Materials Science
- Chemistry
Idea for new battery material isn’t nuts
Baking foam peanuts at high heat can form wee structures that lure lithium ions and could make for cheaper, more powerful batteries.
- Tech
‘Rust’ chronicles humankind’s incessant battle with corrosion
‘Rust’ recounts humanity’s unending battle against corrosion, which each year costs the United States an estimated $437 billion — more than all natural disasters combined.
- Animals
Snail shell creates blue iridescence with mineral
Mollusk shines blue using calcium compound rather than organic molecule.
- Chemistry
New method leaves older ways of 3-D printing in its goopy wake
Finding the sweet spot in a pool of resin, chemists can create detailed 3-D objects faster than 3-D printers.
- Materials Science
Copper-wire ‘metamirror’ reflects selectively
A metamaterial mirror reflects only a single wavelength of light, potentially leading to more compact and affordable radio antennas.
- Materials Science
Old chemistry gives jolt to modern batteries
Chemical reactions discovered in the 19th century improve the performance of futuristic batteries.
- Materials Science
Oxygen sneaks into titanium, making it brittle
Oxygen atoms trigger defects in titanium’s atomic structure, making the metal brittle.
- Materials Science
Graphene’s allure becomes magnetic
Single-atom-thick sheets of carbon called graphene can be magnetized with the help of an insulating magnet.
- Materials Science
Carbon supplants silicon in electronic medical sensors
Prototypes of electronic medical devices constructed from organic materials are noninvasive yet offer similar performance as silicon-based health sensors.
- Materials Science
Batteries become safe to swallow with spongy covering
Quantum-inspired coating switches from a conductor to an insulator to prevent injury from swallowed batteries.
- Materials Science
‘Impermeable’ graphene yields to protons
Graphene sheets, impermeable to all atoms and molecules, can be penetrated by protons, new study shows.
- Materials Science
Blue LEDs win Nobel Prize in physics
Light-emitting diodes have led to more energy-efficient bulbs that are elbowing out incandescents.
