Cobalt complexes-based self-oscillating gels will become promising material for creation of actuators

Scientists from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University for the first time obtained cobalt complexes-based self-oscillating gels. Such gels can occasionally change their geometric parameters, thanks to that they can be used for creation of chemomechanical materials, that transform chemical energy into the energy of mechanical oscillations. The emergence of propagating chemical waves inside such gels enables to use material for creation of devices, processing information using cooperation of chemical waves. Results of the research are published in magazine Gels.

With sheer determination, researchers can make tough materials that bend without breaking

Shear band formation is not typically a good sign in a material — the bands often appear before a material fractures or fails. But materials science and engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have found that shear bands aren’t always a negative; under the right conditions, they can improve the ductility, or the plasticity, of a material.

Battery parts can be recycled without crushing or melting

Researchers at Aalto University have discovered that electrodes in lithium batteries containing cobalt can be reused as is after being newly saturated with lithium. In comparison to traditional recycling, which typically extracts metals from crushed batteries by melting or dissolving them, the new process saves valuable raw materials, and likely also energy.

Scientists look to meteorites for inspiration to achieve critical element-free permanent magnet

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Critical Materials Institute has developed a low-cost, high performance permanent magnet by drawing inspiration from an out-of-this-world source: iron-nickel alloys in meteorites. The magnet rivals widely used “Alnico” magnets in magnetic strength and has the potential to fill a strong demand for rare-earth- and cobalt-free magnets in the market.