Ƶ Technology and Discovery News
Ƶ Boulder Today—An international team of researchers led by an engineer at Ƶ Boulder has revealed the underlying mechanism behind battery degradation. Their discovery could help scientists to develop better batteries.
College of Arts & Sciences—Ƶ Boulder Physics Professor Ivan Smalyukh and his team have achieved a remarkable milestone by receiving a Guinness World Records award for creating the world's most transparent material. Their aerogel, which has now been successfully patented, can be added to windows to boost thermal insulation, increasing the overall efficiency of a building.
Ƶ Boulder Today—A Ƶ Boulder-led team, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, has taken a critical step toward developing a new way to 3D print material that is at once elastic enough to withstand a heart’s persistent beating, tough enough to endure the crushing load placed on joints and easily shapable to fit a patient’s unique defects.
LASP—To learn more about how dust particles may affect future missions, NASA has awarded $1 million to a team from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at Ƶ Boulder to develop a Rubik’s cube-sized instrument. Once built and tested, CEDA (Compact Electrostatic Dust Analyzer) will be capable of measuring the speed, size and charge of tiny dust particles on rocky bodies less than 5 kilometers across.
College of Arts and Sciences Magazine—Ƶ Boulder chemist Wei Zhang has developed a novel method to separate gases more efficiently, potentially revolutionizing industries reliant on gas separation technologies. Their breakthrough, which utilizes advanced materials and innovative techniques, promises to reduce energy consumption and enhance the sustainability of these processes.
Ƶ Boulder Today—Researchers at Ƶ Boulder will soon begin working on what they call the “quantum machine shop” of the 21st century. The U.S. National Science Foundation today announced a $20 million grant to Ƶ Boulder to launch a facility known as the National Quantum Nanofab (NQN). In this facility, Colorado researchers and quantum specialists from around the country will be able to design and build incredibly small devices that tap into the world of atoms and photons—the tiny packets of energy that make up light.
Ƶ Boulder Today—Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ushered in a new bill to support the state’s rapidly growing quantum industry. Polis signed the bill from the top floor of the JILA Tower, one of the epicenters of quantum research on campus, with a view of the Flatirons in the background.
Ƶ Boulder Today—While scientists are continuously exploring ways to reduce fossil fuel use in these sectors, Oana Luca, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Ƶ Boulder, explores technologies like recycling and carbon capture to prevent carbon from ending up in the environment.
NIST—Scientists have dramatically reduced the time and energy required to chill materials to temperatures near absolute zero. Their prototype refrigerator could prove a boon for the burgeoning quantum industry, which widely uses ultracold materials. NIST is now working with an industrial partner and Venture Partners to commercialize the refrigerator.
2023 was another tremendous year for innovation at the University of Colorado Boulder. Campus researchers and inventors created a strong crop of 162 breakthrough technologies this past year. These spanned the breadth of Ƶ Boulder’s research expertise, with innovations in climate tech, biotechnology, quantum science, optics and aerospace, to name a few. Ƶ Boulder's commercialization arm, Venture Partners at Ƶ Boulder, supports a groundbreaking pipeline translating research into real-world impact, as highlighted in their 2023 Annual Report.