Science and Enterprise

Tag: materials science

  • Simple Process Devised to Make Thin-Film Display Material

    Researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and Advanced Technology Materials Inc. in Danbury, Connecticut developed a simpler and less expensive process for producing thin films of indium tin oxide used in touch-screen displays and solar panels. The team led by Brown chemistry professor Shouheng Sun (pictured right) published its findings online in a…

  • ARPA-E to Fund $43 Million for Energy Storage R&D Projects

    Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), in the U.S. Department of Energy, will support 19 new research and development projects to improve the management of energy storage technologies for vehicles and electrical power grids. The projects, totaling $43 million, will be funded out of the Energy Department’s Advanced Management and Protection of Energy Storage Devices (AMPED)…

  • Hydrogel Culture Process Developed for Tissue Engineering

    Engineers at University of Toronto in Canada developed a culture that can grow tissue cells in sufficient quantities and precision that it can lead to devices to produce treatments such as skin grafts on demand. The findings appear in the July issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required), and the technology is being…

  • Liquid Coating Prevents Biofilm Build-Up on Surfaces

    Researchers at Harvard University tested a new liquid coating that prevents the accumulation of bacterial communities called biofilms from forming on surfaces. The team of engineers and materials scientists published its findings online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Biofilms are collections of bacteria found on exposed surfaces in home, commercial,…

  • New Quantum Dot Material Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency

    Engineers at University of Toronto in Canada and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia developed a film made of nanoscale semiconductors called quantum dots for inexpensive and more efficient solar cells. The team led by Toronto engineering professor Ted Sargent published its findings in a letter to the journal Nature…

  • Highly Transparent Solar Cells Developed for Window Glass

    Researchers at University of California in Los Angeles have developed solar cells with greater transparency that can be made to fit over windows and generate electric power. The findings from a team of UCLA engineers, materials scientists, and chemists appeared earlier this month in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). The team developed a…

  • Scientists Produce Ultralight Carbon Nanotube Material

    Researchers at Kiel University and Hamburg University of Technology in Germany have developed a network of porous carbon nanotubes that they say is the lightest material in the world. The research team, which includes a colleague from the Leibniz Institute of Surface Modification in Leipzig, published its findings online in the journal Advanced Materials. The…

  • Air Force Grant to Fund Research on Nanomaterials Shaping

    Funding from the U.S. Air Force is supporting multi-disciplinary research on the ability of nanomaterials to change their shape in response to external stimuli, such as heat and light. The $2.9 million grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research will support a project that touches on chemistry, biology, computer science, and engineering, led…

  • X-Ray Efficiency Boosted with Nanomaterials

    Physicists in the U.S. and China have developed nanoscale materials using a design based on the eye of a moth to increase the efficiency of X-ray devices, which can lead to higher resolution images with lower doses of radiation. The research team led by Yasha Yi at City University of New York published its findings…

  • Laser Techniques Manufacture 3-D Aluminum Composite Parts

    Engineers at University of Exeter in the U.K. have devised a process using lasers to produce three-dimensional aluminum composite parts from inexpensive metal powders. The work of Ph.D. candidate Sasan Dadbakhsh and lecturer Liang Hao appears online in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds (paid subscription required). Automotive and aircraft parts are often made from…