A new electrocatalyst called a-CuTi@Cu converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into liquid fuels. Active copper centered on an amorphous copper/titanium alloy produces ethanol, acetone, and n-butanol with high efficiency.
A new study identifies several keys to sustainably managing the influx of electric vehicle batteries, with an emphasis on battery chemistry, second-life applications and recycling.
New research could help in boosting the efficiency of nuclear power plants in the near future. By using a combination of physics-based modeling and advanced simulations, they found the key underlying factors that cause radiation damage to nuclear reactors, which could then provide insight into designing more radiation-tolerant, high-performance materials.
The person staring back from the computer screen may not actually exist, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) capable of generating convincing but ultimately fake images of human faces. Now this same technology may power the next wave of innovations in materials design, according to scientists.
With the eyes of the world on the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, strategies for decarbonizing energy infrastructure are a trending topic. Yet critics of renewables question the dependability of systems that rely on intermittent resources.
Microscopic aspects of ferroelectricity are canonically related to polar atomic displacements that break inversion symmetry of the crystal, leading to a non-zero net electric dipole moment. However, there is a special class of magnetic materials called multiferroics where inversion symmetry breaking occurs by a magnetic order stabilized in an otherwise crystallographically centrosymmetric lattice. The magnetically induced electric polarization can display complex forms of magnetoelectric coupling to the underlying magnetic texture, and its practical realization is one of the key directions towards achieving the cross-control of ferroelectric properties and magnetism in new generation electronic devices. Thus, understanding the microscopic origin of multiferroicity is a foremost goal of both fundamental and practical importance.
Net zero carbon is within reach for a major Australian city through comprehensive adoption of photovoltaics in built environment, new modelling has shown.
Incorporating energy efficiency measures can reduce the amount of storage needed to power the nation's buildings entirely with renewable energy, according to a recent analysis.
New results relied on a cleaner technique to manipulate the flow of electricity, giving graphene greater conductivity than metals such as copper and gold, and raising its potential for use in telecommunications systems and quantum computers.
A new study introduces a novel method to reduce particulate emissions from residential biomass combustion: the high-temperature electric soot collector, HiTESC. In HiTESC, an electrically insulated high-voltage electrode is installed in a combustion chamber, which generates an electric field.
Researchers have taken a step toward developing a type of antenna array that could coat an airplane's wings, function as a skin patch transmitting signals to medical implants, or cover a room as wallpaper that communicates with internet of things (IoT) devices.
A day before world leaders meet at COP26 to discuss the importance of clean energy, scientists from across the UK say that harnessing the power of the ocean's tidal streams can provide a predictable and reliable means of helping to meet the country's future energy demand.
Researchers have obtained and characterized two-dimensional (2D) boron monosulfide (BS) nanosheets. The bandgap energy of a single BS nanosheet was greater than that of the bulk material from which it came. As additional 2D layers were stacked, the bandgap energy eventually decreased to that of the bulk material. This result reflected the tunable electronic properties of BS nanosheets, which are suitable for electronic devices and photocatalytic applications.
Researchers have found a simple and affordable method to determine which chemicals and types of metals are best used to store and supply energy, in a breakthrough for any battery-run devices and technologies reliant on the fast and reliable supply of electricity, including smart phones and tablets.
The Standard Model of particle physics has been extremely successful in describing how the universe works. However, there are some things that it cannot explain. Physicists have, therefore, been looking for new physics in particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Now, a different approach is also being used: in contrast to smashing up matter at high energies, physicists wanted to study molecules that are brought to rest.
Researchers have uncovered a striking new behavior of the 'strange metal' state of high temperature superconductors. The discovery represents an important piece of the puzzle for understanding these materials.
Researchers have created an innovative hybrid printing method -- combining multi-material aerosol jet printing and extrusion printing -- that integrates both functional and structural materials into a single streamlined printing platform.
Engineers have developed smart material technology that, with the flip of a switch, can alternate between harvesting heat from sunlight and allowing an object to cool. The window-like device has no moving parts and could be a boon for HVAC savings, potentially cutting energy usage by nearly 20% in the United States alone.