Materials

Learn which specific skills are particularly useful for chemical engineers to develop, and hear about promising areas of innovation from each of the speakers.

From the development of pigments and dyes, to production scaleup, chemical engineers have lots to contribute to R&D in the garment and textile industries.

From the perspective of his specialty in the computational study of materials, Josh takes us through his vision of chemical engineering's future.

As part of our celebration of AIChE's 110th year, Billy Bardin of the Dow Chemical Company shares his predictions for chemical engineering's next 25 years.

A team of engineers at MIT has developed a heat-conductive polymer that could find new uses in electronics.

Wind energy can now be more sustainable than ever, thanks to recyclable resin with low-energy production requirements.

The composite overcomes typical brittleness and shows potential for nuclear industry, oil and gas, aerospace applications.

Much effort has gone into developing new materials, thanks to projects like the Materials Genome Initiative and the

Technique straightens polymer's molecular chains, increasing heat conductivity sixfold.

In an attempt to find alternatives to conventional recycling, researchers at the Technical University of Munich took inspiration from nature to create a self-disposing supramolecular material with

A new technology collects the oil in a cellulose matrix and then turns the oil into a rigid gel that can easily be removed from water.

Researchers at Swansea University have developed a new class of nanomaterials with tunable wettability that have wide ranging applications from antifouling to waterproofing.

A chemical engineer and chemist at MIT have discovered how to reduce the "loops" that weaken polymer structures.

Researchers at Rice University and Kazan Federal University in Russia report that oxidatively modified carbon (OMC) presents a way to purify the hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated

Learn about the innovative work that Nicholas is doing in the area of catalysis at Northwestern University.

New research from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has solved the issue of brittleness, making diamond nanothreads flexible and thus unlocking significant and numerous potential applications.

Research suggests that flakes of graphene welded together into solid materials may have potential for use as bone implants.

Researchers at Kansas State University and Catalyst Power Technologies Inc. have recently received a patent that promises higher efficiency for lithium-ion batteries.

Jalila Essaïdi considers herself an artist, but this young Dutch artist has a very scientific side, relying heavily on biotechnology to create

This month, the CEP cover story takes a look at the advantages of fixed valves, while Back to Basics column gives smart tips for a successful energy assessment.

This month, tips for including water conservation in your energy-management program, an introduction to mammalian cell culture, pointers for preventing caking of bulk solids, and much more.

Learn about the work Ahmed is doing in the areas of catalysis of ammonia synthesis, hydrotreating, and NOx reduction.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have devised a new plastic that is made with 50 percent renewable content from biomass.

New technology out of the U.S.

A group of researchers in Italy are looking to graphene oxide for “green” anti-bacterial properties that could enhance medical devices and one day decrease the need for antibiotics to fight post-operative infections and reduce recovery times.

Researchers turned to math to help predict which nanoparticles will best combine with polymers for successful nanocomposites.

A team led by researchers at UCLA has created a super-strong yet light structural metal nanocomposite with extremely high specific strength and modulus.

When Elon Musk started bulldozing desert scrub to build his giga-factory near Reno, Nevada, he bet the ranch that the lithium-ion battery market would skyrocket to around $75 billion by 2020, makin

Researchers announced two technologies that promise to improve the future of car travel. One technology significantly decreases the tire noise, while the other may put an end to flat tires, thanks to a new self-healing rubber.

A Scottish company by the name of CelluComp has turned to root vegetables such as beets and carrots to produce a manufacturing additive with a wide range of possible applications.

In the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee, a group of researchers is making important strides to improve battery safety and performance.

Using a hybrid silica sol-gel material and self-assembled monolayers of a common fatty acid, researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a new capacitor dielectric material that provides an electric

Graphene astounded the world as the first atom-thick carbon network, but a joint German-US research project has developed black phosphorus in which individual phosphorus atoms are replaced by arsen

High costs have constantly bedeviled lithium-ion battery developers, making fossil fuels cheaper than alternatives for so long that most people thought the industry had hit a wall and faced the ign

The Extreme Electrochemistry Group? Is this an Icelandic Goth Metal Trio?

Inkjet printing shows potential for producing solar cells, but one barrier has been the need for a an ink with the proper viscosity and stability for compact and homogeneous films.

The U.S. Dept.

"Stronger than steel" has just taken on a new meaning, thanks to the work of a Seattle-based company called Modumetal.

Scientists at the University of Rochester have used lasers to transform metals into extremely water repellent, or super-hydrophobic, materials without the need for temporary coatings. Super-hy

Japanese scientists have developed a first: a new hydrogel whose properties are dominated by electrostatic repulsion, rather than attractive interactions.

A new small device that relies on nanotechnology successfully generates electric current from simple vibrations. Its creators look to relieve the load on batteries or eliminate them completely.

Bacteria found in soil is helping researchers use lignin to forge new directions in bioplastics.

The latest development in water splitting comes from North Carolina State University, where researchers are working with a thin film of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) to replace platinum.

Metal sulfide nanocrystals have typically been synthesized in hot solvent-solution phase systems that bring with them a host of quality and productivity issues. Current work at the University of Minnesota seeks to avoid these problems by utilizing a non-thermal plasma reactor and deposition system.

The development of new "mixed-matrix membrane" systems can benefit our soldiers on the chemical warfare battlefield.

Catch up on graphene basics and on some of the exciting things happening in the world of graphene with this short primer.

Engineers at the University of Akron are working towards new medical uses for hydrogel materials.

Studying crystal structures and confused by Miller indices? Check out this video from the LearnChemE video series.

It's not so much that the rare earth metals (also known as the lanthanides) are rare; there is actually a relative abundance of them. The real issue is that it's difficult to find economically viable methods by which to process them.

Doris Kim Sung focused on the relationship between the human skin and the skin of buildings to create a new smart material. Check out the video at right to see her new material in action.

The U.S. is highly dependent on foreign countries for rare earth elements (REEs) and strategic and critical materials (S&CMs). Dr. Tedd Lister and Dr. Eric Peterson of the Idaho National Laboratory propose “urban mining” to address the concerns associated with traditional mining.

During the poster session at the Spring Meeting in Houston, we spoke with Ryan Vano of Natural Composites Inc. He shared with us his company's work with coconut fibers and the composite materials it's making from this largely untapped natural resource.