Technology News

That’s the way the droplets adhere
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 14:46

Understanding exactly how droplets and bubbles stick to surfaces — everything from dew on blades of grass to the water droplets that form on condensing coils after steam drives a turbine in a power plant — is a “100-year-old problem” that has eluded experimental answers, says MIT’s Kripa Varanasi. Furthermore, it’s a question with implications for everything from how to improve power-plant efficiency to how to reduce fogging on windshields.

 

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Production process doubles speed and efficiency of flexible electronics
Monday, February 18, 2013 - 16:02

Creating "stretched" semiconductors with larger spaces between silicon atoms, commonly referred to as "strained silicon," allows electrons to move more easily through the material. Historically, the semiconductor industry has used strained silicon to squeeze a bit more efficiency and performance out of the conventional microprocessors that power the desktop and laptop computers we use each day.

 

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Synthetic molecule first electricity-making catalyst to use iron to split hydrogen gas
Monday, February 18, 2013 - 07:44

To make fuel cells more economical, engineers want a fast and efficient iron-based molecule that splits hydrogen gas to make electricity. Online Feb. 17 at Nature Chemistry, researchers report such a catalyst. It is the first iron-based catalyst that converts hydrogen directly to electricity. The result moves chemists and engineers one step closer to widely affordable fuel cells.

 

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Quantum cryptography put to work for electric grid security
Friday, February 15, 2013 - 13:33

Recently a Los Alamos National Laboratory quantum cryptography (QC) team successfully completed the first-ever demonstration of securing control data for electric grids using quantum cryptography.

 

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A new model facilitates predictions about how nanoparticles form
Thursday, February 14, 2013 - 10:11

Scientists developed a model of how crystalline particles of a material form depending on their physical properties. Magnetite nanoparticles are used by some bacteria to orient themselves along the Earth’s magnetic field lines. Understanding how they grow could be helpful in generating nanoparticles with the desired properties.

 

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New room-temperature process could lead to less expensive solar cells and other electronic devices
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - 10:07

Silicon, the material of high-tech devices from computer chips to solar cells, requires a surface coating before use in these applications. The coating “passivates” the material, tying up loose atomic bonds to prevent oxidation that would ruin its electrical properties. But this passivation process consumes a lot of heat and energy, making it costly and limiting the kinds of materials that can be added to the devices.

 

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