Looking beyond incremental innovations in energy storage technology, Jie Xiao wants to catalyze a robust domestic battery industry — from mining to manufacturing.
Build a better mousetrap, the old saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door.
Build a better battery… and the multitudes should arrive in an endless stream of autonomous electric vehicles.
Only, it’s not that simple with energy storage.
Most battery innovations begin in academic environments that are designed for discovery rather than the cost, time and scale pressures of industry.
In his new book, “How the World Flows,” Albert Folch explores the miniature liquid networks that power natural phenomena, essential innovations and advanced biomedical devices.
Rainbows and rubber trees. Aquifers and fountain pens. Gauze pads and glucose strips. Candle wicks and carburetors. Pregnancy tests and 3D printers. Dialysis machines and DNA sequencers.
What’s the common denominator?
Each is enabled by microfluidics, miniature networks of liquids whose stable properties, at tiny scale, are essential to powering the natural world — and much of the manufactured world, too.
And each is explored in Albert Folch’s new book, “How the World Flows,” which invites readers to peer through the microscope into what he calls the “Lilliputian world of fluids at small scales.”
UW Chemical Engineering graduate student Joelle Scott, from the Bergsman Research Group, is working toward a more sustainable and equitable future through advanced materials research, testing new methods to remove toxic forever chemicals and other contaminants from wastewater.
Extensive blood loss after injuries is life-threatening and must be counteracted as fast as possible. Relatively small volume injections of solutions of a novel star-shaped polymer could compensate for fluid loss without disrupting coagulation.
Of the 38 million Americans who have diabetes at least 90% have Type 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Type 2 diabetes occurs over time and is characterized by a loss of the cells in the pancreas that make the hormone insulin, which helps the body manage sugar.
Chemical engineers in the Pozzo Research Group are using open-source tools to build modular robots that can run multiple functions of complex experiments. This customizable framework helps alleviate the cost barrier of purchasing multiple, single-purpose commercial machines.
New research led by the University of Washington demonstrates a new class of hydrogels that can form not just outside cells, but also inside of them. Hydrogels are made up of protein building blocks linked together. Shown here are images of two cells. The cell on the right contains hydrogels decorated with Green Fluorescent Protein (green blobs), whereas the cell on the left does not because it is missing one of the hydrogel building blocks (green is everywhere in the cell).Mout Read More
An interdisciplinary, UW-led team of synthetic biologists will embark on a 5-year, $15 million project to engineer microbial genomes that transform CO2 into high-value chemicals.
Two recent molecular engineering graduates launched a new startup, Wayfinder Biosciences, to commercialize their revolutionary platform to design RNA molecules that can be used to advance everything from sustainable biomanufacturing to targeted CRISPR therapies.
Three UW researchers, including MolES faculty member Eleftheria Roumeli, are exploring ways to make electronics more Earth-friendly.