

Chiang at 2009 Materials Challenge for Alternative andRenewable Energy meeting. Credit: ACerS. When I interviewed Yet Ming Chiang, one of the brains behind A123 System’s lithium-ion battery technology, in 2009,…

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Fun with Shedon comics

By / August 16, 2010

It’s Monday, and we can all use a chuckle on a Monday.

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Nanoscale field-effect transistors developed to probe cells

By / August 12, 2010

In the journal Science, a new device is described that fashions nanowires into a transistor small enough to probe the interior of cells. A Harvard press release reports that the…

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Three-in-one diesel honeycomb ultra-high acicular mullite could slash costs for emission systems

By / August 10, 2010

Schematic of a typical, bulky and costly three-part diesel engine aftertreatment system. Credit: Pyzik, Ziebarth, Han and Yang; ACT. Mostly through sheer coincidence, I have been running across several articles…

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Swiss group unveils ultrathin, transparent and flexible ceramic foils

By / August 5, 2010

Ultrathin ceramic foils can now be (a) transparent, exhibit (b) interference colors and be (c) flexible.Credit: Bonderer, Chen, Kocher and Gauckler; JACerS. If you are like me, ceramic isn’t the…

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New speedy, high-res nanolithography method to allow the rapid prototyping of electronics

By / August 4, 2010

A new nanolithography process promises to speed up the “printing” of nanoscale patterns, which could soon allow investigators to quickly make prototypes of test electronic devices. Of course, various forms…

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Solar sail uses smart glass to steer through cosmos

By / July 27, 2010

Artist’s conception of solar sail. (Credit: JAXA.) Japan has successfully deployed a solar sail on a spacecraft, demonstrating for the first time that such technology can be used to convert…

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50 R&D 100 Awards given to national labs

By / July 22, 2010

Ultrasensitive Nanomechanical Transducers Based on Nonlinear Resonance, one of ORNL’s 2010 R&D 100 award winners. (Credit: ORNL.) R&D Magazine awarded DOE and other federal labs with 50 of its R&D…

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