Thermodynamics News

June 1, 2024

Top Headlines

Performance of Eco-Friendly Cooling Applications Enhanced

May 28, 2024 — Researchers have developed a sustainable and controllable strategy to manipulate interfacial heat transfer, paving the way for improving the performance of eco-friendly cooling in various applications such as electronics, buildings and solar ...

Renewable Grid: Recovering Electricity from Heat Storage Hits 44% Efficiency

May 23, 2024 — Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to new ...

Breakthrough Discovery Uses Engineered Surfaces to Shed Heat

May 24, 2024 — Splash a few drops of water on a hot pan and if the pan is hot enough, the water will sizzle and the droplets of water seem to roll and float, hovering above the surface. The temperature at which this phenomenon, called the Leidenfrost effect, ...

Strings That Can Vibrate Forever (Kind Of)

May 22, 2024 — Researchers have engineered string-like resonators capable of vibrating longer at ambient temperature than any previously known solid-state object -- approaching what is currently only achievable near absolute zero temperatures. Their study pushes ...

Latest Headlines

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Researchers Create Materials With Unique Combo of Stiffness, Thermal Insulation

May 29, 2024 — Researchers have demonstrated the ability to engineer materials that are both stiff and capable of insulating against heat. This combination of ...

New Polystyrene Recycling Process Could Be World's First to Be Both Economical and Energy-Efficient

May 22, 2024 — Engineers have modeled a new way to recycle polystyrene that could become the first viable way of making the material ...

Powering Wearable Devices With High-Performing Carbon Nanotube Yarns

May 20, 2024 — Carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns are promising for flexible and fabric-type wearable materials that can convert waste heat into thermoelectricity. To improve the thermoelectric properties of CNT yarns, ...

A Powerful Tool Speeds Success in Achieving Highly Efficient Thermoelectric Materials

May 16, 2024 — Thermoelectric materials could play an important role in the clean energy transition, as they can produce electricity from sources of heat that would ...

Using AI to Improve Building Energy Use and Comfort

May 15, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new method that can lead to significant energy savings in buildings. The team identified 28 major heat loss regions in a multi-unit residential building with the most ...

Scientists Generate Heat Over 1,000 Degrees Celsius With Solar Power Instead of Fossil Fuel

May 15, 2024 — Instead of burning fossil fuels to smelt steel and cook cement, researchers in Switzerland want to use heat from the sun. The proof-of-concept study ...

Using Artificial Intelligence to Speed Up and Improve the Most Computationally-Intensive Aspects of Plasma Physics in Fusion

May 14, 2024 — Researchers are using artificial intelligence to perfect the design of the vessels surrounding the super-hot plasma, optimize heating methods and ...

Exceptionally Large Transverse Thermoelectric Effect Produced by Combining Thermoelectric and Magnetic Materials

May 13, 2024 — A research team has demonstrated that a simple stack of thermoelectric and magnetic material layers can exhibit a substantially larger transverse ...

New Work Extends the Thermodynamic Theory of Computation

May 13, 2024 — Physicists and computer scientists have recently expanded the modern theory of the thermodynamics of computation. By combining approaches from statistical physics and computer science, the ...

Transforming Common Soft Magnets Into a Next-Generation Thermoelectric Conversion Materials by 3 Minutes Heat Treatment

May 9, 2024 — A research team has demonstrated that an iron-based amorphous alloy, widely used as a soft magnetic material in transformers and motors, can be ...

The Big Quantum Chill: Scientists Modify Common Lab Refrigerator to Cool Faster With Less Energy

May 1, 2024 — Scientists have dramatically reduced the time and energy required to chill materials to temperatures near absolute zero. Their prototype refrigerator could prove a boon for the burgeoning quantum ...

Diamond Dust Shines Bright in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Apr. 25, 2024 — An unexpected discovery surprised a scientist: nanometer-sized diamond particles, which were intended for a completely different purpose, shone brightly in a magnetic resonance imaging experiment -- ...

Atom-by-Atom: Imaging Structural Transformations in 2D Materials

Apr. 17, 2024 — Silicon-based electronics are approaching their physical limitations and new materials are needed to keep up with current technological demands. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a rich array of ...

Cooler Transformers Could Help Electric Grid

Apr. 16, 2024 — Simulations on the Stampede2 supercomputer of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) are helping scientists engineer solutions to overheating of grid transformers -- a critical component of the ...

Researchers Advance Pigment Chemistry With Moon-Inspired Reddish Magentas

Apr. 16, 2024 — A researcher who made color history in 2009 with a vivid blue pigment has developed durable, reddish magentas inspired by lunar mineralogy and ancient Egyptian ...

Rock Permeability, Microquakes Link May Be a Boon for Geothermal Energy

Apr. 11, 2024 — Using machine learning, researchers have tied low-magnitude microearthquakes to the permeability of subsurface rocks beneath the Earth, a discovery that could have implications for improving ...

New Device Gathers, Stores Electricity in Remote Settings

Apr. 9, 2024 — Wirelessly connected devices perform an expanding array of applications, such as monitoring the condition of machinery and remote sensing in agricultural settings. These applications hold much ...

Proof-of-Principle Demonstration of 3-D Magnetic Recording

Apr. 8, 2024 — Research groups have made a breakthrough in the field of hard disk drives (HDD) by demonstrating the feasibility of multi-level recording using a three-dimensional magnetic recording medium to store ...

Elastocaloric Cooling: Refrigerator Cools by Flexing Artificial Muscles

Apr. 2, 2024 — There is room for just one small bottle in the world's first refrigerator that is cooled with artificial muscles made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy. But the mini-prototype is ...

Sunrise to Sunset, New Window Coating Blocks Heat -- Not View

Apr. 2, 2024 — Windows welcome light into interior spaces, but they also bring in unwanted heat. A new window coating blocks heat-generating ultraviolet and infrared light and lets through visible light, regardless ...

Heat, Cold Extremes Hold Untapped Potential for Solar and Wind Energy

Mar. 27, 2024 — Conditions that usually accompany the kind of intense hot and cold weather that strains power grids may also provide greater opportunities to capture solar and wind energy. A study found that ...

New Method to Measure Entropy Production on the Nanoscale

Mar. 26, 2024 — Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. A new equation sheds new light on how entropy is produced on a very short time scale in ...

Cool Paint Coatings Help Pedestrians Feel Up to 1.5 Degrees Celsius Cooler in Urban Setting

Mar. 25, 2024 — A real-world study has shown that the use of cool paint coatings in cities can help pedestrians feel up to 1.5 degrees Celsius cooler, making the urban area more comfortable for work and ...

In-Situ Observation of Nanoscale Heat Propagation

Mar. 25, 2024 — A research team has developed a technique that enables the nanoscale observation of heat propagation paths and behavior within material specimens. This was achieved using a scanning transmission ...

Bendable Energy Storage Materials by Cool Science

Mar. 19, 2024 — Imaging being able to wear clothes that charge your gadgets just by wearing them. New research has brought us a step closer to achieving this ...

Using Light to Produce Medication and Plastics More Efficiently

Mar. 18, 2024 — Anyone who wants to produce medication, plastics or fertilizer using conventional methods needs heat for chemical reactions -- but not so with photochemistry, where light provides the energy. The ...

Advance for Soft Robotics Manufacturing, Design

Mar. 18, 2024 — Engineers propose a new quantitative framework to account for and predict the impact of temperature on the curing speed of platinum-catalyzed silicone elastomers. The findings could maximize ...

Revolutionary Method Developed for Mass-Producing Polymer Solid Electrolytes

Mar. 15, 2024 — Scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking technique for mass-producing polymer solid electrolytes, crucial components in ...

Supply Chain Disruptions Will Further Exacerbate Economic Losses from Climate Change

Mar. 13, 2024 — Global GDP loss from climate change will increase exponentially the warmer the planet gets when its cascading impact on global supply chains is factored in, finds a new ...

Molecular Simulations of Ammonia Mixtures Support Search for Renewable Fuels

Mar. 13, 2024 — Ammonia is an important molecule with many applications. The end product of the famed Haber-Bosch process, it is commonly synthesized to capture nitrogen for fertilizers, and is used for ...