ScienceDaily: Engineering and Construction News

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• New materials for future green tech devices
• Directly visualizing hydrogen bonds
• Fuel cells for powering homes
• Labs characterize carbon for lithion-ion batteries
• Researchers demonstrate novel, tunable nanoantennas
• Squishy robots: Phase-changing material could allow even low-cost robots to switch between hard and soft states
• Nano-sized silicon oxide electrode for the next generation lithium ion batteries
• Technology produces clean-burning hydrogen fuel cheaply using carbon nanotubes
• Flashes of light on a superconductor
• Pumping efficiency into electrical motors

New materials for future green tech devices Posted: 15 Jul 2014 11:17 AM PDT Thermoelectric devices, which convert heat to electricity and vice versa, can harness that wasted heat, and possibly provide the green tech energy efficiency that's needed for a sustainable future. A new study shows how porous substances can act as thermoelectric materials —- pointing the way for engineering the use of such materials in thermoelectric devices of the future.

Directly visualizing hydrogen bonds Posted: 15 Jul 2014 11:17 AM PDT Using a newly developed, ultrafast femtosecond infrared light source, chemists have been able to directly visualize the coordinated vibrations between hydrogen-bonded molecules -- the first time this sort of chemical interaction, which is found in nature everywhere at the molecular level, has been directly visualized.

Fuel cells for powering homes Posted: 15 Jul 2014 05:51 AM PDT Fuel cells are similar to batteries, but they differ from them mainly in that they are continually resupplied by the reagents consumed, typically oxygen and hydrogen. One of the applications that fuel cells may have is the supplying of homes with electrical power. When considering applications of this type that call for greater power, a research group has studied the use of one type of material, perovskites, for the design of these cells.

Labs characterize carbon for lithion-ion batteries Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:24 PM PDT Researchers have found a universal descriptor of charge-transfer binding properties for carbon-based lithium-ion batteries. The model is based on intrinsic electronic characteristics of materials used as battery anodes. These include the material's quantum capacitance (the ability of the material to absorb charge) and the material's absolute Fermi level, which determines how many lithium ions may bond to the electrodes.

Researchers demonstrate novel, tunable nanoantennas Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:28 AM PDT Scientists have developed a novel, tunable nanoantenna that paves the way for new kinds of plasmonic-based optomechanical systems, whereby plasmonic field enhancement can actuate mechanical motion. The team's fabrication process shows for the first time an innovative way of fabricating plasmonic nanoantenna structures under the SEM, which avoids complications such as proximity effects from conventional lithography techniques.

Squishy robots: Phase-changing material could allow even low-cost robots to switch between hard and soft states Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:28 AM PDT In the movie 'Terminator 2,' the shape-shifting T-1000 robot morphs into a liquid state to squeeze through tight spaces or to repair itself when harmed. Now a phase-changing material built from wax and foam, and capable of switching between hard and soft states, could allow even low-cost robots to perform the same feat.

Nano-sized silicon oxide electrode for the next generation lithium ion batteries Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:57 AM PDT A new article reports on an approach with industrial potential to produce nano-sized composite silicon-based powders as negative electrodes for the next generation lithium ion batteries.

Technology produces clean-burning hydrogen fuel cheaply using carbon nanotubes Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:41 AM PDT Researchers have developed a technology that could overcome a major cost barrier to make clean-burning hydrogen fuel -- a fuel that could replace expensive and environmentally harmful fossil fuels. The new technology is a novel catalyst that performs almost as well as cost-prohibitive platinum for so-called electrolysis reactions, which use electric currents to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The Rutgers technology is also far more efficient than less-expensive catalysts investigated to-date.

Flashes of light on a superconductor Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:03 AM PDT A new technique has been developed based on applying short flashes of light to observe and analyze the features of a superconductor at high critical temperature, a material with major prospects for technological applications. In addition to providing an explanation for the peculiar behavior of the material, the study also opens to the possibility of controlling its characteristics by means of laser pulses.

Pumping efficiency into electrical motors Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:01 AM PDT Researchers are using new magnetic materials to develop revolutionary electrical motors and generators which promise significant energy savings.

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