[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Findings can help scientists engineer nanoparticles that are ‘benign by design’
Researchers have discovered that when certain coated nanoparticles interact with living organisms it results in new properties that cause the nanoparticles to become sticky. They can use the findings to design a better ligand coating for nanoparticles that avoids ammonium-phosphate interaction.
Nanotubes may give the world better batteries
Rice University scientists are counting on films of carbon nanotubes to make high-powered, fast-charging lithium metal batteries a logical replacement for common lithium-ion batteries. Their method quenches lithium metal dendrites in batteries that charge faster and last longer.
ENERGY
Tiny diamond invention could help launch rockets into space
Scientists at Australian National University have invented tiny diamond electronic parts that could outperform and be more durable than today’s devices in high-radiation environments such as rocket engines, helping to reach the next frontier in space.
3-D-printed supercapacitor electrode breaks records in lab tests
Scientists have reported unprecedented performance results for a supercapacitor electrode. The researchers fabricated electrodes using a printable graphene aerogel to build a porous three-dimensional scaffold loaded with pseudocapacitive material.
New material and manufacturing process use sun’s heat for cheaper renewable electricity
A research team developed a new material and manufacturing process that would make one way to use solar power more efficient in generating electricity. The innovation is an important step for putting solar heat-to-electricity generation in direct cost competition with fossil fuels.
ENVIRONMENT
Carrots could be key to making greener buildings, say researchers
A group of researchers at Britain’s Lancaster University has been using a household food blender to mix particles from the root vegetable with concrete to see if they can produce a stronger and more environmentally sound product.
MANUFACTURING
NCMS and ARL open AMMP, attain $15M boost for additive manufacturing in defense
The U.S. National Center for Manufacturing Sciences opened its new Advanced Manufacturing, Materials, and Processes Center and Consortium. A collaboration between NCMS and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the center is a new major additive manufacturing initiative for the U.S. defense industry.
OTHER STORIES
Ferroelectricity—an 80-year-old mystery solved
Researchers successfully demonstrated that hypothetical ‘particles’ that were proposed by Franz Preisach in 1935 actually exist. In a new study, scientists from the universities in Linköping and Eindhoven show why ferroelectric materials act as they do.
Inexpensive chip-based device may transform spectrometry
Researchers have made it possible to produce tiny spectrometers that are just as accurate and powerful but could be mass produced using standard chip-making processes. It could open up new uses for spectrometry that previously would have been physically and financially impossible.
How to mass produce cell-sized robots
Tiny robots no bigger than a cell could be mass-produced using a new method developed by researchers at MIT. The microscopic devices might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.
NASA offers $15,000 in prize money for outer space recycling technology
NASA is seeking winning proposals for technologies and systems that will, in a microgravity environment, store & transfer logistical mission waste to a thermal processing unit for decomposition. An informational webinar is scheduled for November 5, 10–11 a.m. ET.