Rice University chemists have created a new material that adds carbon nanotubes as reinforcing bars (“rebar”) — mimicking how steel rebar is used in concrete — to make it easier to manipulate, while improving the electrical and mechanical qualities of both materials.

The technique should be of interest to electronics manufacturers, said Rice chemist James Tour. He suggested that by stacking a few layers, the… read more

Reza Montazami, an Iowa State University assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is developing technology he calls “transient materials” or “transient electronics” — special degradable polymer composite materials designed to quickly and completely melt away when a trigger is activated.

A medical device, once its job is done, could harmlessly melt away inside a person’s body. Or, a military device could collect and send its data and then dissolve away,… read more

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been put forward by a group of researchers as a potential building block for the next generation of low-cost electrical devices as an alternative to graphene.

Because of its impressive ability to convert light into electricity at with high efficiency, single layers of the semiconducting material have been used to fabricate a widely used device known as a photosensor, which is found in a range… read more