Converting heat into electricity is a property thought to be reserved only for stiff materials like crystals. However, researchers--inspired by the infrared (IR) vision of snakes--developed a ...

The electronic device you are reading this on is currently producing a modest to significant amount of waste heat. In fact, nearly 70% of the energy produced annually in the US is ultimately wasted as ...

Pyroelectricity could extract energy from heat sources below100°C, offering an alternative to thermo-electric generators (TEGs). TEGs make electricity through the Seebeck effect, where different ...

What if atomic crystals could send pulse power to light up a room? Back in 314 B.C., a student of Socrates described bits of sawdust that gravitated to a stone thrown into a camp fire. What was an ...

Military-grade infrared vision goggles use detectors made of mercury cadmium telluride, a semiconducting material that’s particularly sensitive to infrared radiation. Unfortunately, you need to keep ...

Certain species of snake - think pit vipers, boa constrictors and pythons, among others - are able to find and capture prey with uncanny accuracy, even in total darkness. Now scientists have ...

Pyroelectric catalysis (pyro-catalysis) can transform temperature fluctuations in the environment into clean chemical energy such as hydrogen. However, pyro-catalysis is ineffective when compared to ...

MIT engineers have developed a technique to grow and peel ultrathin “skins” of electronic material. The method could pave the way for new classes of electronic devices, such as ultrathin wearable ...