Thermodynamics News

April 18, 2024

Top Headlines

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 electric ...

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 geothermal energy ...

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 potential for improving the efficiency, but how do you ...

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 laser excited ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:49pm EDT

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 ...

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 ...

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 groundbreaking: it ...

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 ...

In-Situ Observation of Nanoscale Heat Propagation

Mar. 21, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Spiral Wrappers Switch Nanotubes from Conductors to Semiconductors and Back

Mar. 12, 2024 — By wrapping a carbon nanotube with a ribbon-like polymer, researchers were able to create nanotubes that conduct electricity when struck with low-energy light that our eyes cannot see. In the future, ...

Preventing Magnet Meltdowns Before They Can Start

Mar. 11, 2024 — High-temperature superconductor magnets have the potential to lower the costs of operating particle accelerators and enable powerful new technologies like fusion reactors. But quenches -- the sudden, ...

Physicists Develop More Efficient Solar Cell

Feb. 20, 2024 — Physicists have used complex computer simulations to develop a new design for significantly more efficient solar cells than previously available. A thin layer of organic material, known as tetracene, ...

Benefits of Heat Pumps

Feb. 13, 2024 — Millions of U.S. households would benefit from heat pumps, but the cost of installing the technology needs to come down to make their use a more attractive ...

Eco-Friendly Way to Generate Power from Waste Wood

Feb. 13, 2024 — A new study by researchers has revealed a sustainable method of efficiently converting waste heat into electricity using Irish wood products, while minimizing costs and environmental ...

Physicists Capture the First Sounds of Heat 'Sloshing' in a Superfluid

Feb. 8, 2024 — For the first time, physicists have captured direct images of 'second sound,' the movement of heat sloshing back and forth within a superfluid. The results will expand scientists' ...

BESSY II: Local Variations in the Atomic Structure of High-Entropy Alloys

Jan. 30, 2024 — High-entropy alloys can withstand extreme heat and stress, making them suitable for a variety of specific applications. A new study at the X-ray synchrotron radiation source BESSY II has now provided ...

Locusts' Sense of Smell Boosted With Custom-Made Nanoparticles

Jan. 26, 2024 — Scientists have harnessed the power of specially made nanostructures to enhance the neural response in a locust's brain to specific odors and to improve their identification of those ...

Polymer Power: Researchers Enhance the Safety of Lithium Batteries

Jan. 25, 2024 — Lithium-ion batteries face safety concerns as a result of internal separator issues which often lead to short circuits. Scientists have now developed a method to improve the stability and properties ...

Liquid Lithium on the Walls of a Fusion Device Helps the Plasma Within Maintain a Hot Edge

Jan. 24, 2024 — Emerging research suggests it may be easier to use fusion as a power source if liquid lithium is applied to the internal walls of the device housing the plasma. Past experiments studied solid lithium ...

Potential Use of Topological Magnets for Magneto-Thermoelectric Energy Conversion

Jan. 23, 2024 — Scientists are eager to harness the unique electrical properties of topological magnets for advancing thermoelectric materials. A collaborative research group has successfully induced positive and ...

Higher Measurement Accuracy Opens New Window to the Quantum World

Jan. 17, 2024 — A team has developed a new measurement method that, for the first time, accurately detects tiny temperature differences in the range of 100 microkelvin in the thermal Hall effect. Previously, these ...

Advancement in Thermoelectricity Could Light Up the Internet of Things

Jan. 16, 2024 — Researchers have improved the efficiency of heat-to-electricity conversion in gallium arsenide semiconductor microstructures. By judicious spatial alignment of electrons within a two-dimensional ...

Scientists Use Heat to Create Transformations Between Skyrmions and Antiskyrmions

Jan. 16, 2024 — In an experiment that could help the development of new spintronics devices with low energy consumption, researchers have used heat and magnetic fields to create transformations between spin textures ...

Physicists Identify Overlooked Uncertainty in Real-World Experiments

Jan. 15, 2024 — The rules of statistical physics address the uncertainty about the state of a system that arises when that system interacts with its environment. But they've long missed another kind. In a new ...

Reflective Materials and Irrigated Trees: Study Shows How to Cool One of the World's Hottest Cities by 4.5°C

Jan. 12, 2024 — A combination of cooling technologies and techniques could reduce the temperature and energy needs of Riyadh, Saudi ...