In the desert environment dust is present on a daily basis says co-author Numan Abu-Dheir of the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Saudi arabia.
#Steam from the sun A new material structure developed at MIT generates steam by soaking up the sun. The structure a layer of graphite flakes
When sunlight hits the structure surface, it creates a hotspot in the graphite, drawing water up through the material pores,
Its top layer is made from graphite that the researchers exfoliated by placing the material in a microwave.
is ust like popcorn The graphite bubbles up, forming a nest of flakes. The result is a highly porous material that can better absorb
As sunlight hits the structure, it creates a hotspot in the graphite layer, generating a pressure gradient that draws water up through the carbon foam.
As water seeps into the graphite layer, the heat concentrated in the graphite turns the water into steam.
The structure works much like a sponge that, when placed in water on a hot,
or granite allow freedom to move the devices around and charge several devices at once. To make the system more efficient Witricity tunes the coils to find a strong electromagnetic highly resonant coupling.
Now researchers at MIT and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Saudi arabia have devised a robotic system that can detect leaks at a rapid pace and with high accuracy by sensing a large pressure
and at the American Control Conference in Portland, Ore. Current acoustic tests are only effective for detecting sound and vibration in metal pipes,
the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program supported by the Kathy and Curt Marble Fund for Cancer Research,
which reclaims rare earth elements from recycled electronics to create other resources, and MIT team Belleds Technologies,
#Engineers design living materials Inspired by natural materials such as bone a matrix of minerals and other substances including living cells MIT engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots.
and Bill Wright of the Center for Outcomes Research and Education at Providence Health and Services in Portland, Ore.
The research was funded by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Fund the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund the Mazumdar-Shaw International Oncology Fellows Program the Burroughs Wellcome
The magnetic insulator Shi and his team used was yttrium iron garnet grown by laser molecular beam epitaxy in his lab. The researchers placed a single-layer graphene sheet on an atomically smooth layer of yttrium iron garnet.
They found that yttrium iron garnet magnetized the graphene sheet. In other words graphene simply borrows the magnetic properties from yttrium iron garnet.
Magnetic substances like iron tend to interfere with graphene's electrical conduction. The researchers avoided those substances
and chose yttrium iron garnet because they knew it worked as an electric insulator which meant that it would not disrupt graphene's electrical transport properties.
but simply placing it on the layer of yttrium iron garnet they ensured that graphene's excellent electrical transport properties remained unchanged.
They found that graphene's Hall voltage-a voltage in the perpendicular direction to the current flow-depended linearly on the magnetization of yttrium iron garnet (a phenomenon known as the anomalous Hall effect seen in magnetic materials like iron and cobalt.
#Scientists use'smallest possible diamonds'to form ultra-thin nanothreads For the first time scientists have discovered how to produce ultra-thin diamond nanothreads that promise extraordinary properties including strength and stiffness greater than that of today's strongest nanotubes
The core of the nanothreads that Badding's team made is a long thin strand of carbon atoms arranged just like the fundamental unit of a diamond's structure zigzag cyclohexane rings of six carbon atoms bound together in
It is as if an incredible jeweler has strung together the smallest possible diamonds into a long miniature necklace Badding said.
Because this thread is diamond at heart we expect that it will prove to be extraordinarily stiff extraordinarily strong and extraordinarily useful.
The team's discovery comes after nearly a century of failed attempts by other labs to compress separate carbon-containing molecules like liquid benzene into an ordered diamond-like nanomaterial.
and to link up in a highly ordered chain of single-file carbon tetrahedrons forming these diamond-core nanothreads.
The resulting diamond-core nanothread is surrounded by a halo of hydrogen atoms. During the compression process the scientists report the flat benzene molecules stack together bend
The result is a structure that has carbon in the tetrahedral configuration of diamond with hydrogens hanging out to the side and each tetrahedron bonded with another to form a long thin nanothread.
so that when we release the pressure very slowly an orderly polymerization reaction happens that forms the diamond-core nanothread.
The scientists confirmed the structure of their diamond nanothreads with a number of techniques at Penn State Oak ridge Arizona State university
Parts of these first diamond nanothreads appear to be somewhat less than perfect so improving their structure is a continuing goal of Badding's research program.
The high pressures that we used to make the first diamond nanothread material limit our production capacity to only a couple of cubic millimeters at a time so we are not yet making enough of it to be useful on an industrial scale Badding said.
One of our science goals is to remove that limitation by figuring out the chemistry necessary to make these diamond nanothreads under more practical conditions.
The nanothread also may be the first member of a new class of diamond-like nanomaterials based on a strong tetrahedral core.
Our discovery that we can use the natural alignment of the benzene molecules to guide the formation of this new diamond nanothread material is really interesting
#Nanoparticle network could bring fast-charging batteries (Phys. org) A new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries has been shown to potentially reduce the charging time from hours to minutes by replacing the conventional graphite electrode with a network of tin-oxide nanoparticles.
The anodes in most of today's lithium-ion batteries are made of graphite. The theoretical maximum storage capacity of graphite is limited very at 372 milliamp hours per gram hindering significant advances in battery technology said Vilas Pol an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University.
The researchers have performed experiments with a porous interconnected tin-oxide based anode which has nearly twice the theoretical charging capacity of graphite.
The researchers demonstrated that the experimental anode can be charged in 30 minutes and still have a capacity of 430 milliamp hours per gram (mah g 1)
which is greater than the theoretical maximum capacity for graphite when charged slowly over 10 hours.
In a study published in the journal ACS Nano researchers showed how a coating that makes high capacity silicon electrodes more durable could lead to a replacement for lower-capacity graphite electrodes.
Thanks to its high electrical capacity potential silicon is one of the hottest things in lithium ion battery development these days Replacing the graphite electrode in rechargeable lithium batteries with silicon could increase the capacity tenfold making
The findings were published just in Nano Energy by scientists from the OSU College of Science OSU College of Engineering Argonne National Laboratory the University of South Florida and the National Energy technology Laboratory in Albany Ore.
#New nanocomposites for aerospace and automotive industries The Center for Research in Advanced Materials (CIMAV) has developed reinforced graphite nanoplatelets seeking to improve the performance of solar cell materials.
These polymer-based nanocomposites are reinforced with graphite nanoplatelets for use in industry. Nanocomposites are formed by two
or more phases in this case by reinforced graphite nanoplatelets. The sectors focused on the use of these nanomaterials are diverse;
graphite nanoplatelets give added value to the product as they improve its mechanical thermal and electrical properties.
the graphite nanoplatelets s
#Graphene/nanotube hybrid benefits flexible solar cells Rice university scientists have invented a novel cathode that may make cheap, flexible dye-sensitized solar cells practical.
or a scalpel so that the water can begin to penetrate between the Mos2 and the sapphire.
#An unlikely use for diamonds Tiny diamonds are providing scientists with new possibilities for accurate measurements of processes inside living cells with potential to improve drug delivery and cancer therapeutics.
Previous attempts by other research teams to visualise nanodiamonds under powerful light microscopes have run into the obstacle that the diamond material per se is transparent to visible light.
In their latest paper, researchers from Cardiff University's Schools of Biosciences and Physics showed that non-fluorescing nanodiamonds (diamonds without defects) can be imaged optically
and far more stably via the interaction between the illuminating light and the vibrating chemical bonds in the diamond lattice structure which results in scattered light at a different colour.
Especially the unique properties of so-called perovskites can be exploited further: their crystal structure is influenced not by the process.
Perovskites are materials with special properties especially at their interfaces. At the interface between two nonconducting perovskites for example a conducting'path'can arise.
The magnetic properties of perovskites are unique as well. Within the group Inorganic Materials science UT scientists have gained a lot of experience with these materials:
earlier the group developed the Pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD)# for this building the materials one atomic layer at a time.
Via this mask a pattern of zinc oxide can be placed on the perovskite for example. Using PLD a sandwich of different materials can be made.
The paper'Patterning of epitaxial perovskites from micro and nano molded stencil masks'by Maarten Nijland Antony George Sean Thomas Evert Houwman Jing Xia Dave Blank Guus Rijnders Gertjan Koster
J. E. 2014) Patterning of Epitaxial Perovskites from Micro and Nano Molded Stencil Masks. Adv. Funct.
The present research focused instead on nanowires of a less-common crystalline form the hexagonal so-called wurtzite structure.
The team subjected wurtzite gallium arsenide to up to about 227000 times normal atmospheric pressure (23 gigapascals) in diamond anvil cells.
Significantly they discovered that around 207000 times normal atmospheric pressure (21 gigapascals) the wurtzite gallium arsenide nanowires underwent a structural change that induced a new phase the so-called orthorhombic one
very low electrical resistance high thermal conductivity and mechanically stretchable yet harder than diamond. Now ORC researchers have developed molybdenum di-sulphide (Mos2) a similar material to graphene that shares many of its properties including extraordinary electronic conduction
which was not possible using the traditional exfoliation technique where layers of graphene are stripped from graphite.
and graphite electrodes used in today's commercial lithium ion batteries and in about half of those under development.
, a piece of chalk or a brick) that contains about 99.9 percent air yet is incredibly strong
and electricity it is transparent harder than diamond and extremely strong. But in order to use it to construct electronic switches a material must not only be an outstanding conductor it should also be switchable between on and off states.
in which guest molecules or ions are inserted between the carbon layers of graphite to pull the single sheets apart.
The intercalation of graphite was achieved in 1841 but always with a strong oxidizing or reducing agent that damaged the desirable properties of the material.
One of the most widely used methods to intercalate graphite by oxidation was developed in 1999 by Nina Kovtyukhova, a research associate in Mallouk's lab. While studying other layered materials,
to open up single layers of solid boron nitride, a compound with a structure similar to graphite.
Mallouk asked her to try a similar experiment without the oxidizing agent on graphite, but aware of the extensive literature saying that the oxidizing agent was required, Kovtyukhova balked."
#Team develops ultra sensitive biosensor from molybdenite semiconductor Move over graphene. An atomically thin two-dimensional ultrasensitive semiconductor material for biosensing developed by researchers at UC Santa barbara promises to push the boundaries of biosensing technology in many fields from health care to environmental protection to forensic industries.
Based on molybdenum disulfide or molybdenite (Mos2) the biosensor materialsed commonly as a dry lubricanturpasses graphene's already high sensitivity offers better scalability
Ever since the discovery of graphene a single layer of carbon that can be extracted from graphite with adhesive tape scientists have been rapidly exploring the world of two-dimensional materials These materials have unique properties not seen in their bulk form.
Graphene is hidden inside graphite an ore that has not been particularly sought after in the past. But a few years ago it revealed a secret.
Professor Li has invented a cost-effective and scalable way to split graphite into microscopic graphene sheets and dissolve them in water.
First the researchers filled a Pyrex tube with graphite powder, and then placed the open-ended tube inside a slightly larger tube.
The heat causes the molten potassium to move inside the micropores between the graphite powders
so that the potassium molecules become intercalated into the graphite interlayers. The resulting potassium graphite compounds were placed then in a pyridine solution,
which causes the layers to expand away from each other to form graphene nanosheets that could later be cooled
such as precious opals, the colorful effects of the Lycurgus cup have little dependence on the position of the observer.
when you consider that coal fired power plants generate 1 megawatt and release 2250 lbs. of carbon dioxide. So if a fraction of the 6. 6 billion mobile phone users globally changed to solar it would reduce our carbon footprint a lot.
"We used microscopes similar to the ones jewelers use to see the clarity of precious gems.
Dr Majumder and his team are working with graphite industry partner, Strategic Energy resources Ltd and an expert in polarized light imaging, Dr. Rudolf Oldenbourg from the Marine Biological Laboratory, USA,
exhibited a higher capacity than the theoretical capacity of graphite which was used previously in lithium-ion batteries.
which contains four tiny gold discs in a precise diamond-shaped arrangement. The gap in the center of the four discs is about 15 nanometers wide.
and saw it was made up primarily of quartz, or silicon dioxide. His research is centered on building better lithium ion batteries, primarily for personal electronics and electric vehicles.
Graphite is the current standard material for the anode, but as electronics have become more powerful graphite's ability to be improved has been tapped virtually out.
Researchers are focused now on using silicon at the nanoscale, or billionths of a meter, level as a replacement for graphite.
The problem with nanoscale silicon is that it degrades quickly and is hard to produce in large quantities.
He researched sand to find a spot in the United states where it is found with a high percentage of quartz.
After that, he ground salt and magnesium, both very common elements found dissolved in sea water into the purified quartz.
With the salt acting as a heat absorber, the magnesium worked to remove the oxygen from the quartz,
#Diamond plates create nanostructures through pressure not chemistry You wouldn't think that mechanical forcehe simple kind used to eject unruly patrons from bars,
"In our technology, two diamond anvils were used to sandwich nanoparticulate thin films. This external stress manually induced transitions in the film that synthesized new materials,
The pressure, delivered by two diamond plates tightened by four screws to any controlled setting, shepherds silver nanospheres into any desired volume.
The researchers made a thin film of graphene oxide by chemically exfoliating graphite into graphene flakes,
And the main ingredient, graphite, is mined and sold by the ton. h
#Nanostructured material based on repeating microscopic units has record-breaking stiffness at low density (w/Video) What's the difference between the Eiffel Tower and the Washington monument?
Thus far, for instance, materials such as chalk, cement, solar cells and fossils have been studied in collaboration with various research institutions n
because its total charge capacity is 10 times higher than commercial graphite based lithium ion battery anodes.
Replacing the commonly used graphite anode with silicon anodes will potentially result in a 63 percent increase of total cell capacity and a battery that is 40 percent lighter and smaller.
and discharge rates nearly 16 times faster than conventionally used graphite based anodes. The researchers believe the ultrafast rate of charge
and recently opened new manufacturing facilities in Eugene, Ore.,to use this synthetic approach for quantum dot enabled televisions, smartphones and other devices d
#Researchers find definitive evidence of how zeolites grow Researchers have found the first definitive evidence of how silicalite-1 (MFI type) zeolites grow showing that growth is concerted a process involving both the attachment of nanoparticles and the addition of molecules.
He and researcher Alexandra I. Lupulescu used a new technique allowing them to view zeolite surface growth in real time a breakthrough Rimer said can be applied to other types of materials as well.
Typically researchers examine zeolite growth by removing crystals from the natural synthesis environment and analyzing changes in their physical properties said Rimer Ernest J. and Barbara M. Henley Assistant professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at UH.
That has made understanding the fundamental mechanism of zeolite growth more challenging. Zeolites occur naturally but can also be manufactured.
This research involved silicalite-1 a synthetic aluminum-free zeolite that has served as a prototype in literature for studying zeolite growth.
For more than two decades researchers have theorized that nanoparticles which are known to be present in zeolite growth solutions played a role in the growth
but there was no direct evidence. And while most crystals grow through classical means the addition of atoms
or molecules to the crystal the presence and gradual consumption of nanoparticles suggested a nonclassical pathway for zeolite crystallization.
After that they assembled the room piece by piece from the sandstone material. The entire process took one year to design one month to print and one day to assemble.
I really think once there is profit in this for private industries such as from astriod mining or space tourism the space industry will explode with so many companies getting into this.
Some drugs are entirely fakenake oil, sawdust, chalk. But others, particularly those in developing countries, might contain an ineffective amount of medicine or release the right amount in the wrong way;
but I ll see violet turquoise blue she said. It s like a mosaic of color.#
As Eric Holthaus noted in Slate it's a very small decrease in gravity far from enough to send any penguins sea lions
While the greenbacks involved are a relatively small amount compared to the trillions invested in global oil coal
The team previously made a prototype all-liquid battery filled with magnesium and an element called antimony.
and antimony mixed with lead. It has compared some advantages to its predecessor. Mixing the antimony with lead makes the materials cheaper.
Plus the battery can be kept at lower temperatures. It works at 450 degrees Celsius versus 700 degrees Celsius.
For Quartz Harris reported on Google's lobbying not to have to report#how often its cars turn over the controls to their human drivers
when used in solar cells made with organolead halide perovskite film a compound that is fast becoming competitive with silicon in solar power technology.
The group's work demonstrates that the perovskite created from the lead in just one old car battery could provide materials for 30 households-worth of solar energy cells.
Perovskite solar panels are also less energy-intensive to build compared to silicon-based cells and the leaded film would be contained completely within other materials.
The research Environmentally-responsible fabrication of efficient perovskite solar cells from recycled car batteries was published recently online by the journal Energy and Environmental science.
The spongey device is made of graphite on top, with a carbon foam on the bottom.
The graphite is highly porous and fractured, a crown of flakes, created by putting the material in a microwave oven
Graphite absorbs the sun's rays and heats up. This creates a pressure differential that sucks water from the bottom into the top
--whereas the graphite and carbon used in this sponge are relatively easy to get your hands on,
#A computer vision system for mining artistic influence When we look at an image we not only recognize object categories
#Chinaâ#moon landing and rover tip of iceberg Yutu (Jade Rabbit#)China rover-like robot was landed soft on the moon earlier this month.
as open source, ore people can get into the ballgameto build simulation programs, he said e
#NASA's drone is part chopper, part airplane Answer: NASA'S latest drone prototype, GL-10.
but also to make them produce repair material for the concrete--and that is limestone, "Jonkers explains.
In order to produce limestone the bacilli need a food source. Sugar was one option, but adding sugar to the mix would create soft, weak, concrete.
so they combine the calcium with carbonate ions to form calcite, or limestone, which closes up the cracks.
Now Jonkers hopes his concrete could be the start of a new age of biological buildings."
limestone-producing bacteria. If we can implement it in materials, we can really benefit from it,
That approach will reduce the need for high-carbon power, such as coal, and encourage the use of more solar and wind power, according to the statement.
which could eventually replace the industry standard of synthetic graphite. Besides being less expensive and eco-friendlier
Synthetic graphite, on the other hand, has a relatively high manufacturing cost due to specific preparation and purification processes that can also be harmful to the environment, according to the research team.
as a rule, more tasty than graphite. Everybody wins. The research findings were published today in the journal Nature Scientific Reports e
and used to store unused off-peak electricity from a coal fired power plant 20 miles away, according to the New york times. But recently the technology has been repurposed for use with renewables a
That materialbbreviated GSTONSISTS of a thin layer of an alloy of germanium, antimony, and tellurium.
a type of lung cancer caused by inflammation following chronic exposure to asbestos, and colon cancer in people with a history of inflammatory bowel disease, says Bogdan Fedeles,
Team members are in the process of spinning out a product called Emerald that aims to detect, predict and prevent falls among the elderly.
In August the team presented Emerald to President Obama as part of the White house first annual Demo Day. n the same way that cellphones and Wifi routers have become indispensable parts
the coal industry lost more than 49,000 jobs, while the natural gas, solar and wind industries together created nearly four times that amount, according to a new Duke university study.
A county-by-county geographical analysis of the losses and gains shows that few new jobs were added in regions hardest hit by coal's decline, particularly counties in southern West virginia and eastern Kentucky."
"The counties that were very reliant on the coal industry are now in the most difficult position,
Job changes in the coal and natural gas industries were derived using a model that analyzed year-to-year economic activity
"The areas where a lot of coal is mined in Appalachia, for example, are rugged very and heavily forestedot easy places to set up solar panels or wind farms."
"Haerer said one way for states that depend heavily on the coal industry to cope with changing energy trends may be to transition to clean coal technology,
which reduces coal plants'negative environmental impacts. Pratson and Haerer published their study in the peer-reviewed journal Energy policy.
and avoid the segregation of Gd at the interface we have added an electronic conductor cobalt iron spinel (CFO),
Currently, ceramic composites consisting of ionic and electronic conductive components like those in this study are under consideration for membrane separation devices that provide oxygen for enhanced conversion of coal and natural gas
including coal and cement producers, whose business models were deemed no longer tenable because of climate change or environmental costs.
The task force was formed to develop standards ore The first leg of the stool in assuring reliability is a durable design, one that holds up to its intended application,
"That's the equivalent of 10 nuclear plants or 10 coal fired power plants.""Assuring solar modules will last for decades The International PV Quality assurance Task force is developing a comprehensive set of standards that includes:
and inspections ore Previtali also noted that more banks are jumping into the solar market,
Sekula said. 10 times as many Higgs particles means a flood of data to sift for gems LHC Run 2 will collide particles at a staggering 13 teraelectronvolts (Tev),
And with more Higgs, we'll have an easier time sifting the gems out of the gravel."
A robot that has a ore But then, he says, there's first-best time, "Which is really developing your mind."
a type of lung cancer caused by inflammation following chronic exposure to asbestos, and colon cancer in people with a history of inflammatory bowel disease, says Bogdan Fedeles,
Most present lithium-ion batteries the most widely used form of rechargeable batteries use anodes made of graphite, a form of carbon.
Graphite has a charge storage capacity of 0. 35 ampere-hours per gram (Ah/g; for many years, researchers have explored other options that would provide greater energy storage for a given weight.
what are called ore-shelland olk-shellnanoparticles. The former have a shell that is bonded directly to the core,
The result is an electrode that gives more than three times the capacity of graphite (1. 2 Ah/g) at a normal charging rate
#Nanoscientists Improve the Stability of Perovskite Solar cells UCLA researchers have taken a step towards next-generation perovskite solar cells by using a metal oxide andwich.
whose team in recent years has developed next-generation solar cells constructed of perovskite, which has remarkable efficiency converting sunlight to electricity.
the delicate nature of perovskite a very light, flexible, organic-inorganic hybrid material stalled further development toward its commercialized use.
perovskite cells broke down and disintegrated within a few hours to few days. The cells deteriorated even faster
when also exposed to moisture, mainly due to the hydroscopic nature of the perovskite. Now Yang team has conquered the primary difficulty of perovskite by protecting it between two layers of metal oxide.
This is a significant advance toward stabilizing perovskite solar cells. Their new cell construction extends the cell effective life in air by more than 10 times
with only a marginal loss of efficiency converting sunlight to electricity. The study was published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Postdoctoral scholar Jingbi You and graduate student Lei Meng from the Yang Lab were the lead authors on the paper. here has been much optimism about perovskite solar cell technology,
In less than two years, the Yang team has advanced perovskite solar cell efficiency from less than 1 percent to close to 20 percent. ut its short lifespan was a limiting factor we have been trying to improve on since developing perovskite cells with high efficiency.
Endowed Chair in Engineering at UCLA, said there are several factors that lead to quick deterioration in normally layered perovskite solar cells.
and can effectively protect the perovskite layer from moisture in the air, speeding cell degradation. The buffer layers are important to cell construction
Meng said that in this study the team replaced those organic layers with metal oxide layers that sandwich the perovskite layer,
now that the main perovskite problem has been solved. This research is a joint project with National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.
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