Stop for a moment and imagine an efficient highway system. No need to jockey for position, no choke-point merging from three lanes into one, no long idles at ill-timed traffic lights, no rolling roadblocks as the motorist ahead of you prepares for a turn that is still five miles away. Regardless of the number of […]
Faster-Charging, Safer Batteries
Imagine a world where cell phones and laptops can be charged in a matter of minutes instead of hours, rolled up and stored in your pocket, or dropped without sustaining any damage. It is possible, according to University of Delaware Professor Thomas H. Epps, III, but the materials are not there yet. So, what is holding […]
New Driverless Car Technology Could Make Traffic Lights and Speeding Tickets Obsolete
Imagine a daily commute that’s orderly instead of chaotic. Connected and automated vehicles could provide that relief by adjusting to driving conditions with little to no input from drivers. When the car in front of you speeds up, yours would accelerate, and when the car in front of you screeches to a halt, your car […]
One Step Closer To Using Nanoporous Graphene In Smart Filters And Sensors
A hotel room door that opens with your smartphone – no room key required. In-room virtual reality glasses providing virtual tours of famous landmarks. Smart device-controlled lighting and thermostat, a smart TV connected to your Netflix account and smart room service that accepts smartphone orders. These innovations and more are on the horizon to become […]
Ultra-Powerful Batteries Made Safer, More Efficient
From smartphones to electric vehicles, many of today’s technologies run on lithium ion batteries. That means that consumers have to keep their chargers handy. An iPhone X battery only lasts for 21 hours of talk time, and Tesla’s model S has a 335-mile range — which means you could expect to make it from Newark, […]
Ultra-Powerful Batteries Made Safer, More Efficient
From smartphones to electric vehicles, many of today’s technologies run on lithium ion batteries. That means that consumers have to keep their chargers handy. An iPhone X battery only lasts for 21 hours of talk time, and Tesla’s model S has a 335-mile range — which means you could expect to make it from Newark, […]
Smart Glass Made Better, And Cheaper
Someday we won’t need curtains or blinds on our windows, and we will be able to block out light–or let it in–with just the press of a button. At least that’s what Keith Goossen, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, hopes. Goossen and Daniel Wolfe, who earned a doctoral […]
Research Aims to Help Renewable Jet Fuel Take Flight
Airplanes zoom overhead, wispy-white contrails streaming behind them. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handled 43,684 flights, on average, every day last year, and U.S. military and commercial flights together used over 20 billion gallons of jet fuel. All those emissions add up. World air travel contributed 815 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2016 — […]
A New Approach to Improving Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the power behind most modern portable electronics, including cell phones, tablets, laptops, fitness trackers, and smart watches. However, their energy density — that is, the amount of energy stored within a given amount of physical space, or mass — will need to be improved for these batteries to see widespread use […]
It’s Basic: Alternative Fuel Cell Technology Reduces Cost
The pathway to zero-emission vehicles has taken two forks, one toward battery electric cars like the Tesla and the other toward fuel-cell-powered automobiles like the Toyota Mirai. The University of Delaware’s Yushan Yan believes that fuel-cell vehicles are the way to go, because they best preserve the advantages of gasoline automobiles: low upfront cost, long […]