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MIT engineers create 2D polymer that self-assembles into sheets

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Using a novel polymerization process, MIT chemical engineers have created a new two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers which form one-dimensional chains. Until now, scientists had believed it was impossible to induce polymers to form 2D sheets. —Michael Strano.

Polymer 435
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New solid polymer electrolyte outperforms Nafion; novel polymer folding

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Researchers, led by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, have used a polymer-folding mechanism to develop a new and versatile kind of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) that currently offers proton conductivity faster than Nafion by a factor of 2, the benchmark for fuel cell membranes.

Polymer 250
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New polymer membrane efficiently removes carbon dioxide from mixed gases; high permeability and selectivity

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A team of researchers from North Carolina State University, SINTEF in Norway and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, has developed a polymer membrane technology that removes carbon dioxide from mixed gases with both high permeability and high selectivity. A paper on their work is published in the journal Science.

Polymer 186
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A New Energy-Efficient Hydrogel Pulls Water From Air

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Using a new kind of hydrogel material, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have pulled water out of thin air at temperatures low enough to be achieved with sunlight. Atmospheric water harvesting draws water from humidity in the air. The material is a hydrogel, a polymer network that naturally retains a lot of water.

Water 135
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Directly-cooled lighter-weight EV motor made with polymer housing

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT are working together with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT to develop a new cooling concept that will enable polymers to be used as EV electric motor housing materials, thereby reducing the weight of the motor and thus, the EV itself. —Robert Maertens.

Polymer 322
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Rice U team creates low-cost, high-efficiency integrated device for solar-driven water splitting; solar leaf

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Rice University researchers have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. The platform developed by the Brown School of Engineering lab of Rice materials scientist Jun Lou integrates catalytic electrodes and perovskite solar cells that, when triggered by sunlight, produce electricity.

Low Cost 243
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Study finds the wettability of porous electrode surfaces is key to making efficient water-splitting or carbon-capturing systems

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As water-splitting technologies improve, often using porous electrode materials to provide greater surface areas for electrochemical reactions, their efficiency is often limited by the formation of bubbles that can block or clog the reactive surfaces. As a result, there were substantial changes of the transport overpotential.

Water 418