News tagged with applied materials

Metamaterials may advance with new femtosecond laser technique

Researchers in applied physics have cleared an important hurdle in the development of advanced materials, called metamaterials, that bend light in unusual ways.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

New 'soft' motor made from artificial muscles

The electrostatic motor, used more than 200 years ago by Benjamin Franklin to rotisserie a turkey, is making a comeback in a promising new design for motors that is light, soft, and operates without external electronic controllers.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New nano-material combinations produce leap in infrared technology

Arizona State University researchers are finding ways to improve infrared photodetector technology that is critical to national defense and security systems, as well as used increasingly in commercial applications and consumer ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

The right recipe: Engineering research improves laser detectors, batteries

Think of it as cooking with carbon spaghetti: A Kansas State University researcher is developing new ways to create and work with carbon nanotubes -- ultrasmall tubes that look like pieces of spaghetti or string.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (47) | comments 27 | with audio podcast report

Building a better light bulb

Scientists study the movement of charge carriers to design an organic LED that is energy efficient and still casts a warm, natural glow.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Light makes write for DNA information-storage device

Researchers have demonstrated a write-once-read-many-times information-storage device, made of DNA embedded with silver nanoparticles, that uses ultraviolet light to encode data.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Trapping butterfly wings' qualities

Butterflies have inspired humans since the time of ancient Egypt, but now they're also inspiring researchers to look toward nature to help create the next generation of waterproof materials for electronics ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Cotton fabric cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight

Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing. Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric that does ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (21) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Functionalized graphene oxide plays part in next-generation oil-well drilling fluids

Graphene's star is rising as a material that could become essential to efficient, environmentally sound oil production. Rice University researchers are taking advantage of graphene's outstanding strength, ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

When it comes to churning out electrons, metal glass beats plastics

By adding carbon nanotubes to a glass-like metal compound, researchers have devised a new breed of field emission electrodes. This technology, which produces a stream of electrons, may have promising applications in the consumer ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Unique bipolar compounds enhance functionality of organic electronics

Researchers often work with a narrow range of compounds when making organic electronics, such as solar panels, light emitting diodes and transistors. Professor Tim Bender and Ph.D. Candidate Graham Morse of University of ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover promising hydrogen storage material

(PhysOrg.com) -- If hydrogen is to ever to serve as an onboard energy carrier for the transportation industry, a material will be needed that can store large amounts of hydrogen at ambient temperature and ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 22 | with audio podcast feature

'Super sand' for better purification of drinking water (Update)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have developed a way to transform ordinary sand -- a mainstay filter material used to purify drinking water throughout the world -- into a "super sand" with five times the filtering ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jun 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (20) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

A breakthrough on paper that's stronger than steel

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Technology, Sydney scientists have reported remarkable results in developing a composite material based on graphite that is a thin as paper and ten times stronger than steel.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (34) | comments 53 | with audio podcast