Materials & Coatings

Reverse Fuel Cell Converts Waste Carbon to Valuable Chemicals

The technology could lead to production of fuels, building materials, and other products in a carbon-neutral way.

Durable, Washable Textile Coating Repels Viruses

This coating could lead to safely reusable personal protective equipment.

Active Material Created Out of Microscopic Spinning Particles

This material could have applications such as mixing and delivery in the pharmaceutical industry.

Method Improves Efficiency and Heat Tolerance of Devices

These are important traits in electronics and electrical systems including electric cars, industrial drills, and electric grids.

Magnetic Force Manages Pain

This gel-like material leads a path toward “mechanoceuticals.”

Retroreflective Material for Nighttime Color-Changing Road Signs

The technology could help call attention to important traffic information when it’s dark, with potential benefits for both drivers and pedestrians.

Enhanced Fabrication Improves Temperature Sensing in Cryogenic Humid Environments

This technology is useful for energy, industrial, and aerospace applications.

“Racetrack Memory” Digital Data Storage

This technology offers the possibility to both bolster computer power and create smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient computer memory technologies.

Wraparound Sensors

These sensors monitor electrical loads from household appliances to support grid operations.

Material “Shape-Shifts” in Response to External Forces

The self-adapting material was inspired by how human bone adjusts mineral deposits in response to surrounding environments.

Surgical Tape Detaches on Demand

The removable adhesive could make it easier for surgeons to close up internal wounds.

Adhesive Film Turns Smartwatch into Biochemical Monitor

The system looks for chemical indicators found in sweat to give a real-time snapshot of what’s happening inside the body.

Cellulose-Based Sensor Simultaneously Measures Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity

The sensor has applications in fields such as robotics, healthcare, and security.

Unlocking the Gate to the Millisecond CT

A new CT scan method using intense synchrotron radiation produces higher quality images within milliseconds.

A Combined Optical Transmitter and Receiver

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues in China, have developed a tiny unit that is both an optical transmitter and a receiver.

Fabrication of Multilayer Ferritin Arrays

This method creates a thin-film electrode for a bio-nanobattery.

Semiconductors Can Behave Like Metals and Superconductors

This work potentially opens the door to advances like more energy-efficient electronic devices.

Soft Prosthetic Hand Feels Surroundings via Stretchable Optical Waveguides

Sensors in the hand can actually detect forces being transmitted through the thickness of the robot.

Machine-Learning Tool for Developing Tougher Materials

This rapid screening system tests fracture resistance in billions of potential materials.

Hardware Reduces Energy Draw of Artificial Intelligence

A quantum material could offset energy demand of artificial intelligence.

Multi-Polymer Filament Increases Production from Low-Cost Printers

The new filament allows low-cost printers to produce parts with mechanical properties competitive with injection molded plastics.

Super-Fast Method for Ceramic Manufacturing

Scientists have reinvented a 26,000-year-old manufacturing process into an innovative approach to fabricating ceramic materials widely used in batteries, electronics, and extreme environments....

Soft Hardware for More Flexible Robots

Combined muscles and sensors made from soft materials allow for adaptable robots.

Scavenger Technology Allows Robots to “Eat” Metal for Energy

This type of energy source could be the basis for robots that seek out and “eat” metal, breaking down its chemical bonds for energy like humans do with food.

Surfaces That Grip Like Gecko Feet Could Be Easily Mass-Produced

The new method produces strips of rubbery material that can pick up and release objects.

Metals Change Surfaces in Response to Heat

Heat predictably and precisely changes the surface structure of a particle of liquid metal.

Graphene Device with Superconducting, Insulating, and Magnetic Properties

The multitasking device could advance development of an electric circuit for faster, next-generation electronics like quantum computing technologies.