A new material developed at UVA could lead to breakthroughs in transplant treatments, drug delivery systems, even battery storage. 

There’s a lion’s share of potential energy in the vibrations produced by footsteps on dance floors, exercise machines in the gym, or the engines of cars, planes or construction equipment. Some tech companies have already begun to harvest electricity from waste vibrations to power lights and recharge batteries using a class of piezoelectric ceramic materials, which emit electrical charges when stepped on or manipulated.

Sometimes, less really is more. By removing oxygen during synthesis, a team led by materials scientists at Penn State created seven new high-entropy oxides, or HEOs: a class of ceramics composed of five or more metals with potential for applications in energy storage, electronics and protective coatings.

Ferroelectric materials are used in devices ranging from ultrasounds to miniature speakers in cell phones. The materials commonly used today, however, are lead-based and therefore toxic.

A National Science Foundation grant will help University of Delaware researchers create more secure computer chips by using AI and other tools to predict and counter hardware threats early in design.