Electrospun sodium titanate speeds up the purification of water based on selective ion exchange – effectively extracts radio-active strontium
With the help of this new method, waste water can be treated faster than before, and the environmentally positive aspect is that the process leaves less solid radio-active waste.
The properties of electrospun sodium titanate are equal to those of commercially produced ion-exchange materials.
“The advantages of electrospun materials are due to the kinetics, i.e. reaction speed, of ion exchange,” says Risto Koivula, a scientist in the research group Ion Exchange for Nuclear Waste Treatment and for Recycling at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Helsinki.
by Yury Gogotsi, Asia Sarycheva, and Babak Anasori
Spraying an antenna onto a flat surface. Drexel University Nanomaterials Lab, CC BY-ND
Hear the word “antenna” and you might think about rabbit ears on the top of an old TV or the wire that picks up radio signals for a car. But an antenna can be much smaller – even invisible. No matter its shape or size, an antenna is crucial for communication, transmitting and receiving radio signals between devices. As portable electronics become increasingly common, antennas must, too.
Wearable monitors, flexible smart clothes, industrial sensors and medical sensors will be much more effective if their antennas are lightweight and flexible – and possibly even transparent. We and our collaborators have developed a type of material that offers many more options for connecting antennas to devices – including spray-painting them on walls or clothes.
Ammonia is commonly used in fertilizer because it has the highest nitrogen content of commercial fertilizers, making it essential for crop production. However, two carbon dioxide molecules are made for every molecule of ammonia produced, contributing to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A team from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University consisting of Dr. Abdoulaye Djire, assistant professor, and graduate student Denis Johnson, has furthered a method to produce ammonia through electrochemical processes, helping to reduce carbon emissions. This research aims to replace the Haber-Bosch thermochemical process with an electrochemical process that is more sustainable and safer for the environment.
The researchers recently published their findings in Scientific Reports.
Since the early 1900s, the Haber-Bosch process has been used to produce ammonia. This process works by reacting atmospheric nitrogen with hydrogen gas. A downside of the Haber-Bosch process is that it requires high pressure and high temperature, leaving a large energy footprint. The method also requires hydrogen feedstock, which is derived from nonrenewable resources. It is not sustainable and has negative implications on the environment, expediting the need for new and environmentally friendly processes.
Even today, clean water is a privilege for many people across the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 1.8 billion people consume water contaminated with feces, and by 2040, a large portion of the world will endure water stress because of insufficient resources of drinking water. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), around 1,800 children die every day from diarrhea because of unsafe water supply, which causes diseases like cholera.
It has become imperative then that we develop efficient and cost-efficient ways to decontaminate water. And that is exactly what a team of scientists led by László Forró at EPFL have accomplished, with a new water purification filter that combines titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanowires and carbon nanotubes powered by nothing but sunlight.
The scientists first show that the TiO2nanowires by themselves can efficiently purify water in the presence of sunlight. But interweaving the nanowires with carbon nanotubes forms a composite material that adds an extra layer of decontamination by pasteurizing the water – killing off human pathogens such as bacteria and large viruses.
Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Materials Science and Technology Division, have demonstrated that the intensity and spectral composition of the photoluminescence emitted from a single monolayer of tungsten disulphide (WS2) can be spatially controlled by the polarization domains in an adjacent film of the ferroelectric material lead zirconium titanate (PZT).
These domains are written in the PZT using a conductive atomic force microscope, and the photoluminescence (PL) is measured in air at room temperature. Because the polarization domain wall width in a ferroelectric can be as low as 1-10 nm, this approach enables spatial modulation of PL intensity and the corresponding carrier populations with potential for nanoscale resolution.
Single monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as WS2 exhibit striking optical properties due to their direct band gap. The dielectric screening is very low due to their two dimensional (2D) character, and thus their properties are strongly affected by their immediate environment, and can be modified and controlled by variations in local charge density due to adsorbates or electrostatic gating. This has generated keen interest in a wide variety of electronic and optical device applications.
Automakers are looking for ways to improve their fleets’ average fuel efficiency, and scientists may have a new way to help them. In the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, one team reports the development of a material that could convert engine heat that’s otherwise wasted into electrical energy to help keep a car running — and reduce the need for fuels. It could also have applications in aerospace, manufacturing and other sectors.
In 2012, the Obama administration announced fuel-efficiency standards that would require U.S. vehicles to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Improving gas mileage could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global dependence on fossil fuels.
Credit:claudia gabriela marques vieira. Studland Bay, Dorset.
An endangered species of seahorse is under threat from a proposal to drill for oil off the Dorset coast. The species achieved protection in 2008 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, however in 2017 only 14 spin and short snouted seahorses were recorded around Studland Bay.
A proposal to drill an exploratory well 6km off the Dorset Coast, near Studland Bay, has been submitted by Corallian Energy to the UK Government. A decision is expected by 19 February. The proposal has angered environmentalists and conservationists who fear exploratory drilling could permanently damage the ecosystem.
The Seahorse Trust believes drilling in the area would disturb the seahorses’ environment. Director Neil Garrick-Maidment commented, ‘The latest seahorse sighting was just half a mile from where they are planning to drill, another was seen just under a mile in another direction and a third was two miles away from it.
‘Studland Bay has to become a Marine Conservation Zone because of the environmental impact the anchoring has caused and now we have the threat of an oil spill on the doorstep.’
To find out more on materials science, packaging and engineering news, visit our website IOM3 at or follow us on Twitter @MaterialsWorld for regular news updates.
For the first time, patented titanium fiber plates developed by Japanese engineers for medical use have been tested in an animal model. Researchers from Shinshu University found that, unlike conventional plates, titanium fiber plates do not cause bone embrittlement after close contact with the bone for prolonged periods. This could eliminate the need for plate extraction and the associated surgical risks.
“Ourtitanium fiber plates, unlike conventional titanium plates, are prepared by compressing titanium fibers at normal room temperature into plates without changing the fiber shape,” said Takashi Takizawa, M.D., the paper’s first author from the department of orthopaedic surgery at the Shinshu University School of Medicine. “They can compensate for the major drawback of conventional titanium plates, and find application in a range of fixation and bone tissue repair uses at various sites of the body.”
Their results were published in the January 25th online issue of the journal Advanced Materials.
Most commonly used to hold bones in place while they heal, titanium plates are erosion resistant and strong enough to hold the mending bones in place. Doctors may elect to implant a titanium plate in a patient with a bad fracture, a severe skull injury, or a degenerative bone disease.
Forging blank (Titanium, grade 1): taken pictures with polarized light || on the left side: oxygenated edge area (needles visible) || on the right side: regular microstructure in the core area
New solid 3-D superlenses extends magnification x5 to reveal new detail
Nanobeads are all around us- and are, some might argue, used too frequently in everything from sun-screen to white paint, but a new ground-breaking application is revealing hidden worlds.
A paper in Science Advances provides proof of a new concept, using new solid 3D superlenses to break through the scale of things previously visible through a microscope.
Illustrating the strength of the new superlens, the scientists describe seeing for the first time, the actual information on the surface of a Blue Ray DVD. That shiny surface is not as smooth as we think. Current microscopes cannot see the grooves containing the data- but now even the data itself is revealed.
Led by Dr Zengbo Wang at Bangor University, UK and Prof Limin Wu at Fudan University, China, the team created minute droplet-like lens structures on the surface to be examined. These act as an additional lens to magnify the surface features previously invisible to a normal lens.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Diseases spread in many ways. An infected person can cough or sneeze on someone nearby. Or, they can transfer germs through a handshake. But sometimes we pick up germs indirectly. A sick person might leave behind bacteria or viruses when they touch a doorknob, handrail, shopping cart handle or countertop. Anyone else who touches that surface may pick up the microbes. But what if those surfaces could disinfect themselves?
Two teens from Hong Kong asked themselves the same question. Now they’ve developed a door handle that can knock out germs on contact.
The concept is simple. Every time the door is opened, the movement creates power that triggers a germ-killing reaction on the handle. In lab tests, their system killed about 99.8 percent of the germs that they spread onto lab dishes coated with their material.
Research by others has shown that door handles in public areas often host lots of bacteria and viruses, notes 17-year-old Sum Ming (“Simon”) Wong. The tenth grader attends Church of Christ in China Tam Lee Lai Fun Memorial Secondary School in Tuen Mun, China. He and schoolmate Kin Pong (“Michael”) Li, 18, wanted to design a coating for door handles that would be hostile to germs.
After doing some research, they learned that a mineral called titanium dioxide is known to kill bacteria. It’s already used for other purposes in many products, from paints to sunscreens to edible puddings. To make their coating, the teens ground the mineral into a very fine powder.
Titanium dioxide kills bacteria best when lit by ultraviolet (UV) light, says Simon. UV wavelengths are among those in sunlight. But indoor handles and any used at night would have little natural exposure to UV light. So the teens are lighting their door handle from within. Now, every part of the coated handle will see UV light.
To make sure the interior light reaches the coated surface, the teens fashioned their door handle from a long cylinder of clear glass. Each end fits into a bracket. Inside one of the brackets is a strong light-emitting diode (LED). It emits UV light. (Transmitting the light from one end of the handle to the other is similar to the transmission of light through a fiber-optic cable. In this case, though, the glass handle is fat rather than super-thin.)
And here’s the nifty part: The power that makes the UV light shine comes from opening and closing the door. Simon and Michael designed a small gearbox that attaches to the door. Equipment inside the box converts the motion of those gears into electrical power. That power is then carried by wire to the light-emitting diode inside the door handle.
The teens presented details of their research here at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This event was created by the Society for Science and the Public (which also publishes Science News for Students). The annual competition is sponsored by Intel. This year, it brought 1,702 finalists to Pittsburgh in mid-May from more than 70 countries.
The door handle system, Michael and Simon say, might cost no more than about $13 to build.
The Moon is normally seen in subtle shades of grey or gold. But small, measurable color differences have been greatly exaggerated to make this telescopic, multicoloured, moonscape captured during a full moon. The different colors are recognized to correspond to differences in the surface’s chemical makeup. Blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. The familiar Sea of Tranquility, or Mare Tranquillitatis, is the blue area toward the upper right. White lines radiate across the orange-hued southern lunar highlands from the ray-crater Tycho at bottom right. This image is made up of 272 different images!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usk1XpeOCjQ Skagen Hagen Connected Titanium and Leather Hybrid Smartwatch was listed on Amazon for $215.00, now selling for $215.00 USD brand new. It was Manufactured by Skagen Watches. There are now 1 units left brand new. If you prefer this product in used
Recent photos from the Queensland Cup in Australia where I got to profight against Astrid, who unnervingly giggles when she gets hits. I beat her this time but with some more training, she’ll be a tank! Also featuring my new green jupon that I made! Photos all by the incredible @chrismitranondphotography
