Fluorescent microcapsules identify microscopic failure

The Autonomous Materials Systems Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Urbana, Ill., recently devised a way to identify microscopic damage in polymers and composites by incorporating microcapsules containing materials that fluoresce under stress.

Rolling out a new polymer solar cell material

For all the promise they have shown in the lab, polymer solar cells still need to “get on a roll”—like the ones employed in printing newspapers so that large sheets of acceptably efficient photovoltaic devices can be manufactured continuously and economically.

High energy density batteries

In lithium-ion batteries, a singly charged lithium atom, or ion, flows between two electrodes while one electron is contributed to the electrical current in the external circuit.