Paving the way to extremely fast, compact computer memory

24-Jul-2024 - For decades, scientists have been studying a group of unusual materials called multiferroics that could be useful for a range of applications including computer memory, chemical sensors and quantum computers. In a study published in Nature, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and ...

New material transforms light, creating new possibilities for sensors

“This process gives us a whole new way of designing materials”

22-Jun-2023 - A group of scientists and engineers that includes researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have created a new class of materials that can absorb low energy light and transform it into higher energy light. The new material is composed of ultra-small silicon nanoparticles and organic ...

‘Smart plastic’ material is step forward toward soft, flexible robotics and electronics

A new plastic-like material can be manipulated to be soft and stretchy or hard and rigid with only the application of a catalyst and visible light

21-Oct-2022 - Inspired by living things from trees to shellfish, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin set out to create a plastic much like many life forms that are hard and rigid in some places and soft and stretchy in others­. Their success — a first, using only light and a catalyst to change ...

Deep learning for new alloys

Stampede2 supercomputer helps find new properties of high-entropy alloys

25-Jul-2022 - When is something more than just the sum of its parts? Alloys show such synergy. Steel, for instance, revolutionized industry by taking iron, adding a little carbon and making an alloy much stronger than either of its components. Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists discover new types ...

Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste

“This work really demonstrates the power of bringing together different disciplines, from synthetic biology to chemical engineering to artificial intelligence”

29-Apr-2022 - An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days. This discovery, published in Nature, could help solve one of the world’s most ...

Freshwater from Thin Air

Hydrogels containing a hygroscopic salt can harvest freshwater from dry air

02-Mar-2022 - Hydrogels have an astonishing ability to swell and take on water. In daily life, they are used in dressings, nappies, and more to lock moisture away. A team of researchers has now found another use: quickly extracting large amounts of freshwater from air using a specially developed hydrogel ...

Battery ‘dream technology’ a step closer to reality with new discovery

“I call it a dream technology because sodium and sulfur are abundant, environmentally benign, and the lowest cost you think of”

08-Dec-2021 - A sodium-sulfur battery created by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin solves one of the biggest hurdles that has held back the technology as a commercially viable alternative to the ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. Sodium ...

New way to pull lithium from water could increase supply, efficiency

Just a single week’s worth of water from hydraulic fracturing in Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale has the potential to produce enough lithium for 300 electric vehicle batteries or 1.7 million smartphones

14-Sep-2021 - Anyone using a cellphone, laptop or electric vehicle depends on lithium. The element is in tremendous demand. And although the supply of lithium around the world is plentiful, getting access to it and extracting it remains a challenging and inefficient process. An interdisciplinary team of ...

Moiré effect: How to twist material properties

2D materials have triggered a boom in materials research. Now it turns out that exciting effects occur when two such layered materials are stacked and slightly twisted

24-Mar-2021 - The discovery of the material graphene, which consists of only one layer of carbon atoms, was the starting signal for a global race: Today, so-called "2D materials" are produced, made of different types of atoms. Atomically thin layers that often have very special material properties not found in ...

Decades-old mystery of lithium-ion battery storage solved

Barrier to building ultra-fast battery energy storage systems knocked down

04-Sep-2020 - For years, researchers have aimed to learn more about a group of metal oxides that show promise as key materials for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries because of their mysterious ability to store significantly more energy than should be possible. An international research team, co-led ...