After what has seemed a bit of a lapse in the timeline of their development, graphene-enabled supercapacitors may be poised to make a significant advance. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) have developed an electrode for supercapacitors made from a graphene-based aerogel. The new supercapacitor component has the highest areal capacitance (electric charge stored per unit of surface area) ever reported for a supercapacitor.
A new lightweight substance is as strong as wood yet lacks its standard vulnerabilities to fire and water.
To create the synthetic wood, scientists took a solution of polymer resin and added a pinch of chitosan, a sugar polymer derived from the shells of shrimp and crabs. They freeze-dried the solution, yielding a structure filled with tiny pores and channels supported by the chitosan. Then they heated the resin to temperatures as high as 200 degrees Celsius to cure it, forging strong chemical bonds.
Graphene seems to be a gift that keeps on giving. This much hyped material, which consists of a one-atom-thick layer of carbon and is the basic unit of graphite, is known for its strength, conductivity and other useful properties. It holds promise for a slew of futuristic uses, from high-capacity batteries to lighter and stronger aircraft wings. It is slowly finding its way to market in conductive inks and specialty sports gear. But other proposed applications are closer to home: some researchers think graphene could revamp everything from personal care to footwear.
The Vantablack coating makes 3D objects appear photoshopped into absolute blackness. We identified the game-changing applications for super-dark, light-absorbing materials.
The industrial coating Vantablack debuted in 2014 and quickly caught the attention of artists and researchers.
Identified as the world’s darkest manmade material, the near-weightless, light absorbing substance is comprised of many millions of microscopic carbon tubes and makes anything it’s applied to appear as dark as a black hole.
The global push among carmakers to make ever lighter vehicles is leading some auto suppliers in Japan to turn to what seems like an unlikely substitute for steel - wood.
Japanese researchers and auto component makers say a material made from wood pulp weighs just one fifth of steel and can be five times stronger.
Now Fraunhofer researchers have developed a capacitor that can withstand temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius by using an innovative mix of materials – and a special 3D trick.
Heat, dust and moisture damage electronic components. Protecting against dust and moisture is fairly straightforward, but heat remains a problem because it is created within the component itself.
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have successfully demonstrated that two-dimensional (2D) layered crystals held together by van der Waal forces—these include graphene and molybdenum disulfide—can exhibit intrinsic ferromagnetism. Not only did the team demonstrate that it exists in these materials, but the researchers also demonstrated a high degree of control over that ferromagnetism.
When Singapore high school students Marion Pang Wan Rion, Joy Ang Jing Zhi, and Sonia Arumuganainar decided they wanted to experiment with the “next big thing” in electronics, they chose graphene-based supercapacitors. The three wanted to come up with a design for a supercapacitor that would be lighter and more flexible than current ones, like those used to collect energy from regenerative breaking in electric cars.
The use of DNA in nanodevices has in large part been aimed at manipulating DNA to act like a semiconductor. But what if we could create an inorganic semiconductor that had some of the properties, including flexibility, of DNA?
