‘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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lithium-ion battery inventor introduces new technology for fast-charging, noncombustible batteries

02-Mar-2017 - A team of engineers led by 94-year-old John Goodenough, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, has developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting ...

Flame retardant breakthrough is naturally derived and nontoxic

07-Oct-2015 - Inspired by a naturally occurring material found in marine mussels, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have created a new flame retardant to replace commercial additives that are often toxic and can accumulate over time in the environment and living animals, including humans. Flame ...

A Bright Future for Silicon

Ordered nanocrystal arrays may provide a new platform to study and tailor the light-emitting properties of silicon

23-Nov-2012 - US scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and Cornell University have fabricated the first ordered arrays of silicon nanocrystals reported to date. Brian A. Korgel and colleagues developed a new chemical method to generate tiny silicon crystals—or quantum dots—with precisely controlled ...

Discovery of a 'dark state' could mean a brighter future for solar energy

Maximum theoretical efficiency of solar cells could increase from 31 to 44 percent

20-Dec-2011 - The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin. Zhu and his team have discovered that it's possible to double the number of ...

Tiny test tube experiment shows reaction of melting materials at the nano scale

19-Oct-2009 - Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have conducted a basic chemistry experiment in what is perhaps the world's smallest test tube, measuring a thousandth the diameter of a human hair. The nano-scale test tube is so small that a high-power electron microscope was required to see the ...

Professors receive $2.5 million to better convert water into clean hydrogen fuel using sunlight

18-Sep-2009 - Texas-Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have received about $2.5 million to identify new materials that will efficiently absorb sunlight and split water (H2O) into clean hydrogen fuel, which could power cars and be used to generate electricity. For the next three years, chemical ...