MRS Innovation Source focuses on examples of best practices, success stories, interviews and editorials on current topics in innovation, commercialization and new product development using advances in materials. The new resource will complement the current MRS communications portfolio that focuses on the ever-expanding landscape of materials research—MRS Communications, MRS Bulletin, Materials360, Materials360 Online, Journal of Materials Research, MRS Online Proceedings Library and social media. MRS also hosts the Technology Innovation Forum. The fifth Technology Innovation Forum, held at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting, focused on Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence. Learn more here.
MRS serves a global community of over 16,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government. The Society promotes interaction and idea-sharing through various venues, such as journals, meetings, conferences and educational outreach. This new resource aims to broaden the dialogue among thought leaders in this field to accelerate the commercialization of exciting new materials research to benefit society.
In order to revolutionize the future of electronics, not only must
electronics advance, companies must also be able to manufacture novel,
reliable, high quality electronic products to satisfy customers. For
some applications, new materials enabling stretchable, twistable,
foldable, paper-thin circuits are needed. At the forefront of this
technology is a company known as Polyera.
Read More »Early-stage materials companies face unique challenges in
commercializing their novel technologies. Unlike software and internet
start-ups, some of which require only a few computers and internet
access to create a marketable product, materials start-up companies
require additional capital and time to develop prototype products and
processes acceptable to the marketplace. Extra investment is required in
laboratory space, materials and equipment. In addition, many investors
require that these companies prove that their processes are economically
viable when scaled to production. For these reasons, many angel and
venture capital investment groups apply extra scrutiny when looking at
promising startup materials companies.
Read More »In the world of technology start-ups, especially clean energy, “the valley”— also known as “the valley of death”—refers to the gap in capital between the funding of invention—through government grants and venture capital— and mass production. Recently, the thinfi lm solar-cell manufacturer Solyndra famously failed to cross this valley, declaring bankruptcy after accepting millions of dollars in US government gap funding. The controversy around this particular case, and around the fate of many solar start-ups generally, means that all eyes are on Alta Devices. As the start-up begins production on its pilot line, the clean energy community will watch as Alta Devices attempts to take its technology out of the lab and into the valley.
Read More »The increasing demand for new optoelectronics devices such as solar cells, laser diodes (LD), and high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HBLED) combined with the economic necessity to achieve lower consumption levels and higher yields are motivating researchers to develop new materials. Specifically many studies are being initiated to improve the understanding of the fundamental physical properties and behavior of compound semiconductor materials including quantum wells, quantum dots, and nanowire-like structures.
Read More »David Eaglesham is dedicated to using materials science to address
energy problems. After earning a PhD degree in physics at the University
of Bristol (UK), he spent many years at Bell Laboratories working on
semiconductors and later took on management positions at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory and Applied Materials. It was at Applied
Materials that he began to connect with the solar industry, just as it
was getting hot. When he joined First Solar in 2006 as Vice President of
Technology, it had around 350 employees and about USD$50 million in
revenue. The company now has grown to about USD$4 billion in revenue.
With an extensive portfolio of achievements in scientifi c research and
ever eager for new challenges, Eaglesham left First Solar this summer
and has taken a new position with Mg-ion battery leader Pellion
Technologies. We caught up with Eaglesham at a corner brewery in
Ypsilanti, Mich., where we noticed that they were putting up
photovoltaic panels on the roof combined with a solar thermal energy
system—a hybrid system. This auspicious beginning led to an
all-encompassing interview spanning the range from materials research to
mitigating global warming.
Read More »Using a new materials-based approach, Diffinity Genomics is introducing a series of products for rapid, single-step purification of nucleic acid reactions such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA. The initial product, the Diffinity RapidTipTM for PCR Purification, removes unwanted materials from the PCR solution such as unincorporated oligonucleotides used as primers plus nucleotides (dNTP) thereby rendering the solution suitable for DNA sequencing reactions.
Read More »The form of electrical energy that is required depends strongly on the function to be performed. Consequently power conversion is ubiquitous with an annual market value of over $7 billion growing at a compound annual growth rate of over 12.6%.Transphorm’s GaN-based power solutions increase efficiency, reduce system size, and simplify overall product design and can eliminate up to 90% of all electric conversion losses from heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) and solar panels.
Read More »There is significant interest in developing low-cost visible infrared (IR) sensors for a variety of applications such as imaging sensors for defense, homeland security, and commercial applications.
Read More »Thin-film photovoltaics (PVs) offer an affordable alternative to silicon photovoltaics. However, thin-film technologies face many challenges including concerns about toxicity as is the case with cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based PV and difficulties in scale-up as evidenced by copper indium gallium diselinide based PV. Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells printed on fl exible substrates are free of toxic materials and cost competitive since they can be manufactured by roll-to-roll processes.
Read More »According to Jon Gertner, author of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Invention (The Penguin Press, 2012), the events surrounding the development of the transistor at Bell Labs provide an example of an invention which led to radical innovation.
Read More »Nanofibers, defined as fibers with diameters of <100 nm to <500 nm, are desirable enhancements for a number of promising applications including medical, filtration, energy, textile, protective, structural, electrical, and optical. However, their commercial potential has not yet been realized because the limitation in the scalability of present production technologies restricts their application to relatively high-priced niche products.
Read More »A new process for fabricating the bridge wire or thermal element within a pyrotechnic igniter, which improves its reliability, has been developed by Odyssian Technology and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT). These igniters are used to trigger pyrotechnic devices in automotive airbags so they infl ate quickly, in parachute safety devices, and by the military for initiating the chemical reaction that is the source of power for thermal batteries, which power missile navigation and control systems.
Read More »Dozens of quasicrystals with different compositions and symmetries have been discovered over the past 25 years. The use of quasicrystalline coatings for non-stick cookware is a promising option for a large market that is undergoing fundamental change.
Read More »Thin-film solar cells, liquid-crystal displays, light-emitting diodes, and many other thin-film containing products require inline metrology for the rapid, reliable and low-cost control of the thickness and optical constants of the thin films. Semiconsoft’s fiberoptics MProbe thin-film measurement system has been optimized to achieve exceptional precision and analysis capabilities.
Read More »The development of new materials such as nantubes, graphene, and metal-organic frameworks has put new demands on materials characterization techniques. Applying x-ray diffraction and scattering to new materials requires innovative and nonconventional techniques or variations of standard methods.
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