[Images above] Credit: NIST
Automotive ceramics market projected to top two billion dollars within next five years
The automotive ceramics market is expected to grow from $1.59 billion in 2017 to $2.05 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2017 to 2022, due to increasing demand for ceramics for automotive engine parts, exhaust systems, electronics, and other applications.
3D printing electronics and cells directly on skin
In a groundbreaking new study, researchers used a customized, low-cost 3-D printer to print electronics on a real hand for the first time. The technology could be used print temporary sensors to detect chemical or biological agents or solar cells to charge essential electronics.
New materials for sustainable, low-cost batteries
Scientists from ETH Zurich and Empa have now identified two new materials that could advance aluminum batteries—a corrosion-resistant material for conductive parts; and a novel material for the battery’s positive pole that can be adapted to a wide range of technical requirements.
Improved 3D printing compatibility could broaden ceramics in industrial manufacturing
The spectrum of materials that can be used in 3-D printing applications is widening. While 3D printing has traditionally been dominated by metals and polymers, new research is exploring the potential of a little-used but versatile class of 3D printing building block: ceramics.
Study finds nearly half of jobs are vulnerable to automation
In 2013, researchers at Oxford University used a machine-learning algorithm to assess how easily 702 different kinds of job in America could be automated. They concluded that fully 47% could be done by machines “over the next decade or two.”
Turning graphene into light nanosensors
Scientists demonstrate that by altering the temperature in a hybrid structure of a graphene sheet embedded in a flat photonic crystal, they can tune its capacity for optical absorption, opening opportunities for graphene-based nanodevices as temperature-sensitive sensors.
Discovery of new oxide material is key step toward more powerful computing
Researchers at Oregon State University have developed an inorganic compound—lithium osmium oxide—that adopts a crystal structure capable of sustaining a new state of matter known as quantum spin liquid, an important advance toward quantum computing.
World’s oldest insect inspires a new generation of aerogels
A team of international scientists have created a new form of highly-efficient, low-cost insulation based on the wings of a dragonfly. The team cheaply replicated the process of forming a silica aerogel by mimicking the way in which the dragonfly dries out its wings.
Artificial optical materials could allow cheaper, flatter, more efficient detectors
A new way of taking images in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum, developed by researchers at MIT and elsewhere, could enable a wide variety of applications, including thermal imaging, biomedical sensing, and free-space communication.
