(PhysOrg.com) -- While the most common device for converting light into electricity may be photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, a variety of other devices can perform the same light-to-electricity conversion, such as solar-thermal ...
Moving heat around where you want it to go—adding it to houses and hairdryers, removing it from car engines and refrigerators—is one of the great challenges of engineering.
Condensed Matter
Sep 30, 2021
0
319
Since World War I, the vast majority of American combat casualties has come not from gunshot wounds but from explosions. Today, most soldiers wear a heavy, bullet-proof vest to protect their torso but much of their body remains ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 29, 2020
0
208
A discovery by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory supports a century-old theory by Albert Einstein that explains how heat moves through everything from travel mugs to engine parts.
Condensed Matter
Jun 28, 2018
6
2531
Materials that can be used for thermoelectric devices—those that turn a temperature difference into an electric voltage—have been known for decades. But until now there has been no good explanation for why just a few ...
Materials Science
Apr 29, 2014
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0
Polymer materials are usually thermal insulators. But by harnessing an electropolymerization process to produce aligned arrays of polymer nanofibers, researchers have developed a thermal interface material able to conduct ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 30, 2014
0
0
Most polymers -- materials made of long, chain-like molecules -- are very good insulators for both heat and electricity. But an MIT team has found a way to transform the most widely used polymer, polyethylene, into a material ...
Materials Science
Mar 7, 2010
2
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researcher Derek Stewart and collaborators have calculated the exact mechanism by which diamond conducts heat, a breakthrough that could lend insight into many fields, including electronics.
Condensed Matter
Sep 22, 2009
0
0
The pathogenic potential of inhaling the inert fibrous nanomaterials used in thermal insulation (such as asbestos or fiberglass) is actually connected not to their chemical composition, but instead to their geometrical characteristics ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 5, 2024
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36
The NOMAD Laboratory researchers have recently shed light on fundamental microscopic mechanisms that can help with tailoring materials for heat insulation. This development advances the ongoing efforts to enhance energy efficiency ...
Nanophysics
Jun 9, 2023
0
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