Energy

Duke University researchers have captured close-ups of corrosion in action. They zapped nanocrystals of a catalyst called ruthenium dioxide with high-energy radiation and then watched the changes that occurred. To take pictures of such tiny objects, they used a transmission electron microscope, which shoots a beam of electrons through the nanocrystals (suspended inside a thin pocket of liquid) to create time-lapse images of the chemistry taking place at 10 frames per second.

By using simulations on a supercomputer at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and a small transformer powered by UT Austin's one megawatt micro grid, researchers from UT Austin, the University of Maryland, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, WI, have developed a solution to address the overheating of grid transformers. The researchers created a high thermal conductivity paper using nanoparticles of boron nitride and tested it on the small transformer.

Electrostatic capacitors enable ultrafast charging and discharging, providing energy storage and power for smartphones, laptops, medical devices, and car electronics. But the ferroelectric materials used in these capacitors have significant energy loss, making it difficult to provide high energy storage capability. Now, researchers at Washington University in St.

Researchers from the University of Houston, Jackson State University, and Howard University have developed a new type of flexible high-energy-density capacitor, which is a device that stores energy. Although the prototype device is just 1-inch by 1-inch, scaled-up versions of this innovation could revolutionize energy storage systems across the medical, aviation, consumer electronics, and defense industries. The capacitor contains layered polymers with oriented 2D nanofillers made of mechanically exfoliated flakes of 2D materials.

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and Texas A&M University have demonstrated a new chemical process that grafts nanotubes to copper, aluminum, gold, and other metal surfaces to create a strong, consistent, conductive link. Through computational calculations, the researchers have shown that carbon atoms in the link actually bond with two copper atoms, creating an especially strong bond.

Researchers from Rice University and Florida State University have shown that changing the structure of the oxide layer that coats aluminum nanoparticles modifies their catalytic properties. The researchers elucidated the structure of the native oxide layer on aluminum nanoparticles and showed that heating the nanoparticles to temperatures of up to 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit) in different gases can change the structure of the aluminum oxide layer.

Materials scientists at Rice University are shedding light on the intricate growth processes of 2D crystals, paving the way for controlled synthesis of these materials with unprecedented precision. The researchers have developed a custom-built miniaturized chemical vapor deposition system to observe and record the growth of 2D molybdenum disulfide crystals in real time.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have pioneered a groundbreaking approach toward understanding the behavior of an electric charge in microelectronics and nanoscale material systems. The novel approach enables visualizing charge motion at the nanometer level but at speeds thousands of times faster than conventional methods. The rapid, thorough view of processes demonstrated in the new approach was previously unattainable.

Using imaging tools at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have detected a phenomenon known as pre-melting at temperatures far lower than those previously observed. Pre-melting is the reason a patch of ice can be slippery even on a frigid, clear day. Although the spot is frozen, some part at the surface is wet. To make this discovery, the team used Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials, a DOE Office of Science user facility that enabled them grow and observe ice nanocrystals at temperatures below minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit.