With the rapid advancement of technology, smart wearable devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Our daily lives, sports activities, health monitoring, and even personal safety all rely on these “smart garments.” However, to achieve truly “intimate” smart functionality, one key challenge is solving the energy‑supply problem: conventional batteries are bulky, rigid, and difficult to integrate into soft textile materials, while their lifespan, charge‑discharge performance, and wash durability all pose significant hurdles. Consequently, developing lightweight, flexible, washable energy storage devices with superior performance has emerged as a crucial breakthrough for advancing the smart‑wearable industry. Supercapacitors, with their high power density, long cycle life, and rapid charge‑discharge capabilities, stand out as an ideal choice. Integrating supercapacitors directly into textiles has thus become the industry’s ultimate goal. Today, we introduce an exciting technological breakthrough: using aerosol jet printing (AJP) to directly “print” high‑performance MXene materials onto fabrics, creating miniature supercapacitors that are both soft and washable, while delivering exceptional performance—ushering in a new era for wearable electronics.
When you’re exercising with a smartwatch, do you often worry about the battery suddenly running out? And as IoT sensors become ubiquitous in homes and cities, how can we provide these tiny devices with a long-lasting, reliable power supply? With the explosive growth of portable and wearable electronics and IoT technologies, the limitations of traditional energy-storage devices—such as miniaturization, high integration, and flexibility—are becoming increasingly apparent. Recently, research teams from institutions including the Guangdong–Israel Institute of Technology and the Southern University of Science and Technology published a groundbreaking achievement in ACS Applied Energy Materials. Using aerosol-jet 3D printing technology, they successfully fabricated an array of graphene‑based hollow‑pillar electrode (HPE) microsupercapacitors (MSCs). These devices not only deliver a high output voltage of 10 V but also boast an exceptionally high integration density of 102 cm⁻², while maintaining excellent bending stability, thus opening up new avenues for the development of miniature energy‑storage devices.
In recent years, as global demand for clean energy has surged, high‑efficiency energy storage technologies have become a major research focus in the energy sector. Among these, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) has attracted considerable attention due to its high energy density and excellent stability. Recently, a joint team comprising researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Poland’s Warsaw University of Technology, among other institutions, published a groundbreaking study in the journal Results in Engineering: they have, for the first time, successfully developed microcapsules containing an ultra‑high‑temperature phase change material (PCM) based on a silicon–iron eutectic alloy. This material can operate at temperatures exceeding 1,200°C, with an energy storage density far surpassing that of existing technologies. In this article, we will explore this cutting‑edge advancement, covering its background, underlying technical principles, experimental results, and potential future applications.
With the rapid advancement of 3D printing (additive manufacturing) technology, demand for high-performance metal powders continues to grow, particularly in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and medical industries. As a next-generation metal powder, titanium-based composite powders have become a research hotspot due to their excellent properties, including light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance. However, conventional powder‑making methods suffer from issues like uneven particle size, severe agglomeration, and compositional heterogeneity, which limit their practical applications. Recently, an innovative ultrasonic atomization technique has offered a new solution to these challenges. This paper provides an in-depth exploration of “Preparation and Performance Study of Multi‑Scale Enhanced Titanium‑Based Composite Powders via Ultrasonic Atomization,” proposed by Professor Dong Fuyu of Shenyang University of Technology and his colleagues. It examines the process flow, microstructure, mechanical and functional properties, and potential future applications of this advanced material.
In the aerospace sector, nickel-based superalloys have long been the material of choice for manufacturing critical engine components, thanks to their outstanding high-temperature performance. With the advancement of additive manufacturing technologies, the demand for high-quality nickel-based superalloy powders has grown increasingly urgent. However, conventional powder‑making methods either fail to meet quality standards or suffer from low efficiency, posing significant challenges to the industry. Fortunately, a new approach—Self‑Impact Ultrasonic Atomization (SIUA)—developed by a team at Dalian University of Technology has successfully overcome these limitations, opening up a promising new pathway for producing nickel‑based superalloy powders.
Introduction to Multiphoton Polymerization: Multiphoton polymerization (MPP) is a 3D printing technique capable of fabricating polymer structures of arbitrary shapes with sub-micron resolution. First, a polymer material mixed with a photoinitiator is dispensed onto a glass slide and pre‑baked to form a photoresist layer. A laser direct‑write process is then employed to create 3D microstructures. Under laser irradiation, the polymer hardens at the irradiated sites through a process known as photopolymerization. Finally, the microstructure is immersed in an organic solvent to develop the unexposed photoresist. MPP is commonly used in the fabrication of microelectronic devices because it enables the creation of extremely small, high‑precision features. Moreover, thanks to the highly focused beam, it can produce complex 3D geometries. Equipment Parameters: Additive manufacturing materials include SZ2080, SU‑8, Ormocers, Glassomer, hybrid organic–inorganic materials, photopolymers, elastomers, and proteins. Minimum XY feature size: 150 nm; minimum surface roughness: Ra ≤ 20 nm; maximum build speed: 30 mm/s. Key Advantages: ● Nanoscale‑resolution additive manufacturing technology ● True 3D microstructures at the micrometer scale ● Wide range of available polymers ● Error‑free, seamless fabrication
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