In late July of 2008 a British solar plane set an unofficial flight-endurance record by remaining aloft for more than three days straight. Lithium-sulfur batteries emerged as one of the great technological advances that enabled the flight -powering the plane overnight with efficiency unmatched by the top batteries of the day. Ten years later, the […]
Once A Performance Barrier, Material Quirk Could Improve Telecommunications
Researchers who study and manipulate the behavior of materials at the atomic level have discovered a way to make a thin material that enhances the flow of microwave energy. The advance, which could improve telecommunications, sheds new light on structural traits, generally viewed as static and a hindrance, that, when made to be dynamic, are […]
A Soft Solution To The Hard Problem Of Energy Storage
It’s great in the lab, but will it actually work? That’s the million-dollar question perpetually leveled at engineering researchers. For a family of layered nanomaterials, developed and studied at Drexel University—and heralded as the future of energy storage—that answer is now, yes. For some time, researchers have been working on using two-dimensional materials, atomically thin nanomaterials, […]
MXene Material Could Improve Sensors That Sniff
Sensors that sniff out chemicals in the air to warn us about everything from fires to carbon monoxide to drunk drivers to explosive devices hidden in luggage have improved so much that they can even detect diseases on a person’s breath. Researchers from Drexel University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have […]
Spinning A Lighter, Safer Electrode
A group of Drexel University researchers have created a fabric-like material electrode that could help make energy storage devices — batteries and supercapacitors — faster and less susceptible to leaks or disastrous meltdowns. Their design for a new supercapacitor, which looks something like a furry sponge infused with gelatin, offers a unique alternative to the […]
Recipe For Safer Batteries — Just Add Diamonds
While lithium-ion batteries, widely used in mobile devices from cell phones to laptops, have one of the longest lifespans of commercial batteries today, they also have been behind a number of recent meltdowns and fires due to short-circuiting in mobile devices. In hopes of preventing more of these hazardous malfunctions researchers at Drexel University have […]
In The Fast Lane — Conductive Electrodes Are Key To Fast-Charging Batteries
Can you imagine fully charging your cell phone in just a few seconds? Researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering can, and they took a big step toward making it a reality with their recent work unveiling of a new battery electrode design in the journal Nature Energy. The team, led by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University […]
Making a Solar Energy Conversion Breakthrough with Help from a Ferroelectrics Pioneer
Designers of solar cells may soon be setting their sights higher, as a discovery by a team of researchers has revealed a class of materials that could be better at converting sunlight into energy than those currently being used in solar arrays. Their research shows how a material can be used to extract power from […]
Adding Some Salt to the Recipe for Energy Storage Materials
The secret to making the best energy storage materials is growing them with as much surface area as possible. Like baking, it requires just the right mixture of ingredients prepared in a specific amount and order at just the right temperature to produce a thin sheet of material with the perfect chemical consistency to be […]
What Can Brain-Controlled Prosthetics Tell Us?
The ceremonial opening kick of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paolo, Brazil, which was performed–with the help of a brain-controlled exo-skeleton–by a local teen who had been paralyzed from the waste down due to a spinal cord injury, was a seminal moment for the area of neuroscience that strives to connect the brain […]