Phys.org September 23, 2021 Starches, a storage form of carbohydrates, are a major source of calories in the human diet and a primary feedstock for bioindustry. Researchers in China designed an artificial route consisting of 11 core reactions to convert CO2 into starch with an efficiency 8.5-fold higher than starch biosynthesis in maize. They integrated chemical and biological catalytic modules to utilize high-density energy and high-concentration CO2. If the overall cost of the process can be reduced to a level economically comparable with agricultural planting in the future, it is expected to save more than 90% of cultivated land and […]
Category Archives: Advanced manufacturing
A more efficient, safer alternative to sourcing copper via bacteria
Phys.org April 24, 2021 The chemical synthesis of monoatomic metallic copper is unfavorable as it requires inert or reductive conditions and the use of toxic reagents. An international team of researchers (Brazil, USA – University of Houston, Japan) describes how a copper-resistant bacterium isolated from a copper mine in Brazil converts toxic copper ions to stable single-atom copper. They propose a biosynthetic mechanism for production of copper via proteomics analysis. This microbial conversion is carried out naturally under aerobic conditions eliminating toxic solvents. They demonstrated the abundant intracellular synthesis of single-atom zero-valent copper by the bacterium. The finding shows that […]
First 3D-printed proton-conductive membrane paves way for tailored energy storage devices
Phys.org April 15, 2021 Researchers in Japan chose mixtures of proton-conducting ionic liquids, inorganic silica nanoparticles, and UV-sensitive photocurable resins as inks for 3D printing of membranes. They found that the mixing ratio of the precursors enabled tuning of the viscosity of inks, and the inks with an appropriate mixing ratio could be applied for 3D printing. They confirmed that the inks can function as proton exchange membranes in all-solid-state electrochemical double-layer capacitors after curing by UV irradiation…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
DARPA Opens Door to Producing “Unimaginable” Designs for DoD
DARPA News January 15, 2021 DARPA’s TRAnsformative DESign (TRADES) program, which began in 2017, set out to develop foundational design tools needed to explore the new materials and additive manufacturing processes (3D printing). The program recently concluded. In the past four years, TRADES has explored new ideas from mathematics and computer science that have allowed us to now represent things – like parts and components – that are a million times more complex than current state-of-the-art systems can represent. Now it is possible to describe both shape and material in a coordinated way across multiple physics to allow intricate designs […]
Atomic-scale nanowires can now be produced at scale
Phys.org December 24, 2020 Transition-metal chalcogenide (TMC) nanowires, which are one-dimensional structures having three-atom diameters and van der Waals surfaces, have been reported to possess a 1D metallic nature with great potential in electronics and energy devices. To mass produce TMC researchers in Japan have demonstrated a wafer-scale synthesis of highly crystalline transition-metal telluride nanowires by chemical vapor deposition. The technique enables formation of either aligned, atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) sheets or random networks of three-dimensional (3D) bundles, both composed of individual nanowires. These nanowires exhibit an anisotropic 1D optical response and superior conducting properties. The findings not only shed […]
Self-diagnostic carbon nanocomposites
Nanowerk November 23, 2020 Studies have shown that carbon nanomaterials can increase required mechanical properties with relatively small addition amounts, all the while allowing the final material to be electrically conductive and piezoresistive in nature but their incorporation into large scale production requires intensive facility upgrades. Researchers in Russia used masterbatches and industrially available, inexpensive manufacturing techniques to examine how the addition of carbon nanoparticles can change the electric conductivity of polymer matrices. Essentially, the use of such materials has the potential to replace sensors in weight critical systems such as aircraft structures, with the material itself being able to […]
Surprisingly strong and deformable silicon
EurekAlert June 10, 2020 Silicon is very brittle which can become a problem when trying to make MEMS from silicon, such as the acceleration sensors in smartphones. Researchers in Switzerland have demonstrated that Si processed by modern lithography procedures exhibits an ultrahigh elastic strain limit, near ideal strength (shear strength ~4 GPa) and plastic deformation at the micron-scale, one order of magnitude larger than samples made using focused ion beams, due to superior surface quality. This extended elastic regime enables enhanced functional properties by allowing higher elastic strains to modify the band structure. Further, the micron-scale plasticity of Si allows the investigation […]
Chemistry breakthrough with nanodroplets could speed up drug development
Nanowerk May 8, 2020 Researchers in the UK have developed a new method called Encapsulated Nanodroplet Crystallisation (ENaCt), that can set up hundreds of crystallisation experiments within a few minutes. Each experiment involves a few micrograms of molecular analyte dissolved in a few nanolitres of organic solvent. The process is automated allowing for rapid set up of hundreds of unique experiments. Concentration of these nanodroplet experiments results in the growth of the desired high quality single crystals that are suitable for modern X-ray diffraction analysis. Tthe ability to do so with such small quantities of analyte is ground-breaking. The technique has […]
Quickly-grown graphite film blocks electromagnetic radiation
Physics World April 11, 2020 Techniques for manufacturing graphite films take several hours and require processing temperatures of around 3000°C. Researchers in China produced high-quality graphite film tens of nanometres thick within a few seconds by heating nickel foil to 1200°C in an argon atmosphere and then rapidly immersing this foil in ethanol at 0°C. The carbon atoms produced from the decomposition of ethanol diffuse and dissolve into the nickel because of its high carbon solubility. As this carbon solubility greatly decreases at low temperature, the carbon atoms subsequently segregate and precipitate from the nickel surface during quenching, producing a […]
Scientists electrify aluminum to speed up important process
Science Daily March 26, 2020 Researchers at Ohio State University describe how to shorten a process to turn one chemical — triphenylphosphine oxide — into another chemical — triphenylphosphine. They showed that the energy needed for the conversion can be generated by sending an electrical charge through an aluminum container. Doing so provides enough energy to allow aluminum to break one of the chemical bonds in triphenylphosphine oxide — essentially, to strip oxygen away from that molecule — and to leave behind just triphenylphosphine. The finding could make several industrial manufacturing processes cheaper and more efficient, make it easier to […]