ScienceDaily: Engineering and Construction News

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• Rubber meets the road with new carbon, battery technologies
• Breaking benzene selectively, at relatively mild temperatures
• Sorting cells with sound waves
• Atomically seamless, thinnest-possible semiconductor junctions crafted by scientists
• New technology may identify tiny strains in body tissues before injuries occur
• Competition for graphene: Researchers demonstrate ultrafast charge transfer in new family of 2-D semiconductors
• Symphony of nanoplasmonic and optical resonators produces laser-like light emission
• Laser pulse turns glass into a metal: New effect could be used for ultra-fast logical switches
• U.S. has seen widespread adoption of robot-assisted cancer surgery to remove the prostate
• Lignin: New process helps overcome obstacles to produce renewable fuels and chemicals

Rubber meets the road with new carbon, battery technologies Posted: 27 Aug 2014 12:16 PM PDT Recycled tires could see new life in lithium-ion batteries that provide power to plug-in electric vehicles and store energy produced by wind and solar, say researchers. By modifying the microstructural characteristics of carbon black, a substance recovered from discarded tires, a team is developing a better anode for lithium-ion batteries.

Breaking benzene selectively, at relatively mild temperatures Posted: 27 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT Scientists have demonstrated a way to use a metallic complex, trinuclear titanium hydride, to accomplish the task of activating benzene by breaking the aromatic carbon-carbon bonds at relatively mild temperatures and in a highly selective way.

Sorting cells with sound waves Posted: 26 Aug 2014 05:57 PM PDT Researchers have devised a new way to separate cells by exposing them to sound waves as they flow through a tiny channel. Their device, about the size of a dime, could be used to detect the extremely rare tumor cells that circulate in cancer patients' blood, helping doctors predict whether a tumor is going to spread.

Atomically seamless, thinnest-possible semiconductor junctions crafted by scientists Posted: 26 Aug 2014 05:53 PM PDT Two single-layer semiconductor materials can be connected in an atomically seamless fashion known as a heterojunction, researchers say. This result could be the basis for next-generation flexible and transparent computing, better light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and solar technologies.

New technology may identify tiny strains in body tissues before injuries occur Posted: 26 Aug 2014 05:52 PM PDT Algorithms to identify weak spots in tendons, muscles and bones prone to tearing or breaking have been developed by researchers. The technology, which needs to be refined before it is used in patients, one day may help pinpoint minor strains and tiny injuries in the body's tissues long before bigger problems occur.

Competition for graphene: Researchers demonstrate ultrafast charge transfer in new family of 2-D semiconductors Posted: 26 Aug 2014 11:25 AM PDT The first experimental observation of ultrafast charge transfer in photo-excited MX2 materials, the graphene-like two-dimensional semiconductors, has been conducted. Charge transfer time clocked in at under 50 femtoseconds, comparable to the fastest times recorded for organic photovoltaics.

Symphony of nanoplasmonic and optical resonators produces laser-like light emission Posted: 26 Aug 2014 09:11 AM PDT By combining plasmonics and optical microresonators, researchers have created a new optical amplifier (or laser) design, paving the way for power-on-a-chip applications.

Laser pulse turns glass into a metal: New effect could be used for ultra-fast logical switches Posted: 26 Aug 2014 07:08 AM PDT For tiny fractions of a second, quartz glass can take on metallic properties, when it is illuminated be a laser pulse. This has been shown by new calculations. The effect could be used to build logical switches which are much faster than today's microelectronics.

U.S. has seen widespread adoption of robot-assisted cancer surgery to remove the prostate Posted: 26 Aug 2014 06:10 AM PDT The US has experienced widespread adoption of robot-assisted prostate removal surgery to treat prostate cancer in recent years, a new study reveals. The study also found that while such surgeries are more expensive than traditional surgeries, their costs are decreasing over time.

Lignin: New process helps overcome obstacles to produce renewable fuels and chemicals Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT There's an old saying in the biofuels industry: 'You can make anything from lignin except money.' But now, a new study may pave the way to challenging that adage. The study demonstrates a concept that provides opportunities for the successful conversion of lignin into a variety of renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials for a sustainable energy economy.

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