October 4, 2022: Billions of years ago, a version of our Earth that looks very different than the one we live on today was hit by an object about the size of Mars, called Theia. Most theories claim the Moon formed out of the debris of this collision, coalescing in orbit over months or years. A new simulation puts forth a different theory—the Moon may have formed immediately, in a matter of hours, when material from the Earth and Theia was launched directly into orbit after the impact.
October 24, 2022: A paper recently published in the journal ACS Energy Letters reviewed the role of isostatic pressing (ISP) in large-scale solid-state battery (SSB) production. ISP is a process that covers most of the processing conditions required for the large-scale production of solid electrolyte materials. ISP can be used to generate dense, thin solid electrolyte layers used in practical SSBs. Moreover, the technique offers a pathway toward the integration of the solid electrolyte, anode, and cathode layers into a tri-layer, dense system for commercial applications.
October 25, 2022: Solid-state batteries (SSBs), which have a simpler cell design and an anode-free arrangement, have been thought of as a potential next-generation storage concept for a few years. Pure lithium metal anodes in SSBs stand out for having the highest specific capacity and the lowest potential. However, their practical use in SSBs is still constrained by interface instability, the production of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), a low critical current density, and separator penetration by lithium dendrites. Silicon has emerged as a promising anode material for SSBs, according to a paper recently published by two scientists from Germany.
October 25, 2022: Stradivarius violins produce elegant music with a level of clarity that is unparalleled by modern instruments, according to some musicians. And it's the finishing touches—mysterious treatments applied hundreds of years ago by Antonio Stradivari—that contribute to their unique look and sound. In a step toward unraveling the secret, researchers report on a nanometer-scale imaging of two of Stradivari's violins, revealing a protein-based layer between the wood and varnish.
October 25, 2022: In a study that confirms its promise as the next-generation semiconductor material, UC Santa Barbara researchers have directly visualized the photocarrier transport properties of cubic boron arsenide single crystals.
