Materials & Coatings

How Do Hydraulic Brakes Work?

If you’ve ridden in a modern car, bus, truck, aircraft, or even on certain bicycles, you’ve used hydraulic brakes. You most certainly have used them, but do you know how they work? Find out with this quiz.

Manufacturing the World's Tiniest Light-Emitting Diodes

Miniaturization ranks as the driving force behind the semiconductor industry. The tremendous gains in computer performance since the 1950s are largely due to the fact that ever smaller...

Scientists Create Superconducting Semiconductor Material

Scientists have long sought to make semiconductors that are also superconducting, thereby enhancing their speed and energy efficiency and enabling new quantum technologies. However,...

An Electronic Fiber for Stretchable Sensing

The phrase ‘liquid metal’ may bring to mind something hazardous, like mercury or molten steel. But in the Laboratory of Photonic Materials and Fiber Devices (FIMAP) in EPFL’s School of...

High-Temperature-Resistant Material Perfect for Applications Like Energy-Efficient Aircraft Engines

A new material might contribute to a reduction of the fossil fuels consumed by aircraft engines and gas turbines in the future.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a drone with flapping wings that can locate and hover around a moving light like a moth to a flame; a new multi-layered metalens design that could revolutionize portable optics in devices like phones, drones, and satellites; and more.

3D Construction of Biologically Derived Materials

NASA has developed a novel approach for macroscale biomaterial production by combining synthetic biology with 3D printing. This innovation provides modern design and fabrication techniques for custom-designed organic or organic-inorganic composite biomaterials produced from limited resources. Read on to learn more.

Boosting Welding Productivity with the GoFa Cobot

Finland-based Metos Oy, a manufacturer of professional stainless steel kitchen equipment, needed a welding solution that could deliver flawless, pressure-rated welds for small batches of high-spec products, which feature tubular structures and circular shafts that required continuous, precision welding. Read on to find out what they did.

New Products

See the new products, including Plasmatreat's HydroPlasma, a solution for the removal of stubborn contaminants from glass and metal surfaces; TDK Corporation's 3000-watt TDK-Lambda brand HWS3000G programmable AC-DC power supplies; Zircotec's new range of proprietary ceramic coatings; Thermo Fisher Scientific's expanded solutions for battery manufacturers; and more.

Breaking the Rules to Build a Better Battery

By flipping a foundational belief in battery design, Hailong Chen and his team found that charging zinc-ion batteries at higher currents can make them last longer. Read on to learn more about this surprising result.

How Carbon Fibers Can Help Manufacture Li-ion Batteries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have overcome a barrier to using a more affordable, dry process for manufacturing the Li-ion batteries used in vehicles and electronic devices. The resulting batteries provide greater electricity flow and reduced risk of overheating. Read on to learn more.

New Self-Assembling Material Could Be the Key to Recyclable EV Batteries

Today’s electric vehicle boom is tomorrow’s mountain of electronic waste. And while myriad efforts are underway to improve battery recycling, many EV batteries still end up in landfills. A research team from MIT wants to help change that with a new kind of self-assembling battery material that quickly breaks apart when submerged in a simple organic liquid. Read on to learn more.

This Paint Can Cool Buildings Without Energy Input

Researchers at the University of Sydney and start-up Dewpoint Innovations have developed a nanoengineered polymer paint-like coating that can passively cool buildings and capture water directly from the air — all without energy input.

This Self-Powered Device Can Detect Toxic Amines in Water

Researchers have built a self-powered device that detects toxic amines in water using electrochemiluminescence (ECL).

‘Metabots’ Shapeshift from Flat Sheets into Hundreds of Structures

Researchers have created a class of robots made from thin sheets of material that can snap into hundreds of stable shapes — allowing them to execute a wide variety of...

NASA Mission to Test Organic Electro-Optic Materials in Space

NLM Photonics has confirmed that its patented silicon organic hybrid (SOH) photonic chips, featuring Selerion-HTX™ and JRD1, have successfully arrived at the International...

Open-Source Software for 3D Printing with Multiple Materials

Charles Wade, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Matter Assembly Computation Lab (MACLab) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Professor Rob MacCurdy, who leads the MACLab, have created a design package that uses functions and code to map not just shapes but where different materials belong in a 3D object.

Material Science Innovations for Medical Devices

New materials are enabling the production of medical devices that are stronger, more flexible, and more sustainable.

Showcasing Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs: Innovations at the 2025 Create the Future Design Contest

The 23rd annual Create the Future Design Contest was held November 7 in New York City. Read on to find out who took home the $25,000 grand prize!

A New Way to Build Soft Robots That Can Walk on Water

Imagine a tiny robot, no bigger than a leaf, gliding across a pond’s surface like a water strider. One day, devices like this could track pollutants, collect water samples or scout...

How Much Do You Know About the History of 3D Printing?

It seems like there are new applications for 3D printing every day. How much do you know about its history?

Machine Learning Leads to Stronger 3D-Printed Alloy

MIT engineers have developed a printable aluminum alloy that can withstand high temperatures and is five times stronger than traditionally manufactured aluminum.