Tech Xplore

A Swiss company has inaugurated two solar furnaces in La Chaux-de-Fonds, aiming to recycle steel offcuts from the watchmaking and medical instrument industries using concentrated solar energy. This initiative seeks to transform production waste into steel ingots, supporting a short supply chain within the border region. The technology, capable of reaching nearly 2,000°C, is designed to produce up to 1,000 tonnes of recycled steel annually. Continued testing with local companies is planned, with a full-scale factory targeted for 2028, demonstrating the viability of solar-powered industrial recycling.

A newly developed spinel-type sulfide semiconductor, (Zn,Mg)Sc2S4, demonstrates room-temperature light emission spanning violet to orange and can be chemically tuned for either n-type or p-type conduction. This versatility enables the creation of pn homojunction devices, addressing efficiency limitations in current LED and solar cell materials. The material’s tunable properties and broad emission range present a promising path for more efficient optoelectronic devices, including LEDs and solar cells, and offer a potential solution to the longstanding “green gap” in LED technology.

Artificial intelligence is accelerating advancements in biology and medicine, enabling rapid design and manipulation of DNA. However, recent findings highlight that AI tools can also be leveraged to create synthetic genetic sequences capable of evading current biosecurity screening protocols. Testing revealed that a notable percentage of AI-generated sequences bypassed existing detection systems. While subsequent updates improved screening efficacy, some threats still went undetected. This underscores the need for ongoing vigilance and continuous improvement of biosecurity measures to address the evolving risks posed by AI-driven biotechnology.

A recent review in Nature Reviews Clean Technology proposes a transformative approach to solar-driven water electrolysis, positioning it as a versatile platform for sustainable chemical manufacturing. By integrating high-value chemical syntheses into solar electrolysis systems, the process could shift from a cost challenge to an economically attractive solution. The review highlights the potential to replace low-value byproducts with profitable chemicals and advocates for aligning technology scale with market needs. The successful commercialization of these innovations will depend on investment in pilot-scale systems, advanced modeling, and supportive policy measures such as carbon pricing and green chemistry incentives.

A newly developed three-layer membrane offers a more efficient and environmentally friendly method for extracting lithium from brines, a critical material for rechargeable batteries. This membrane demonstrates high selectivity for lithium, reduced energy consumption, and minimal waste compared to traditional extraction methods. Its adaptable design allows for the recovery of other valuable minerals, such as cobalt and nickel, and integration into existing industrial processes. Performance tests indicate strong durability and scalability, positioning this technology as a promising solution for sustainable mineral extraction in industrial applications.

Recent demonstrations of humanoid robots performing household tasks using natural language commands highlight advances in integrating large language models with robotics. While these systems can translate visual information and instructions into actions, their capabilities are based on structured algorithms and extensive training data, rather than independent thinking. Significant challenges remain, particularly in developing tactile sensing and multi-modal perception. Achieving human-level sensing and adaptability in robots will require further innovation, especially in areas such as touch, pain, and smell detection, to enable reliable operation in complex, real-world environments.

A recent study has identified a long-standing inefficiency in the PathFinder algorithm, which has been central to programming Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) since the late 1990s. As FPGAs are widely used across industries for their flexibility, understanding and addressing these inefficiencies is critical. The research reveals that PathFinder can create unnecessarily large routing trees, leading to slowdowns and failures in complex designs. By analyzing practical examples, the study proposes new approaches to improve routing efficiency, potentially impacting the future design and programming of reconfigurable chips.

Recent findings indicate that densifying argyrodite (Li6PS5Cl), a ceramic solid electrolyte, can significantly enhance the performance of all-solid-state batteries by suppressing lithium dendrite formation. By increasing the material’s relative density from 83% to 99%, researchers observed improved critical current density, enabling higher plating currents without dendrite growth. These results suggest that optimizing the microstructure of solid electrolytes could address key safety and performance challenges, supporting the development of safer, higher energy density, and faster-charging all-solid-state batteries for future energy storage applications.

As the telecommunications industry advances toward 6G, the need for materials that minimize signal loss at high frequencies is critical. Recent developments in polymer-based dielectrics, specifically poly(phenylene sulfide) derivatives, have demonstrated ultralow dielectric loss. By substituting oxygen with sulfur in polymer structures, researchers achieved significantly lower dissipation factors and stable dielectric properties across 10–80 GHz. These findings highlight the potential of sulfur-containing polymers as practical insulating materials, supporting reliable, high-speed data transmission for next-generation telecommunications infrastructure.

A new model of lithium-ion battery reactions offers insights that could accelerate the development of faster-charging, longer-lasting batteries. By analyzing lithium intercalation rates across various materials, researchers identified that coupled ion-electron transfer, rather than traditional diffusion models, governs the reaction rate. This framework enables more accurate predictions and reveals how modifying electrolyte composition can enhance battery performance. These findings provide a theoretical basis for optimizing battery materials and interfaces, moving beyond trial-and-error approaches and supporting the rational design of next-generation energy storage solutions.