Manufacturing

Perovskite solar cells are rapidly catching up to silicon in efficiency, but continue to lag behind in production speed. Now Stanford has developed a new method of making perovskite solar cells at up to 40 ft per minute – even faster than silicon.

Engineers at Cornell University have developed a new technique for 3D printing metallic objects – and it involves blasting titanium particles at supersonic speeds. The resulting metals are very porous, making them useful for biomedical implants.

Plans are afoot to build a monster battery cell production facility in the UK, but it's not going to another Tesla Gigafactory. Startup Britishvolt expects construction of its 30-GWh GigaPlant to start in Wales next year.

Half the weight of aluminum alloy parts, but the same price. Revolutionary claims for a new composite pressing process under development at Williams Advanced Engineering that could shake up the whole automotive industry, not to mention aviation.

Strong as it is, concrete doesn’t stand up well against bending. Now, researchers at Swinburne University have developed a new type of concrete that can not only bend better, but doesn’t require cement to make, reducing its environmental footprint.

A materials science and engineering team from Korea's Yonsei University has developed a 3D printing technique enabling OLED screens to be printed into transparent structures of any shape, meaning nearly anything can become a see-through color display.

While it's now common to see 3D-printed prototypes, the use of 3D printers for manufacturing is still limited. That could be about to change, thanks to a new model that's being heralded as "the largest and highest throughput printer in its class."

Graphene is incredibly thin, flexible, strong and electrically conductive, but it’s tricky to manufacture on large scales. Now researchers at the University of Rochester have recruited bacteria to make the stuff, which is cheaper and faster than current methods and doesn’t require harsh chemicals.

Noting that complex, proprietary systems can hinder productivity and profitability, BMW and Microsoft have announced the Open Manufacturing Platform. The idea is to set up an open technology framework and cross-industry community to accelerate automotive and manufacturing sector developments.

Traditionally, welding has been limited to materials that share similar properties. But now, scientists are claiming a breakthrough method that can weld together materials as different as glass and metal, thanks to ultrafast laser pulses.

Engineers from MIT and the University of Colorado have developed a new microfabrication technique and used it to produce the smallest 3D transistors ever made, measuring about a third the size of the current leading commercial products.

MIT engineers recently managed to create cell-sized robots that could collect data about their environment, but were a little tricky to manufacture. Now, the team has found a way to mass produce these synthetic cells (syncells) through controlled fracturing of graphene.