Development of highly active and reusable solid catalysts based on precious metals, such as palladium (Pd), is crucial not only for organic syntheses but also for chemical and pharmaceutical processes. These rare and expensive catalytic materials are widely used in industry, so it is of great importance to find ways to minimize their consumption. Researchers… »
Researchers at Georgia Insittute of Technology (Georgia Tech) developed arrays piezotronic transistors capable to convert mechanical motion into electronic signals. Named “taxels”, these touch-sensitive transistors could provide significant improvements in resolution, sensitivity and functionality for tactile sensing. The arrays could aid in robotics as tactile sensors, provide better security in handwritten signatures and offer new… »
An interdisciplinary team of engineers at the University of Arkansas developed e-Nanoflex Sensor System – a wireless health-monitoring textile-based sensors that can be integrated into conventional sports bra or a vest. Since the monitored information can be sent in real time to a physician, hospital or the wearer’s smartphone, the technology enables easier monitoring of… »
New findings in materials science research from the University at Buffalo (UB) could accelerate the creation of “smart” windows. UB researchers managed to manipulate the trigger temperature for vanadium oxide, in order to make it transparent to infrared light at lower temperatures, but it goes through a phase transition to begin reflecting infrared light once… »
Battery developers know that recharging and using lithium batteries over and over damages the electrode materials. Researchers at the DOE’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab on the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) grounds have been observing how nanowires composed of tin oxide rapidly change shape and deform when they are being charged. “Nanowires of tin oxide… »
Imagine a computer equipped with shock-proof memory that’s 100,000 times faster and consumes less power than current hard disks. Professor Mathias Kläui from EPFL and PSI is working on a new kind of “Racetrack” memory, a high-volume, ultra-rapid non-volatile read-write magnetic memory that was invented at IBM and may soon make mentioned features possible. Although… »
Chemists and engineers at Harvard University have used nanowires in order to make a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells. The new device is smaller than many viruses and about one-hundredth the width of the probes which are currently used to take cellular… »
Researchers at MIT have created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site. The system, called Seaswarm, is a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. It uses… »
