Tag Archives: biomolecular engineering

Researchers Build 3-D Structures Out of Liquid Metal

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed three-dimensional (3-D) printing technology and techniques to create free-standing structures made of liquid metal at room temperature.

“It’s difficult to create structures out of liquids, because liquids want to bead up. But we’ve found that a liquid metal alloy of gallium and indium reacts to the oxygen in the air at room temperature to form a ‘skin’ that allows the liquid metal structures to retain their shapes,” says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. (more…)

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Researchers Create Self-Healing, Stretchable Wires Using Liquid Metal

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed elastic, self-healing wires in which both the liquid-metal core and the polymer sheath reconnect at the molecular level after being severed.

“Because we’re using liquid metal, these wires have excellent conductive properties,” says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. “And because the wires are also elastic and self-healing, they have a lot of potential for use in technologies that could be exposed to high-stress environments.” (more…)

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Startup Success

T3D goes beyond Hen Hatch, places among top collegiate startups worldwide

T3D Nanotech, LLC, a high technology startup company spun off from patent pending nanotech research at the University of Delaware, was recently awarded $1,000 in UD’s Hen Hatch competition. But that award was preceded by another honor: selection to participate in the 2012 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC).

As the world’s largest and richest business plan competition, the RBPC supports the creation of new startup companies and brings together business and engineering students from the world’s top educational institutions with successful venture capital investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Out of a pool of 1,600 applicants, T3D gained entry to the top 2.6 percent of just 42 teams invited to compete for more than $1.5 million in prizes. (more…)

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