Noble metal-free catalyst system as active as platinum

Affordable high-performance catalysts have come within reach

25-Oct-2018 - The industry has been traditionally deploying platinum alloys as catalysts for oxygen reduction, which is for example essential in fuel cells or metal-air batteries. Expensive and rare, that metal imposes strict restrictions on manufacture. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and ...

Key mysteries of spider silk unraveled

25-Oct-2018 - Scientists at ASU are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin - weight for weight - at least five times as strong as steel. One of the fundamental mysteries of spider silk which has limited scientists' ability to produce artificial ...

Mussel research strenghtens graphene

Polydopamine acts as binder to achieve high mechanical and electrical properties

24-Oct-2018 - Researchers demonstrated the mussel-inspired reinforcement of graphene fibers for the improvement of different material properties. A research group under Professor Sang Ouk Kim applied polydopamine as an effective infiltrate binder to achieve high mechanical and electrical properties for ...

Reinforcement of structures with Memory Steel

24-Oct-2018 - So far, the steel reinforcements in concrete structures are mostly prestressed hydraulically. This requires ducts for guiding the tension cables, anchors for force transfer and oil-filled hydraulic jacks. The space requirements of all these apparatuses created the geometric framework conditions ...

No assembly required

Self-assembling silicone-based polymers

24-Oct-2018 - Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology, RIKEN and Tohoku University have developed a silicone polymer chain that can self-assemble into a 3D periodic structure. They achieved this by using their recently reported self-assembling triptycene molecules to modify the ends of the polymer ...

Sartorius continues to grow by double digits

Growth dynamics of the Lab Products & Services Division impacted by softer European demand

24-Oct-2018 - Sartorius continued on the growth track, with double-digit gains in sales revenue and earnings. “In the first nine months of 2018, Sartorius achieved excellent organic growth,” said Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, Chief Executive Officer. “This applies particularly to the Bioprocess Solutions Division, ...

First high-temperature single-molecule magnet

23-Oct-2018 - A team of scientists led by Professor Richard Layfield at the University of Sussex has published breakthrough research in molecule-based magnetic information storage materials. The group at the University of Sussex, working with collaborators at Sun-Yat Sen University in China and the University ...

A new way to measure nearly nothing

Prototype design uses ultracold trapped atoms to measure pressure

23-Oct-2018 - Many semiconductor fabricators and research labs are under increasing pressure from, of all things, vacuum. These facilities need to remove greater amounts of gas molecules and particles from their setups as new technologies and processes demand lower and lower pressures. For example, the vacuum ...

120-kilowatt wireless charging for vehicles demonstrated

23-Oct-2018 - Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a 120-kilowatt wireless charging system for vehicles - providing six times the power of previous ORNL technology and a big step toward charging times that rival the speed and convenience of a gas station ...

Producing defectless metal crystals of unprecedented size

A new method to obtain large single crystals up to 32 square centimeters

22-Oct-2018 - A research group at the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), have published a new method to convert inexpensive polycrystalline metal foils to single crystals with superior properties. It is expected that these materials will find many uses ...