Finding key to low-cost, fast production of lighter, safer, and more energy-dense solid-state batteries for EVs

10-Mar-2021

A new fabrication technique could allow solid-state automotive lithium-ion batteries to adopt nonflammable ceramic electrolytes using the same production processes as in batteries made with conventional liquid electrolytes. The melt-infiltration technology developed by materials science ...

more

Polyimide membranes for the purification of natural gas

26-Jun-2020

Natural gas that contains larger amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) is termed sour gas. Before it can enter a pipeline, it must be “sweetened” by removal of its acidic impurities. Through fine tuning of the ratios of two molecular components, it is possible to produce ...

more

16-Jun-2020

An unexpected property of nanometer-scale antimony crystals -- the spontaneous formation of hollow structures -- could help give the next generation of lithium ion batteries higher energy density without reducing battery lifetime. The reversibly hollowing structures could allow lithium ion ...

more

20-Sep-2019

Films of platinum only two atoms thick supported by graphene could enable fuel cell catalysts with unprecedented catalytic activity and longevity, according to a study published recently by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Platinum is one of the most commonly used catalysts for ...

more

10-Sep-2019

Platinum has long been used as a catalyst to enable the oxidation reduction reaction at the center of fuel cell technology. But the metal's high cost is one factor that has hindered fuel cells from competing with cheaper ways of powering automobiles and homes. Now researchers at the Georgia ...

more

02-Jul-2019

Solid-state batteries - a new battery design that uses all solid components - have gained attention in recent years because of their potential to hold much more energy while simultaneously avoiding the safety challenges of their liquid-based counterparts. But building a long-lasting solid-state ...

more

Technique allowed continuous study of cobalt nanoparticles as they grew

09-Jan-2019

High-energy X-ray beams and a clever experimental setup allowed researchers to watch a high-pressure, high-temperature chemical reaction to determine for the first time what controls formation of two different nanoscale crystalline structures in the metal cobalt. The technique allowed continuous ...

more

29-Nov-2018

The solution to a 75-year-old materials mystery might one day allow farmers in developing nations to produce their own fertilizer on demand, using sunlight and nitrogen from the air. Thanks to a specialized X-ray source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, researchers at the Georgia ...

more

04-Sep-2018

A team of semiconductor researchers based in France has used a boron nitride separation layer to grow indium gallium nitride (InGaN) solar cells that were then lifted off their original sapphire substrate and placed onto a glass substrate. By combining the InGaN cells with photovoltaic (PV) cells ...

more

07-Jun-2018

Curvy baseball pitches have surprising things in common with quantum particles described in a new physics study, though the latter fly much more weirdly. In fact, ultracold paired particles called fermions must behave even weirder than physicists previously thought, according to theoretical ...

more