18 Apr 2018

Thin film converts heat from electronics into energy
Engineers have developed a thin-film system that can be applied to sources of waste heat to produce energy at levels unprecedented for this kind of technology.
5 Feb 2018

3D printing of living cells
Using a new technique they call 'in-air microfluidics', scientists succeed in printing 3D structures with living cells. This special technique enable the fast and 'on-the-fly' production of micro building blocks that are viable and can be used for repairing damaged tissue, for example.
29 Jan 2018

Desalination Orders Flood In
For much of the last decade, there has been oversupply of desalination plants but that is less true today. Business is picking up globally, first with a wave of large plants in the main.
24 Jan 2018

Millimeter-scale robot opens new avenues for microsurgery
The milliDelta design incorporates a composite laminate structure with embedded flexural joints that approximate the more complicated joints found in large scale Delta robots.
11 Jan 2018

Eliminating Batteries in Desalination Plants, Cellphones and IOT
IDTechEx Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop, explores the importance of eliminating batteries, with other energy harvesting techniques being increasingly more viable.
28 Dec 2017

New photovoltaic production technique reduces cost, boosts stability
Perovskite solar cells are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture. Improving their efficiency, as one EU-backed project has just done, makes them an ever-more compelling alternative source of energy.
4 Dec 2017

New 3-D printer is 10 times faster than commercial counterparts
Engineers have developed a new desktop 3-D printer that performs up to 10 times faster than existing commercial counterparts. Whereas the most common printers may fabricate a few Lego-sized bricks in one hour, the new design can print similarly sized objects in just a few minutes.
17 Aug 2017

New source of energy-critical lithium found in supervolcanoes
Most of the lithium used to make the lithium-ion batteries that power modern electronics comes from Australia and Chile. But Stanford scientists say there are large deposits in sources in America: supervolcanoes.
21 Jun 2017

Super strong stretchy silver
Try bending your iPhone in half. Or roll up your tablet like a scroll. Or wrap a touchscreen TV around a pole. Didn't work out so well, did it? That's because the ceramic material used to make many of today's touchscreens has only two of three needed qualities: it's conductive, it's transparent—but it's not flexible.
15 Jun 2017

Liquid tin-sulfur compound shows thermoelectric potential
Glass and steel makers produce large amounts of wasted heat energy at high temperatures, but solid-state thermoelectric devices that convert heat to electricity either don't operate at high enough temperatures or cost so much that their use is limited to special applications such as spacecraft.
31 May 2017

NIF technology could revolutionize 3D printing
A technology originally developed to smooth out and pattern high-powered laser beams for the National Ignition Facility can be used to 3D print metal objects faster than ever before.
25 May 2017

Compelling evidence of ferroelasticity in perovskites
Crystalline materials known as perovskites could become the next superstars of solar cells.
10 Apr 2017

New research could help speed up the 3D printing process
A team of researchers have identified some bottlenecks in 3D printers, that, if improved, could speed up the entire process.
21 Nov 2016

Gallium nitride: semiconductor almost as durable as diamonds
Engineers have reported a previously unknown property for GaN: Its wear resistance approaches that of diamonds and promises to open up applications in touch screens, space vehicles and radio-frequency microelectromechanical systems.
Full profile interview
9 Nov 2016

Aerogel Technologies
IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Richard Collins interviewed Stephen Steiner (Founder and CEO) from Aerogel Technologies. Aerogel Technologies produce monolithic aerogel products with a specific focus on polymer aerogels
7 Sep 2016

3D printed tool for building aircraft achieves world record
A 3D printed trim-and-drill tool has received the title of largest solid 3D printed item by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™.
1 Jul 2016

Boost for Helium Electric Aircraft
Helium has important applications in MRI machines, welding, manufacturing semiconductors, deep-sea diving and blimps. If it was readily available and affordable, its use in EVs such as underwater vehicles and aircraft would increase greatly.
1 Jul 2016

Boost for solar aircraft market
A research team has developed a new approach to finding fields of helium underground, and with the first use of the technique they have discovered a massive reserve in East Africa according to a new report from Oxford University in the UK.
20 Apr 2016

Urine a sustainable power source for powering electronic devices
Researchers have developed an innovative miniature fuel cell that can generate electricity from urine, creating an affordable, renewable and carbon-neutral way of generating power.
11 Apr 2016

Ready to go battery electrode with glass-ceramic
A paperlike battery electrode may improve tools for space exploration or unmanned aerial vehicles.