Articles about 'Materials Science'

A team of student entrepreneurs who see algae as a potential business solution for reducing methane emissions from landfill and waste-water sites won the 2023 Cambridge Zero Climate Challenge after a nail-biting competition. 

Cricket bats should be made from bamboo rather than traditional willow, say researchers from Cambridge’s Centre for Natural Material Innovation. Extensive tests showed that bamboo performs better than willow as well as being more sustainable and cheaper.

A new prototype of a lithium-sulphur battery – which could have five times the energy density of a typical lithium-ion battery – overcomes one of the key hurdles preventing their commercial development by mimicking the structure of the cells which allow us to absorb nutrients. 

Vital to many modern technologies yet mined in few  places, the ‘rare earth elements’ are in fact not that rare – they are just difficult to find in concentrations that make them economic to mine. Researchers from Cambridge University and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are investigating whether the remarkable properties of these materials can be used to track them down from the air.

Researchers have found that quantum effects are the reason that hydrogen sulphide – which has the distinct smell of rotten eggs –behaves as a superconductor at record-breaking temperatures, which may aid in the search for room temperature superconductors. 

Paul Coxon (Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy) discusses the materials that have each been heralded as the new “world’s hardest material”.

Researchers have identified a new mechanism that drives the development of form and structure, through the observation of artificial materials that shape-shift through a wide variety of forms which are as complex as those seen in nature.

The Periodic Table may not sound like a list of ingredients but, for a group of materials scientists, it’s the starting point for designing the perfect chemical make-up of tomorrow’s jet engines.

Stem cells – the body’s master cells – demonstrate a bizarre property never before seen at a cellular level, according to a study published today from scientists at the University of Cambridge.

To maximise the efficiency of solar cells of the future, physicists are taking a leaf out of nature’s book.