ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Longer life cycle for lithium-ion batteries? Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:17 PM PST Lithium-ion batteries are common in consumer electronics. They are one of the most popular types of rechargeable batteries for portable electronics, with a high energy density, no memory effect and only a slow loss of charge when not in use. Beyond consumer electronics, lithium-ion batteries have also grown in popularity for military, electric vehicle and aerospace applications. Researchers are exploring new energy storage technology that could give the battery an even longer life cycle.

Squeezing out new science from material interfaces Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:27 AM PST With more than five times the thermal conductivity of copper, diamond is the ultimate heat spreader. By applying extreme pressure in a diamond anvil cell to metal films on diamond, researchers have now determined the physical process dominating this unexplained heat flow, which has implications for understanding and improving heat flow between any two materials.

Evidence from glacier ice: Until it was banned, leaded gasoline dominated the humanmade lead emissions in South America Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:26 AM PST Leaded gasoline was a larger emission source of the toxic heavy metal lead than mining in South America - even though the extraction of metals from the region's mines historically released huge quantities of lead into the environment. Researchers have discovered evidence of the dominance of leaded gasoline based on measurements in an ice core from a Bolivian glacier. The scientists found that lead from road traffic in the neighboring countries polluted the air twice as heavily as regional mining from the 1960s onwards.

Holding energy by the threads: Researchers spin cotton into capacitive yarn Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:18 PM PST While the pattern for making a wearable fabric battery has already been laid out, it’s now time to select the threads that will turn a textile into an energy storage device. A doctoral student has now threaded her way into the forefront of research on conductive yarns.

3-D imaging reveals hidden forces behind clogs, jams, avalanches, earthquakes Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:17 AM PST When you walk on the beach, the sand supports your weight like a solid. What happens to the forces between the sand grains when you step on them to keep you from sinking? Researchers have developed a new way to measure the forces inside materials such as sand, soil or snow under pressure. The technique uses lasers coupled with force sensors, cameras and advanced computer algorithms to measure the forces between neighboring particles in 3-D.