[Image above] Credit: ACerS
ENERGY
Machine learning accelerates search for longer-lasting materials for solar cells
Researchers at the University of California, Davis tested 10 perovskite compositions by exposing them to repeated temperature cycles, resulting in 137,000 unique measurements. The measurements were used to train machine learning models that could accurately predict how previously untested material compositions would respond.
Ferric chloride steers lithium away from dendrites to improve safety of lithium-metal batteries
Researchers found that adding ferric chloride to polyethylene oxide-based electrolytes promotes the growth of lithium as spherical particles rather than needle-like dendrites. Surprisingly, the additive also softens the electrolyte, challenging the long-held view that strong electrolytes are essential for suppressing dendrite growth during battery cycling.
ENVIRONMENT
A cleaner route to purifying rare earth elements
Researchers led by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering discovered a cleaner method to separate rare earth elements from each other. The new approach relies on a layered form of manganese oxide that has the right size layers to allow ions to slip in and out, thus differentiating rare earth elements.
Low-cost cement tile that cools buildings like elephants
Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University developed a low-cost cement tile that cools buildings by capturing and slowly evaporating water like elephant skin. Under infrared heating and periodic watering, the temperature beneath these tiles remained at 89.6°F, in contrast to 107.6°F and 125.6°F under cracked and noncracked stucco, respectively.
MANUFACTURING
AI analyzes the ‘personality’ of individual machines to improve automated manufacturing
Researchers from IMDEA Materials Institute, in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, developed an intelligent algorithm to detect hidden differences between supposedly identical machines, optimizing the reliability of automated manufacturing.
OTHER STORIES
Scientists made a memory device that needs just one electron
Fudan University researchers built an experimental memory device that can add or remove electrons one at a time, detect the resulting change at room temperature, and preserve that state after the power disappears.
Researchers demonstrate first electrically pumped perovskite polariton laser diode
Researchers from Skoltech, ITMO University, and HSE University demonstrated direct electrical pumping of a polariton laser based on a solution-processed halide perovskite microcrystal. They accomplished this feat by forming a stable, frozen p-i-n junction diode using a specialized two-stage cryocooling protocol, which allowed control of the spatial redistribution of mobile ions.