Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising for quantum computing and future electronics. Now, researchers can convert metallic gold into semiconductor and customize the material atom-by-atom on boron nitride nanotubes. Gold is a conductive material already widely used as interconnects in electronic devices. As electronics have gotten smaller and more powerful, the semiconducting materials involved have also […]
The Golden Path Towards New Two-Dimensional Semiconductors
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising for quantum computing and future electronics. Now, researchers can convert metallic gold into semiconductor and customize the material atom-by-atom on boron nitride nanotubes. Gold is a conductive material already widely used as interconnects in electronic devices. As electronics have gotten smaller and more powerful, the semiconducting materials involved have also […]
Changing the Type of Silicon Etching Drops Solar Power Costs by More Than 10 Percent
At the end of one of the hottest summers on record, as fights about how to power homes rage, renewable solar energy continues to present an option that does not significantly add greenhouse gases to the environment in exchange for lighting and cooling our homes. And it’s just been given another edge through material science. […]
Old Mining Techniques Make A New Way To Recycle Lithium Batteries
Lei Pan’s team of chemical engineering students had worked long and hard on their research project, and they were happy just to be showing their results at the People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) competition last April in Washington, DC. What they didn’t expect was to be mobbed by enthusiastic onlookers. “We got a lot of ‘oh […]
Better, Faster, Stronger: Building Batteries That Don’t Go Boom
There’s an old saying: “You must learn to walk before you learn to run.” Despite such wisdom, numerous industries skip the basics and sign up for marathons instead, including the battery industry. Lithium ion batteries hold incredible promise for improved storage capacity, but they are volatile. We’ve all heard the news about lithium ion batteries […]
Better, Faster, Stronger: Building Batteries That Don’t Go Boom
There’s an old saying: “You must learn to walk before you learn to run.” Despite such wisdom, numerous industries skip the basics and sign up for marathons instead, including the battery industry. Lithium ion batteries hold incredible promise for improved storage capacity, but they are volatile. We’ve all heard the news about lithium ion batteries […]
Beyond Good Vibrations: New Insights Into Metamaterial Magic
Metamaterials offer the very real possibility that our most far-fetched fancies could one day become real as rocks. From invisibility cloaks and perfect lenses to immensely powerful batteries, their super-power applications tantalize the imagination. That said, so far “tantalize” has been the operative word, even though scientists have been studying metamaterials for more than 15 […]
Bright Future For Energy Devices
A little sodium goes a long way. At least that’s the case in carbon-based energy technology. Specifically, embedding sodium in carbon materials can tremendously improve electrodes. A research team led by Yun Hang Hu, the Charles and Carroll McArthur Professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Tech, created a brand-new way to synthesize sodium-embedded […]
Watch A Tiny Space Rocket Work
Researchers at the University of Maryland and Michigan Technological University have operated a tiny proposed satellite ion rocket under a microscope to see how it works. The rocket, called an electrospray thruster, is a drop of molten salt. When electricity is applied, it creates a field on the tip of the droplet, until ions begin […]
Coal to Solar: Retraining the Energy Workforce
As more coal-fired power plants are retired, industry workers are left without many options. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. In a new study published in Energy Economics, researchers from Michigan Technological University and Oregon State University offer hope for coal workers for high-quality employment in the rapidly expanding solar […]