Tag: materials science
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NSF Funding Organic Crystals Research for Electronics
A physics professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina received a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant for research on the physical structure and electronic properties of organic semiconductor crystals. The five-year award to Wake Forest’s Oana Jurchescu was made under NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program. Organic semiconductors are hydrocarbon substances like…
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ARPA-E to Fund Vehicle Metals, Bio Gas Conversion Research
The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) in the U.S. Department of Energy is making $40 million available for two new research programs involving transportation. Half of the $40 million will go for research to make lighter metals in cars and trucks more feasible, while the remaining $20 million will support biological conversion of…
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Polymer Light-Trapping Properties Enhanced for Photonics
Researchers at North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina developed a process for enhancing a polymer’s ability to trap light waves, making it a better material for photonic semiconductors. The team led by NC State materials scientist Lewis Reynolds published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters.…
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Patent Granted for Nanotech-Enhanced Biodegradable Polymers
Cereplast Inc., a developer of bio-based plastics in El Segundo, California, received a patent for its process of making biodegradable polymers enhanced with mineral nanoparticles. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued patent number 8,389,614 to Cereplast’s CEO Frederick Scheer and research executive William Kelly, and assigned the patent to Cereplast Inc. on 5 March…
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BASF, Massachusetts Universities to Partner on Materials
Researchers at the German chemical company BASF and three universities in Massachusetts will collaborate on the development of new materials for the automotive, building and construction, and energy industries. Financial details of the new five-year North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials were not disclosed, but the universities in consortium — Harvard University, MIT,…
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Material Engineered to More Efficiently Capture CO2
Researchers at University of South Florida in Tampa and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia (KAUST) developed a new type of metal-organic material with the ability to effectively capture carbon dioxide in the presence of water vapor, which had not been previously possible. The team led by South Florida chemistry professor…
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Faster, Lower Temperature Ceramics Method Developed
A materials scientist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh discovered a new technique for making high-density ceramics needing lower temperatures and that takes only a second. Jay Narayan describes his process in two recent papers appearing online in the journal Scripta Materialia, a viewpoint essay posted last week, and a technical paper published last…
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Nanoscale Technique Welds Polymer Materials with Light
Physicists and materials scientists at North Carolina State University in Raleigh developed a technique to attach portions of polymers by melting aligned nanoparticles with light waves. The researchers describe their process in a recent online issue of the journal Particle & Particle Systems Characterization (paid subscription required). The team led by physicists Jason Bochinski and…
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Robotic Bat Wing Developed to Simulate Flight Dynamics
Biologists and engineers at Brown University in Providence created a robotic bat wing that simulates the aerodynamics of bats, but can also be applied to the design of small pilotless aircraft. The team from the labs of Brown engineer Kenneth Breuer and biologist Sharon Swartz published results from early experiments with the device in the…
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Lockheed Martin, Nanyang Univ. to Partner on Nanotech Copper
Lockheed Martin Corp. in Bethesda, Maryland and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will collaborate on research involving a new type of copper based on nanotechnology. The laboratory established under the agreement signed today will have initial funding of $10 million over four years. The NTU-Lockheed Martin Joint Laboratory at the university’s Yunnan campus will employ…