Materials Science and Engineering News
Zhenan Bao: On a Quest to Develop Artificial Skin
Monday, March 7, 2016
A team of engineers works on a material that can flex like skin, transmit sensory data to the brain and restore a sense of touch.
Can large-scale solar power storage become a reality?
Friday, February 26, 2016
An unexpected finding by a team of engineers could lead to a revolutionary change in how we produce, store and consume energy.
Pioneering Stanford computer researcher and educator Edward McCluskey dies
Thursday, February 25, 2016
The professor emeritus who paved the way for everything from complex chips to crash-proof computers, and who trained 75 PhDs, also loved quirky hats and nature.
Meet "Hedgehog": Your tour guide to asteroids, comets and other things that whirl around the solar system
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
A team of engineers builds a cube-like rover for exploration in some of the most extreme conditions in space.
A group of scholars look to early 20th century radio technology to help improve Internet security
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
A new study shows how harnessing the quantum properties of light can create a transmission technology impervious to eavesdropping.
New Stanford battery shuts down at high temperatures and restarts when it cools
Monday, January 11, 2016
Stanford researchers have invented a lithium-ion battery that turns on and off depending on the temperature. The new technology could prevent battery fires that have plagued laptops, hoverboards and other electronic devices.
Oleg D. Sherby, professor of materials science and engineering, dies at 90
Friday, January 8, 2016
Hailed for the discovery of superplastic steel, Sherby was a professor at Stanford for 30 years. He was known on campus for his affable manner and for organizing volleyball matches and poker games.
New Stanford research reveals the secrets of stishovites, a rare form of crystallized sand
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Lasers are nothing like meteor strikes, but in the nanosecond when each strike silicon dioxide, the main ingredient in coastal sand, stishovites form. Understanding how this rare crystal form will help improve laser technology and allow Earth scientists to better understand meteor impacts.
Stanford engineers among recipients of Precourt Institute and TomKat Center $2.1 million grants
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Grants will fund groundbreaking energy research
Stanford engineers develop 'invisible wires' that could improve solar cell efficiency
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Stanford engineers have discovered how to make the electrical wiring on top of solar cells nearly invisible to incoming light. The new design, which uses silicon nanopillars to hide the wires, could dramatically boost solar-cell efficiency.
Stanford designs underwater solar cells that turn captured greenhouse gases into fuel
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Taking a cue from plants, researchers figure out how to use the sun's energy to combine CO2 with H2O to create benign chemical products, as part of a futuristic technology called artificial photosynthesis.
Tough enough: Stanford and IBM test the limits of toughness in nanocomposites
Monday, November 16, 2015
By slipping springy polystyrene molecules between layers of tough yet brittle composites, researchers made materials stronger and more flexible, in the process demonstrating the theoretical limits of how far this toughening technique could go.
Stanford team places 6th in Bridgestone World Solar Challenge
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Arctan, a solar-powered car built by undergraduate members of the Stanford Solar Car Project, placed sixth in the 2015 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a nearly 2,000-mile race across the Australian outback.
Battery experiments highlight Stanford's dual mission of teaching and research
Thursday, October 1, 2015
A Stanford PhD student guides an undergraduate through two years of tests that confound two decades of assumptions on lithium-ion battery design. The findings could lead to better batteries, while the research process works hand-in-glove with teaching.
Stanford Engineering students and researchers win grants to commercialize energy inventions
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Building on the success of its first year, the Innovation Transfer Program at the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy is financially supporting 11 new teams composed mostly of Stanford students and recent graduates trying to put university research to work.
New fuel-cell materials could pave the way for practical hydrogen-powered cars
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Associate Professor Yi Cui's team has developed a stable cobalt-nickel-iron oxide catalyst that splits water continuously for more than 100 hours.
Single-catalyst water splitter from Stanford produces clean-burning hydrogen 24/7
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Stanford scientists have developed a cheap and efficient way to extract clean-burning hydrogen fuel from water 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Entrepreneurial success depends on actions, attitudes and practice, Stanford expert says
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Professor Tina Seelig says entrepreneurship can be taught, learned and practiced through a rigorous approach that she calls the Invention Cycle.
Nicholas Melosh wins Cal-BRAIN grant for neuroengineering research
Monday, May 4, 2015
The associate professor of materials science and engineering is working to refine the electrodes neuroscientists use to record the activity of single neurons.
Stanford engineers devise optical method for producing high-res, 3-D images of nanoscale objects
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
The technique, called cathodoluminescence tomography, could assist in the development of high-efficiency solar cells and LEDs, or improve the way biological systems are visualized.
Stanford engineers' new manufacturing process could yield better solar cells, faster chips
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Silicon isn't the only chip-making material under the sun, just the cheapest. But a new process could make the alternative material, gallium arsenide, more cost effective.
Jennfier Dionne, Percy Liang elected Sloan Research Fellows
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Members of Stanford Engineering faculty honored as next generation of scientific leaders.
Bruce Clemens elected fellow of Materials Research Society
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Professor of materials science and engineering is honored for pioneering work in thin-film and nanostructured material growth and characterization, leadership service to the society and the materials community, and for leadership in teaching and mentoring.
Stanford engineers develop new air filter that could help Beijing residents breathe easily
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Associate Professor Yi Cui and his students have turned a material commonly used in surgical gloves into a low-cost, highly efficient air filter. It could be used to improve facemasks and window screens, and maybe even scrub the exhaust from power plants.
Stanford engineers use brilliant X-rays to illuminate catalysis, revise theories
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Using high-brilliance X-rays in a new way, Stanford engineers observed electrons at work during catalytic reactions. Their findings challenge long-held theories about some catalysts, opening the door to new or improved renewable energy applications.
