Featured
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Article |
Low-hysteresis shape-memory ceramics designed by multimode modelling
Combining computational thermodynamics and data science tools with lattice engineering enables the design of shape-memory ceramics with reduced hysteresis.
- Edward L. Pang
- , Gregory B. Olson
- & Christopher A. Schuh
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Article
| Open AccessLarge harvested energy with non-linear pyroelectric modules
A macroscopic and scalable pyroelectric energy harvester in the form of multilayer capacitors produces 11.2 J of electrical energy, with a pyroelectric material generating up to 4.43 J cm−3 per cycle.
- Pierre Lheritier
- , Alvar Torelló
- & Emmanuel Defay
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Perspective |
Towards enduring autonomous robots via embodied energy
The concept of 'Embodied Energy'—in which the components of a robot or device both store energy and provide a mechanical or structural function—is put forward, along with specific robot-design principles.
- Cameron A. Aubin
- , Benjamin Gorissen
- & Robert F. Shepherd
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Article |
Exploding and weeping ceramics
A study demonstrates that a range of different behaviours—from reversible, through weeping, to explosive—can be exhibited by a chemically homogeneous ceramic system by manipulating conditions of compatibility in unusual ways.
- Hanlin Gu
- , Jascha Rohmer
- & Richard D. James
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Article |
Transparent ferroelectric crystals with ultrahigh piezoelectricity
The use of alternating-current electric fields to control domain size in ferroelectric crystals affords excellent transparency, piezoelectricity and birefringence.
- Chaorui Qiu
- , Bo Wang
- & Fei Li
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Letter |
Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials
Programmed ferromagnetic domains are 3D-printed into soft materials capable of fast transformations between complex three-dimensional shapes via magnetic actuation.
- Yoonho Kim
- , Hyunwoo Yuk
- & Xuanhe Zhao
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Article |
Photocontrol of fluid slugs in liquid crystal polymer microactuators
A light-actuated liquid crystal polymer material system precisely manipulates liquid drops through capillary forces, and can be formed into a variety of shapes.
- Jiu-an Lv
- , Yuyun Liu
- & Yanlei Yu
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Letter |
Non-Joulian magnetostriction
Typical ferromagnets elongate and contract anisotropically when placed in a magnetic field but conserve the overall volume, an effect known as Joule magnetostriction; here, a new effect is observed in Fe–Ga alloys—large non-volume-conserving or non-Joulian magnetostriction—which has not previously been observed in any magnet.
- Harsh Deep Chopra
- & Manfred Wuttig