Stanford scientists cooled water without electricity by sending excess heat where it won’t be noticed – space. The specialized optical surfaces they developed are a major step toward applying this technology to air conditioning and refrigeration.
A new solar cell inspired by the compound eyes of insects could help scientists overcome a major roadblock to the development of solar panels based on a promising material called perovskite.
A serendipitous discovery lets researchers spy on this self-assembly process for the first time with SLAC’s X-ray synchrotron. What they learn will help them fine-tune precision materials for electronics, catalysis and more.
Nanoscale stretching or compressing significantly boosts the performance of ceria, a material widely used in catalytic converters and clean-energy technologies.
A new semiconductor developed by Stanford researchers is as flexible as skin and easily degradable. It could have diverse medical and environmental applications, without adding to the mounting pile of global electronic waste.
Paving the way for flexible electronics, Stanford chemical engineers have developed a plastic electrode that stretches like rubber but carries electricity like wires.
Through long shifts at the helm of a highly sophisticated microscope, researchers at Stanford recorded reactions at near-atomic-scale resolution. Their success is another step toward building a better battery.
An interdisciplinary team has developed a way to track how particles charge and discharge at the nanoscale, an advance that will lead to better batteries for all sorts of mobile applications.
Researchers show how jolting this material with an electrical field causes it to twitch or pulse in a muscle-like fashion. This polymer can also stretch to 100 times its original length, and even repair itself if punctured.
