Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 6


Waste plastic supercapacitor Researchers from the University of California Riverside found a way to recycle waste plastic into energy storage devices. The work focused on polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste, or PET, which is found in soda bottles and many other consumer products. The researchers first dissolved pieces of PET plastic bottles in a solvent. Using electrospinning, they fab... » read more

Making Organic Semiconductors Plastic


Plastic. The very word implies deformability, the ability to bend and flex without damage in response to stress. In applications from biomedical sensors to solar cells, the potential advantages of organic semiconductors depend almost entirely on their deformability—are they flexible enough for inexpensive roll-to-roll processing? Able to tolerate flexion in use? Able to do without the bulky a... » read more