[Image above] Credit: ACerS

 

ENERGY

Study shows how households can cut energy costs

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers showed that giving people better data about their energy use, plus some coaching on the subject, can lead them to substantially reduce their consumption and costs.

Report: Sodium-ion batteries need breakthroughs to compete

A thorough analysis of market and supply chain outcomes for sodium-ion batteries and their lithium-ion competitors is the first by STEER, a new Stanford and SLAC energy technology analysis program.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Researchers advance environmentally friendly ‘e-textiles’ technology

Researchers led by the University of Southampton and UWE Bristol developed fully inkjet-printed, ecofriendly e-textiles. The team’s design uses a textile called Tencel for the base, which is made from biodegradable, renewable wood. The active electronics are made from graphene and a polymer called PEDOT: PSS.

Storing carbon in buildings could help address climate change

Construction materials such as concrete and plastic have the potential to lock away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, according to civil engineers and earth systems scientists at the University of California, Davis and Stanford University.

Chemical engineers devise efficient way to pull carbon directly from atmosphere

University of Cincinnati researchers developed a direct air capture system that removes carbon dioxide at about 420 parts per million. The system currently uses electricity to separate carbon dioxide, but the researchers plan to use hot water in the future to make it more energy efficient.

Dialysis could be the next big thing in wastewater treatment

Researchers from Rice University and Guangdong University of Technology employed dialysis, a technique from the medical field, to treat high-salinity organic wastewater streams containing elevated salt and organic concentrations.

 

MANUFACTURING

Proximity effect: Stacking method offers new way to make ferroelectric materials

Researchers led by The Pennsylvania State University showed that ferroelectricity can be generated in a material that does not have those properties just by stacking it with a material that is ferroelectric.

Inside the atomic-scale processes of hBN formation

Researchers at the University Of Surrey, in collaboration with Graz University of Technology, combined density functional theory and microkinetic modelling to map the growth process of hexagonal boron nitride from borazine precursors. This approach enabled them to develop an atomic-scale model that allows for the material to be grown at any temperature.

New graphene-based laser lift-off process enables ultrathin flexible displays

Researchers from Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials reported a graphene-based laser lift-off technique that prevents damage while separating ultrathin OLED displays.

 

OTHER STORIES

Experiments verify high-pressure properties of lead titanate

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago found no evidence of ferroelectricity in lead titanate at megabar pressures. These findings led them to conduct new, more extensive calculations, which revealed that lead titanate changes to new crystal structures under very high-pressure conditions.

Physicists experimentally observe topological defects in glasses

Researchers used numerical analysis methods applied to the treatment of experimental data from video microscopy and successfully identified the topological defects in a colloidal glass.

Intergalactic carbon makes up our bodies

The carbon on the Earth—and therefore, in us—probably spent some time outside the Milky Way galaxy before forming our planet, according to a new study.

How Schrödinger’s cat could detect quantum computer errors

Researchers at the University of New South Wales embedded an antimony atom, which has eight different spin directions, inside a silicon quantum chip. The information is still encoded in binary, but the additional spin states allow more room for error between the logical codes.

Report: Rural areas offer unique STEM education opportunities, but targeted resources needed

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offers a road map for increasing access to science, technology, engineering, and math education opportunities and workforce development in rural communities.

Author

Lisa McDonald

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