Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The University of Texas at El Paso has joined a project led by NASA to leverage 3D-printing processes with the aim of manufacturing rechargeable batteries using lunar and Martian regolith, which is the top layer of materials that covers the surface of the moon and...
Microwave-driven exfoliation of MoS2 produces large flakes with high yields
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers has developed a new method for exfoliating MoS2 flakes that produces very large and very thin flakes with high yield. They reported their findings in ACS Nano ("Microwave-driven exfoliation of bulk 2h- MoS2 after acetonitrile prewetting produces large-area ultrathin flakes with...
Researchers use 3D printing to consistently produce one of the world’s strongest steels
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Durability is a critical characteristic of the materials used to produce industrial machinery, marine vessels, aircraft and medical devices. For these applications, manufacturers rely on a particular type of stainless steel known as 17-4 PH due to its remarkably strong and corrosion-resistant properties. Now, for...
Quantum composites – new type of composite materials with unique properties defined by quantum condensate effects
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Recent years have witnessed fast-growing interest in quantum strongly correlated materials that show unusual electronic, optical, and magnetic properties, including metal-insulator transitions, superconductivity, and charge-density-waves quantum condensate phases. Materials that reveal quantum phenomena are typically crystalline, chemically pure, and have low densities of defects since...
Artificial intelligence discovers secret equation for ‘weighing’ galaxy clusters
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Astrophysicists at the Institute for Advanced Study, the Flatiron Institute and their colleagues have leveraged artificial intelligence to uncover a better way to estimate the mass of colossal clusters of galaxies. The AI discovered that by just adding a simple term to an existing equation,...
Introducing the oxygen-ion battery
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous today - from electric cars to smartphones. But that does not mean that they are the best solution for all areas of application. TU Wien has now succeeded in developing an oxygen-ion battery that has some important advantages. Although it does...
Searching for life with space dust
Mar 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Following enormous collisions, such as asteroid impacts, some amount of material from an impacted world may be ejected into space. This material can travel vast distances and for extremely long periods of time. In theory this material could contain direct or indirect signs of life...
Ultra-lightweight multifunctional space skin created to withstand extreme conditions in space
Mar 22, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A new nano-barrier coating could help protect ultra-lightweight carbon composite materials from extreme conditions in space, according to a study from the University of Surrey and Airbus Defence and Space. The findings have been reported in Science Advances ("Radiation and electrostatic resistance for ultra-stable polymer...
Shaping with light – a novel method for crafting chiral nanostructures with lasers
Mar 22, 2023 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Chirality is a property of objects that exist in different forms that are mirror images of each other but cannot be superimposed, like left hand and right hand. It is a common phenomenon in the universe and has many practical applications, especially in creating special...
Webb spots swirling, gritty clouds on remote planet
Mar 22, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers observing with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet’s atmosphere. The atmosphere is constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down. The resulting brightness changes are so...