Freeze casting - a guide to creating hierarchically structured materials

Diverse applications not only in biomedicine, but also in engineering, from new catalysts to highly porous battery electrodes

30-Apr-2024 - Freeze casting is an elegant, cost-effective manufacturing technique to produce highly porous materials with custom-designed hierarchical architectures, well-defined pore orientation, and multifunctional surface structures. Freeze-cast materials are suitable for many applications, from ...

Implantable batteries can run on the body’s own oxygen

“From a new energy source to potential biotherapies, the prospects for this battery are exciting”

05-Apr-2024 - From pacemakers to neurostimulators, implantable medical devices rely on batteries to keep the heart on beat and dampen pain. But batteries eventually run low and require invasive surgeries to replace. To address these challenges, researchers in China devised an implantable battery that runs on ...

Two young researchers on their way to becoming entrepreneurs

Start-ups for environmentally friendly batteries and nanoparticles for cancer therapy in planning

27-Mar-2023 - Two young Empa scientists each receive an Empa Entrepreneur Fellowship to develop innovative products based on their research. Abdessalem Aribia is developing environmentally friendly and safe batteries, while Subas Scheibler is working on nanoparticles for cancer therapy. The Empa Entrepreneur ...

New study on optimizing microbial fuel cells shows electrode material can make all the difference

22-Dec-2022 - At present, microbial fuel cells are mainly used in research laboratories to generate electricity. In order for industrial applications to be considered in the future, the fuel cells must be further developed so that they can produce consistently higher amounts of electricity than is currently ...

New biobatteries use bacterial interactions to generate power for weeks

'Plug-and-play' features allow batteries to be wired together for increased power

30-Jun-2022 - Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a “plug-and-play” biobattery that lasts for weeks at a time and can be stacked to improve output voltage and current. As our tech needs grow and the Internet of Things increasingly connects our devices and sensors ...

Bacteria generate electricity from methane

"We create a kind of battery with two terminals, where one of these is a biological terminal and the other one is a chemical terminal"

13-Apr-2022 - Generating power while purifying the environment of greenhouse gases should be achievable using bacteria. In a new publication, microbiologists from Radboud University have demonstrated that it is possible to make methane-consuming bacteria generate power in the lab. The ...

Development of stretchable and printable free-form lithium-ion batteries

Realization of stretchable, adhesive, and mechanically deformable batteries that effectively transfer ions

29-Mar-2022 - A Korean research team has developed a soft, mechanically deformable, and stretchable lithium battery which can be used in the development of wearable devices, and examined the battery’s feasibility by printing them on clothing surfaces. The research team, led by Dr. Jeong Gon Son from the Soft ...

New AI algorithm generates innovative substances on the basis of desired properties

Function determines form

23-Feb-2022 - Whether in medicine, battery research, or materials science, researchers everywhere are seeking innovative substances. In the process, they can often predict the desired chemical and physical properties in great detail, right down to atomic level. However, the range of all potential chemical ...

The biodegradable battery - an ecological miracle

New mini-capacitor consists of carbon, cellulose, glycerin and table salt

07-Jun-2021 - The number of data-transmitting microdevices, for instance in packaging and transport logistics, will increase sharply in the coming years. All these devices need energy, but the amount of batteries would have a major impact on the environment. Empa researchers have developed a biodegradable ...

Scientists use fruit peel to turn old batteries into new

Using orange peel to efficiently recover precious metals from battery waste

28-Aug-2020 - Scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method of using fruit peel waste to extract and reuse precious metals from spent lithium-ion batteries in order to create new batteries. The team demonstrated their concept using orange peel, ...