Microsoft systems were able to scan through 32 million potential batteries, company says.
Category: materials – Page 107
Unveiling the Dance of Noble Gas Atoms: Imaging Breakthrough at the University of Vienna
Like several scientific discoveries, the researchers stumbled upon this result accidentally while conducting experiments irradiating graphene when they found that irradiated noble gases became trapped between two sheets of graphene, which results in the graphene forming small pockets where the atoms of the gases coalesce into small groups of atoms.
“We used scanning transmission electron microscopy to observe these clusters, and they are really fascinating and a lot of fun to watch,” said Manuel Längle, who is a PhD student at the University of Vienna and lead author of the study. “They rotate, jump, grow and shrink as we image them. Getting the atoms between the layers was the hardest part of the work. Now that we have achieved this, we have a simple system for studying fundamental processes related to material growth and behavior.”
Microsoft, US lab use AI to speed search for new battery materials
Jan 9 (Reuters) — Microsoft (MSFT.O) has worked with a U.S. national laboratory to use artificial intelligence to rapidly identify a material that could mean producing batteries that require 70% less lithium than now, the company said on Tuesday.
The replacement of much of the lithium with sodium, a common element found in table salt, still needs extensive evaluation by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington to determine whether it will be suitable for mass production.
“Something that could have taken years, we did in two weeks,” Jason Zander, an executive vice president at Microsoft, told Reuters. “That’s the part we’re most excited about. … We just picked one problem. There are thousands of problems to go solve, and it’s applicable to all of them.”
Microtexturing soft materials to remove aqueous microfoulants
The process of crystallization fouling is a phenomenon where scale forms on surfaces. It is widespread in nature and technology and affects the energy and water industries. Despite previous attempts, rationally designed surfaces with intrinsic resistance remain elusive due to a lack of understanding of how microfoulants adhere in dynamic aqueous environments.
In a study now published in Science Advances, Julian Schmid and a team of researchers in surface engineering in Switzerland and the U.S. studied the interfacial dynamics of microfoulants by using a micro-scanning fluid dynamic gauge system to demonstrate a rationally developed coating that removes 98% of deposits under shear flow conditions.
Reimagining Thermoelectrics: The Rubik’s Cube Structure Unlocks Heusler Potential
Scientists have created unique Slater-Pauling Heusler materials with semiconductor properties, offering significant potential in thermoelectric applications. Their research reveals these materials’ unique electron redistribution and thermal properties.
Recently, researchers from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) designed Slater-Pauling (S-P) Heusler materials with a unique structure resembling a Rubik’s cube. These materials showed potential in thermoelectric applications due to their semiconductor-like properties.
Unique Semiconductor Behavior