[Image above] Credit: ACerS
ENERGY
These clear windows can secretly produce solar power
Researchers led by Nanjing University introduced a transparent, colorless, and unidirectional solar concentrator that can be directly coated onto standard window glass. This diffractive-type solar concentrator uses cholesteric liquid crystal multilayers to selectively guide sunlight toward the edge of the window where photovoltaic cells are installed.
Real-world data confirms potential of vehicle-integrated solar panels
Researchers from multiple institutions measured the potential of solar cars on European roads for nine months. The measurements confirmed that solar panels on vehicles can be a valuable, mobile source of renewable energy for the transport sector, but they also highlight challenges such as shading and user behavior.
BIOMATERIALS
Study demonstrates broad-spectrum antiviral activity of silicon nitride
SINTX Technologies, Inc. published a peer-reviewed study demonstrating that silicon nitride exhibits potent antiviral activity against multiple infectious virus strains, including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV.
New handheld device prints custom bone implants at injury site
Sungkyunkwan University researchers developed a handheld 3D printing device that can create bone implants directly at the site of an injury. Much like a glue gun, the device extrudes a warm mixture of the biodegradable polymer polycaprolactone and the mineral hydroxyapatite. Surgeons guide the nozzle to fill irregular gaps, and the material quickly hardens into a scaffold.
OTHER STORIES
Low resistance and high performance in magnetic tunnel junctions using high-entropy oxides
National Institute for Materials Science researchers developed a magnetic tunnel junction featuring a tunnel barrier made of a high-entropy oxide. It simultaneously demonstrated stronger perpendicular magnetization, a higher tunnel magnetoresistance ratio, and lower electrical resistance.
New details about how destructive cracks form in flexible electronic devices
Brown University researchers revealed surprising details about how cracks form in multilayer flexible electronics. They showed that small cracks in a device’s fragile electrode layer can drive deeper, more destructive cracks into the tougher polymer substrate on which the electrodes sit. The work overturns the assumption that polymer substrates usually resist cracking.