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Category: engineering – Page 16

Innovative technology enables rapid thin film manufacturing in one minute using only water and oil

A new technology has been developed that enables the manufacturing of thin films, which typically require complex processes, using only water and oil in just one minute. Professor Kang Hee Ku and her research team from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST announced their novel process for creating catalytic thin films using oil droplets dispersed in water.

The developed technology involves a process in which nanomaterial precursors attached to the surface of oil droplets float to the surface of the water, where they assemble into a thin film. When is added, it decomposes due to the thin film precursors, producing gas bubbles that cause the precursors to be lifted and assembled on the water surface within one minute.

This process allows for precise control of the thin film thickness, adjustable from 350 μm, and enables the synthesis of thin films covering an area of up to 100 cm² using various raw materials. The resulting thin films exhibit a porous structure with a , featuring exceptional mechanical strength and flexibility.

Researchers capture first laser-driven, high-resolution CT scans of dense objects

A research team led by Colorado State University has achieved a new milestone in 3D X-ray imaging technology. The scientists are the first to capture high-resolution CT scans of the interior of a large, dense object—a gas turbine blade—using a compact, laser-driven X-ray source.

The findings, published in Optica, describe the science and engineering behind this new radiographic imaging capability and its potential benefits for a range of industries, from aerospace to additive manufacturing.

The project is a years-long collaboration between researchers at CSU’s Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics and Los Alamos National Laboratory, with participation from AWE in the U.K.

Electrode design could prevent explosions in next-gen batteries, allowing 1,000 km on a single charge

A research team at UNIST has identified the causes of oxygen generation in a novel cathode material called quasi-lithium and proposed a material design principle to address this issue.

Quasi-lithium materials theoretically enable batteries to store 30% to 70% more energy compared to existing technologies through high-voltage charging of over 4.5V. This advancement could allow to achieve a of up to 1,000 km on a single charge. However, during the high-voltage charging process, oxygen trapped inside the material can oxidize and be released as gas, posing a significant explosion risk.

The research team, led by Professor Hyun-Wook Lee in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, discovered that oxygen oxidizes near 4.25V, causing partial structural deformation and gas release.

Have We Found an Alien Stellar Engine? | Clément Vidal

Download Star Trek Fleet Command for FREE now here: https://bit.ly/3XYvSJ2 to support my channel, and enter the promo code VOYAGER30 to unlock Neelix, the morale officer from Voyager FREE.

Dr. Clément Vidal joins John Michael Godier to discuss his new paper on the Spider Stellar Engine, a hypothetical form of stellar propulsion using binary pulsar systems. The conversation explores how such systems could serve as **technosignatures**, the philosophy of post-biological civilizations, and the potential for advanced beings to manipulate entire stars or even create new universes.

Vidal, C. 2024. “The Spider Stellar Engine: A Fully Steerable Extraterrestrial Design?” Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 77 : 156–66. doi:10.59332/jbis-077–05-0156. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.05038.

Vidal, C. 2019. “Pulsar Positioning System: A Quest for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Engineering.” International Journal of Astrobiology 18 : 213–34. doi:10.1017/S147355041700043X. https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.03316.

Delahaye, J. P., and C. Vidal. 2018. “Organized Complexity: Is Big History a Big Computation?” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers 17 : 49–54. http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.07111.

#EventHorizon #SETI #Technosignatures #Astrophysics #StellarEngines #FermiParadox #ExtraterrestrialLife #Pulsars #SpaceExploration #PhilosophyOfScience #cosmology.

Continue reading “Have We Found an Alien Stellar Engine? | Clément Vidal” | >

Researchers advance substrate engineering pathways to improve power electronics

As the growth in global electricity need and supply continues to accelerate, efficient power electronics will be key to improving grid efficiency, stability, integration, and resilience for all energy sources.

Advances in wide-bandgap materials for semiconductors offer the potential to enable greater power handling in power electronics while reducing electrical and thermal losses. Wide-bandgap materials also allow for smaller, faster, more reliable, and more energy-efficient power electronic components than current commercial silicon-based power .

Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado School of Mines, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory examined a potential route to achieve peak performance of aluminum gallium nitride, AlxGa1-x N, a key material for increasing power electronics’ energy efficiency and performance, through growth on optimized substrate materials.

Bacteria invasion of brain after implants threatens long-term device effectiveness, research finds

Brain implants hold immense promise for restoring function in patients with paralysis, epilepsy and other neurological disorders. But a team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University has discovered that bacteria can invade the brain after a medical device is implanted, contributing to inflammation and reducing the device’s long-term effectiveness.

The research, published in Nature Communications, could improve the long-term success of brain implants now that a target has been identified to address.

“Understanding the role of bacteria in implant performance and brain health could revolutionize how these devices are designed and maintained,” said Jeff Capadona, Case Western Reserve’s vice provost for innovation, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and senior research career scientist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

Scientists unlock new dimension in light manipulation, ushering in a new era in photonic technology

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University have made a discovery that could pave the way for a transformative era in photonic technology. For decades, scientists have theorized the possibility of manipulating the optical properties of light by adding a new dimension—time. This once-elusive concept has now become a reality thanks to nanophotonics experts from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Published in Nature Photonics, the team’s breakthrough emerged from experiments with nanomaterials known as transparent conducting oxides (TCOs)—a special glass capable of changing how light moves through the material at incredible speeds. These compounds are widely found in and touchscreens and can be shaped as ultra-thin films measuring just 250 nanometers (0.00025 mm), smaller than the wavelength of visible light.

Led by Dr. Marcello Ferrera, Associate Professor of Nanophotonics, of the Heriot-Watt research team, supported by colleagues from Purdue University in the US, managed to “sculpt” the way TCOs react by radiating the material with ultra-fast pulses of light. Remarkably, the resulting temporally engineered layer was able to simultaneously control the direction and energy of individual particles of light, known as photons, a functionality which, up until now, had been unachievable.

‘Audible enclaves’ could enable private listening without headphones

It may someday be possible to listen to a favorite podcast or song without disturbing the people around you, even without wearing headphones. In a new advancement in audio engineering, a team of researchers led by Yun Jing, professor of acoustics in the Penn State College of Engineering, has precisely narrowed where sound is perceived by creating localized pockets of sound zones, called audible enclaves.

In an enclave, a listener can hear sound, while others standing nearby cannot, even if the people are in an enclosed space, like a vehicle, or standing directly in front of the audio source.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers explain how emitting two nonlinear ultrasonic beams creates audible enclaves, where sound can only be perceived at the precise intersection point of two ultrasonic beams.