Materials & Manufacturing

New Microchip Could Monitor Earth’s Climate, Human Health

A team at Delft University of Technology has built a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning techniques for the first time. This microchip could measure distances in materials at high precision — e.g., underwater or for medical imaging.

3D Printing Stronger Carbon Nanotubes

Researchers in the Lyding Group at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered an efficient, sustainable method for 3D-printing single-walled carbon nanotube films, a versatile, durable material that can transform how we explore space, engineer aircraft, and wear electronic technology.

A Sintering Method to Fabricate Large Perovskite Devices

A Penn State-led team of researchers have created a new process to fabricate large perovskite devices that is more cost- and time-effective than previously possible — and may accelerate future materials discovery.

Detecting Porosity Defects in 3D-Printed Metal Parts

A research team has made new discoveries that can expand additive manufacturing in industries that rely on strong metal parts, including aerospace.

Assembling Matter in 3D Using Sound Waves for 3D Printing

Researchers have created a new technology to assemble matter in 3D. Their concept uses multiple acoustic holograms to generate pressure fields with which solid particles, gel beads, and even biological cells can be printed.

Developing High-Energy-Density Batteries Using Aluminum Foil

A team of researchers is using aluminum foil to create batteries with higher energy density and greater stability. The team’s new battery system could enable EVs to run longer on a single charge and would be cheaper to manufacture – all while having a positive impact on the environment.

New Priming Method for Improving Battery Lifecycle

Scientists at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering have developed a readily scalable method to optimize prelithiation, a process that helps mitigate lithium loss and improves battery life cycles by coating silicon anodes with stabilized lithium metal particles.

Improved Grasping with an Energy-Efficient Robotic Hand

Grasping objects is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers designed a soft, 3D-printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can still carry out a range of complex movements.

A Gripper That Grasps by Reflex

Looking to give robots a more nimble, human-like touch, MIT engineers have now developed a gripper that grasps by reflex. Rather than start from scratch after a failed attempt, the robot adapts in the moment.

Surgical Sutures Inspired by Human Tendons

Next-generation sutures can deliver drugs, prevent infections, and monitor wounds.

New Programmable Smart Fabric Responds to Temperature, Electricity

A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.

Printing Microchip Patterns on Curvy Surfaces

There’s still more to explore with REFLEX, but this process could open new possibilities for new materials and microstructures across fields from electronics to optics to biomedical engineering.

Nanomaterial Promises Big Benefits for Bendable Electronics

An international team of scientists is developing an inkable nanomaterial that they say could one day become a spray-on electronic component for ultra-thin, lightweight, and bendable displays and devices.

Caterpillar-Inspired Soft Robotics Locomotion

Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward, and even dip under narrow spaces. Its movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

A wavelength of visible light is about 1,000 times larger than an electron, so the way the two affect each other is limited by that disparity. Now, researchers have come up with a way to make...

Nanoscale 3D Structure to Control Light

3D nanometer-scale metamaterial structures hold promise for advanced optical isolators.

Controlling Electric Double Layer Dynamics for All-Solid-State Batteries

Researchers have employed a novel technique to investigate and modulate electric double layer dynamics at the solid/solid electrolyte interface.

Increased Storage Capacity in Water-Based Batteries

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered a 1,000 percent difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes.

Oxygen-Ion Battery: A Solution for Large Energy Storage Systems

TU Wien has developed an oxygen-ion battery that has some important advantages. Although it does not allow for quite as high energy densities as the Li-ion battery, its storage capacity does not decrease irrevocably over time.

New Polymer Coating Could Boost EV Batteries

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a conductive polymer coating – called HOS-PFM – that could enable longer lasting, more powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Hydrodynamic Effect Helps Motorized Objects Navigate Inclines

The tiny motors mimic how rock climbers navigate inclines.

Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (ExCALiBR)

NASA Ames Research Center has developed a novel technology that provides an autonomous, miniaturized fluidic system for lipid analysis.

Flow-Through Transducer for Wind Tunnel Analysis

To enable key aerospace R&D applications, NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a single-piece flow-through transducer design capable of measuring all six components adding in the Axial force measurement.

Cohesive Circuit Protection for Wearable Electronics

The cellulose nanofiber coating counters bending damage and retains electrode function under water.

Solid-State Thermal Transistor

A research team at Hokkaido University has developed the first solid-state electrochemical thermal transistor. It's more stable than, and just as effective as, current liquid-state thermal transistors.

Revolutionizing High-Performance Computer Memory Storage

Magnets generate invisible fields that attract certain materials. Far more important to our everyday lives, magnets also can store data in computers. Exploiting the direction of the magnetic field, microscopic bar magnets each can store one bit of memory as a zero or a one — the language of computers.

Multi-Material Digital Light Processing 3D Printing

Researchers from Japan and Singapore have developed a new 3D-printing process for the fabrication of 3D metal–plastic composite structures with complex shapes.