News 2019

Scientists from the University of Bristol and the British Museum, in collaboration with Oxford Archaeology East and Canterbury Archaeological Trust, have, for the first time, identified the use of birch bark tar in medieval England - the use of which was previously thought to be limited to prehistory.

Imperial College London bioengineers have found a way to create stretchy and squeezy soft sensing devices by bonding rubber to electrical components. Stretchy and squeezy soft sensors that can fit around body parts or squeezed in hands could be used for applications including sports and rehabilitation after injury or stroke.

White blood cells, which release a toxic potion of proteins to kill cancerous and virus-infected cells, are protected from any harm by the physical properties of their cell envelopes, find scientists from UCL and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. Until now, it has been a mystery to scientists how these white blood cells - called cytotoxic lymphocytes - avoid being killed by their own actions and the discovery could help explain why some tumours are more resistant than others to recently developed cancer immunotherapies.

Recycling technologies for end-of-life lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are not keeping pace with the rapid rise of electric vehicles, storing up a potentially huge waste management problem for the future, according to a new study. A review of lithium ion battery recycling led by the University of Birmingham suggests that, while electric vehicles (EVs) offer a solution for cutting pollution, governments and industry need to act now to develop a robust recycling infrastructure to meet future recycling need.

Scientists from Cardiff University have, for the first time, spotted previously unseen "instabilities" on the surface of a common compound semiconductor material. The findings could potentially have profound consequences for the development of future materials in the electronic devices that power our daily lives.

Using a range of theoretical and simulation approaches, physicists from the University of Bristol have shown that liquids in contact with substrates can exhibit a finite number of classes of behaviour and identify the important new ones. Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , challenge the accepted wisdom on wetting and drying phase behaviour.

Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From a white blood cell playing a 'security guard' role, to the President's call for collaboration and community, here is some quick-read news from across the College. Patrolling eye Researchers from Imperial have discovered a new 'security guard' role for a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil.

A new way of 3D printing soft materials such as gels and collagens offers a major step forward in the manufacture of artificial medical implants. Developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, the technique could be used to print soft biomaterials that could be used to repair defects in the body.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have created an antimicrobial coating for steel surfaces which has proven to rapidly kill bacteria that cause some of the most common hospital-acquired infections. Developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, patented by University of Birmingham Enterprise , and to be commercialised by a new company NitroPep, the coating - also called NitroPep - has been heralded as a new tool in the fight against the spread of infection.

An international team of scientists, including a professor of chemistry from the University of Bristol, has worked out a way to improve energy storage devices called supercapacitors, by designing a new class of detergents chemically related to laxatives. Their paper, published today , explains why these detergents, called ionic liquids, are better electrolytes than current materials and can improve supercapacitors.

Surface science can make a big difference to our health, well-being and environment. Our surface scientists at Durham have been working on a whole range of applications that have already changed our lives in some way (think mobile phones and puddles) and could make a real difference to people around the world, particularly in developing countries.

Our future TV and smartphone screens could have double the energy efficiency, thanks to a technique invented by Imperial scientists. The pixels in many modern screens for TVs, smartphones, tablets, and laptops are lit by little devices called OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes). The findings could make screens of all kinds brighter, with better contrast and longer life.

Researchers at Cardiff University have shown tiny light-emitting nanolasers less than a tenth of the size of the width of a human hair can be integrated into silicon chip design. The photonic band-edge lasers can operate at superfast speeds and have the potential to help the global electronics industry deliver a range of new applications - from optical computing to remote sensing and heat seeking, Professor Diana Huffaker is Scientific Director of Cardiff University's Institute for Compound Semiconductors , based at Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy.

Researchers have developed washable, wearable 'batteries' based on cheap, safe and environmentally friendly inks and woven directly into fabrics. The devices could be used for flexible circuits, healthcare monitoring, energy conversion, and other applications. The team, led by Dr Felice Torrisi , who recently joined Imperial from the University of Cambridge, have shown how graphene - an atom-thick sheet of carbon - and other related materials can be directly incorporated into fabrics.

Tiny, individual, flexible ribbons of crystalline phosphorus have been made and measured an international collaboration, in a world first, and they could revolutionise electronics and fast-charging battery technology. Since the isolation of 2-dimensional phosphorene (the phosphorus equivalent of graphene) in 2014, more than 100 theoretical studies have predicted that new and exciting and properties could emerge by producing narrow 'ribbons' of this material.

A breakthrough in energy storage technology could bring a new generation of flexible electronic devices to life, including solar-powered prosthetics for amputees. In a new paper published in the journal Advanced Science , a team of engineers from the University of Glasgow discuss how they have used layers of graphene and polyurethane to create a flexible supercapacitor which can generate power from the sun and store excess energy for later use.

Cambridge researchers are working to solve one of technology's biggest puzzles: how to build next-generation batteries that could power a green revolution. A better battery could make all the difference. So what's holding up progress? Like many of us, when I wake up I reach for the phone on my bedside table and begin scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, email and news apps.

Researchers have devised a way to deposit metals onto fabrics and used it to insert sensors and batteries into these materials. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Imperial College London led by Dr Firat Güder from the Department of Bioengineering have developed an innovative technique to print metals such as silver, gold and platinum onto natural fabrics.