May

9

A New Process to Make Steel

May 9, 2013 | 1 Comment

Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT found that a process called molten oxide electrolysis could use iron oxide from the lunar soil to make oxygen in abundance, with no special chemistry. He tested the process using lunar-like soil from Meteor Crater in Arizona – which contains iron oxide from [...]

Apr

19

A Booster for Food and Fuel Production

April 19, 2013 | 1 Comment

Hydrogen sulfide, the gas with a telltale rotten-egg smell often called and found in sewer gas could greatly enhance plant growth in low doses.  Hydrogen sulfide remains in higher concentrations a deadly substance implicated in several mass extinctions.  At high concentrations – levels of only 30 to 100 parts per million in water – hydrogen [...]

Mar

20

Solving Energy Problems Miles Underground

March 20, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Geothermal, oil and natural gas well technology is improving and increasing as the monitoring technologies go deeper into the earth.  The technology requires circuit boards be placed down the hole in petroleum and geothermal wells and they must withstand high temperatures and pressures, excessive vibrations and other extreme environments. An alloy of gold-silver-germanium that may [...]

Mar

15

Seeing a Catalytic Chemical Reaction in Real Time

March 15, 2013 | Leave a Comment

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) used ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) to enable unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources. The SLAC used LCLS, together with computerized simulations, to reveal surprising [...]

Mar

4

Superconductivity Warms Up

March 4, 2013 | Leave a Comment

A team of experts led by Chang-Beom Eom, the Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering and physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with colleagues at the Florida State University and the University of Michigan has artificially engineered a unique multi-layer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and [...]

Feb

28

New Understanding for Oxygen Fuel Cells and Zirconia

February 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment

K. L. Ngai, from the University of Pisa in Italy, and colleagues from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, devised a model of the oxygen-ion dynamics that contribute to the conductivity of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ).  This is significant because of the movement of oxygen within a fuel cell and for devices we are already [...]

Feb

25

Graphene Can Multiply the Power of Light

February 25, 2013 | 1 Comment

Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Science (ICFO), in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany, and Graphenea S.L. Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain have demonstrated graphene is able to convert a single photon such that when it’s absorbed it releases multiple freed electrons. This is a very promising discovery.  [...]

Feb

12

A Better Thin Film Electrical Conductor

February 12, 2013 | Leave a Comment

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI) researchers have devised a method of making ferroelectric thin films with exceptional performance.  The new material has improved properties, but also has entirely new properties. Most notably, the films have a built-in electric field, called an intrinsic potential. This means that it can perform some functions without needing an [...]

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