They say that history doesn't repeat but rhymes. At
Permalink #942 I mentioned tetrataenite, a mineral found in meteorites, consisted of
iron and nickel structured at nano-scale. Powerfully magnetic without the rare earths normally required.
So now researchers are pursuing a metamaterial consisted of
iron and oxygen.
phys.org: Nanoscale rust: The future of magnets?
Quote:
Every motor we use needs a magnet. University of Manitoba researcher Rachel Nickel is studying how rust could make those magnets cheaper and easier to produce.
Her most recent paper, published in the journal Nano Letters, explores a unique type of iron oxide nanoparticle. This material has special magnetic and electric features that could make it useful. It even has potential as a permanent magnet, which we use in car and airplane motors.
What sets it apart from other magnets is that it's made from two of the most common elements found on earth: iron and oxygen. Right now, we use magnets made out of some of the rarest elements on the planet.
"The ability to produce magnets without rare earth elements is incredibly exciting," says Nickel. "Almost everything that we use that has a motor where we need to start a motion relies on a permanent magnet".
Researchers only started to understand this unique type of rust, called epsilon iron oxide, in the last 20 years.
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Did you catch the coincidence?
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I've been having Youtube withdrawals, so I went to visit Phys,org. and there's a lot that's news. But they have an nag screen on every page now, too. at least all they do is nag.... so far.
phys.org: Safely removing nanoplastics from water using 'Prussian blue', a pigment used to dye jeans
Prussian Blue, what can't it do?
phys.org/: New noble-metal-free electrocatalyst decreases the energy required to generate hydrogen gas from water
Brown's Gas FTW.
Quote:
A new electrocatalyst leverages enhanced electrochemical activity, reaction surface area and durability to improve the efficiency of hydrogen gas production via electrolysis.
Researchers from Center of Excellence for NaNo Energy & Catalysis Technology (CONNECT), Xiamen University in Malaysia synthesized and characterized an efficient and durable water electrocatalyst composed of the transition metal dichalcogenide tungsten disulfide (WS2), a two-dimensional material with semiconducting properties, that functions as an electron acceptor or donor in the electrolysis reaction.
The electrocatalyst, WS2/N-rGO/CC, is created on a carbon cloth (CC) that is bound to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a two-dimensional lattice semiconductor, combined with a very small amount of nitrogen (N) to alter the properties of the reduced graphene oxide semiconductor. A hydrothermal reaction converts two-dimensional WS2 into microscopic, three-dimensional flower-like structures called nanoflowers that increase the surface area of the electrocatalyst to improve reaction efficiency.
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phys.org: Mechanical engineering professor uses coal to create graphene
Cheap graphene for the masses.
phys.org: Free-space nanoprinting beyond optical limits to create 4D functional structures
I recall a sci-fi story where they wafted a gas through a holograms to '3D print' buildings. They are getting closer, but starting with muscles and blood vessels in a gel.
Then it gets a little more sciencey:
phys.org/: From a five-layer graphene sandwich, a rare electronic state emerges
Not four layers, not six; five shall be the number of the layers.
phys.org: Chiro-optical force observed at the nanoscale
Those aren't swastakii, they're
gammadion.
phys.org: Move over carbon, the nanotube family just got bigger
they don't explain how the get the tubes off the Boron Nitride scaffolding.
Which one of these will rock our world forever?