Tag Materials
Count on it: Peering at atomic structures with no more than pencil and paper
The simple strategy could help bring about ultrafast computer chips based on materials other than silicon, says Jason Kawasaki, a UW–Madison professor of materials science and engineering.
Advance could enable novel high-performance materials
An engineering physics professor has created new materials that behave in an unusual way that defies the standard theory engineers use for designing things like buildings, airplanes, bridges and electronic devices.
Pulling needles out of haystacks: With computation, researchers identify promising solid oxide fuel cell materials
Using advanced computational methods, UW–Madison materials scientists have discovered new materials that could bring widespread commercial use of solid oxide fuel cells closer to reality.
Bio-renewable process could help ‘green’ plastic
Plastics are often derived from petroleum, but Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center scientists at UW–Madison are developing new and renewable ways of creating them from biomass.
Optoelectronics origami: An easy-to-make, double-duty curved image sensor
The advance by a UW–Madison engineering team could lead to cameras with features such as infinite depth of field, wider view angle, low aberrations, and vastly increased pixel density.
New technique could slash energy use in making silicon
A chemistry professor has come up with a more sustainable way to make silicon at much lower temperatures for the kind of advanced batteries used in electronics such as phones, cameras and laptop computers.
Thin photodetector could increase performance without adding bulk
The advance could reduce the size and weight of a series of solar panels, produce a higher-quality photo in low lighting conditions, or even transmit data more quickly.
Liquid crystal design method could speed development of cheap chemical sensors
The sensors could be used for detecting explosives, industrial pollutants or even the chemical markers of disease in a patient’s breath.
Move over, solar: The next big renewable energy source could be at our feet
A UW–Madison team's inexpensive, simple method to make flooring from wood pulp converts footsteps into usable electricity.
Tiny high-performance solar cells turn power generation sideways
The miniature solar panels could power myriad personal devices — wearable medical sensors, smartwatches, even autofocusing contact lenses.
New material, picked by computers, could boost power of vacuum electronics
Engineers at UW–Madison have identified a substance that could vastly improve the technology for devices such as microwave ovens and X-ray machines.
New material combines useful, typically incompatible properties
A team of engineers and physicists has created an entirely new material in which completely contradictory properties can coexist.
Built-in shades may protect delicate sensors from blinding light
Even commonplace laser pointers can fry the optics of sensitive cameras. Optical limiters may be able to shade those eyes.
Making molecules comfy: Ultimate challenge for UW’s ‘Glass Guy’
"If you ask an ordinary person, ‘What is glass?’ they will point to a window, but glass is a much broader category of materials,” says Mark Ediger.
Nanosheet growth technique could revolutionize nanomaterial production
Tiny sheets of the semiconductor zinc oxide could have huge implications for the future of a host of electronic and biomedical devices.
Tunable materials clear the way for advanced optics
In books and movies, wizards use magic spells to make the visible see-through. In reality, materials with properties called phase transitions can pull off a similar trick.
Designed defects in liquid crystals can guide construction of nanomaterials
Imperfections running through liquid crystals can be used as miniscule tubing, channeling molecules into specific positions to form new materials and nanoscale structures, according to engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The discovery could have applications in fields as diverse as electronics and medicine.
Souped-up software reduces guesswork, tedium in computer-aided engineering
A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers recently released a new computer-aided engineering software program, and its users are already calling it a "gift from heaven."
Discovery of a highly efficient catalyst eases way to hydrogen economy
Hydrogen could be the ideal fuel: Whether used to make electricity in a fuel cell or burned to make heat, the only byproduct is water; there is no climate-altering carbon dioxide.
Discovery in growing graphene nanoribbons could enable faster, more efficient electronics
Graphene, an atom-thick material with extraordinary properties, is a promising candidate for the next generation of dramatically faster, more energy-efficient electronics. However, scientists have struggled to fabricate the material into ultra-narrow strips, called nanoribbons, that could enable the use of graphene in high-performance semiconductor electronics.