Nanomaterials

Two new candidates for the lithium-ion battery anode job

By Eileen De Guire / September 28, 2011

Mesoporous titania-bronze microspheres show promise as lithium-ion battery anodes. Credit: M. Paranthaman; ORNL Conceptually, lithium-ion batteries are simple devices comprising the anode, cathode and electrolyte. The anode’s job is to…

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Europe Union launches aerogel insulation research and commercialization project

By / September 27, 2011

Credit: ARMINES/MINES ParisTech/CEP. A push like this in Europe was bound to happen sooner or later, and part of me thinks it would have been smart for the US, via…

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A material for all weathers (with zero thermal expansion) found in antiperovskite manganese nitrides

By cstanier / September 27, 2011

Mechanism for the occurrence of ZTE. NTEM and PTET denote negative thermal expansion caused by magnetic ordering and positive thermal expansion caused by temperature, respectively, and aM and aT are…

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Video of the week: ‘Liquid Wall’ curtain walls of ultra-high-performance concrete

By / September 23, 2011

Liquid Wall Prototype for Innovate:Integrate Exhibition from arbuckle industries on Vimeo. This video features one example of the innovative architectural structural design opportunities emerging from the availability of ultra-high-performance concrete.…

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Bismuth ferrite research sheds light on increasing PV efficiency

By Eileen De Guire / September 19, 2011

At top, domains with opposite electrical polarization, averaging about 140 nanometers wide and separated by walls 2 nanometers thick, form a well-aligned array in a thin film of bismuth ferrite.…

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The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat: Some of each for CNTs

By Eileen De Guire / September 16, 2011

Rice University researchers, Robert Vajtai, Enrique Barrera and Yao Zhao created a conductive cable from iodine-doped nanotubes capable of carrying household current. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University Showing how something works…

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Other materials stories that may be of interest

By / September 16, 2011

Check ’em out: Global support for nuclear energy drops after Fukushima Quantum behavior with a flash: Pulsed quantum optomechanics Europeans reignite fusion energy project: The test of a new lining…

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Other materials stories that may be of interest

By / September 9, 2011

Investigators at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have created strange optical effects, including corkscrew-like vortex beams, by reflecting light off a flat, nanostructured surface. Credit: Nanfang Yu, SEAS.…

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Two approaches for using nanowires, including core–shell structures, to improve photovoltaics

By / September 2, 2011

Schematic shows how to make core/shell nanowire solar cell starting from left with a CdS nanowire (green) that is dipped in CuCl where cation exchange reaction creates a Cu2S shell…

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ARPA-E awards $15.5M to leverage $108M for five clean tech innovators; says rare-earth innovations awards coming

By / August 31, 2011

Transphorm, one of the companies that will be receiving ARPA-E and private investment funding, uses gallium nitride transistors to tackle the current level of power conversion losses (10%). Credit: Energy…

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