materials

Apple's iPhone 4S is one expensive smartphone to produce, a new study from IHS iSuppli has revealed.

According to the research firm, which opened up Apple's latest smartphone to see what's inside, the 16GB version's bill of materials is $188. The 32GB version's parts jump to $207, according to iSuppli, while the 64GB option sets the company back $245.

iSuppli estimates that each unit costs Apple $8 to produce, therefore pushing the price of the devices up to $196 for the 16GB model, $215 for 32GB, and $254 for 64GB.

With a carrier contract and … Read more

Simbol Materials today started operations at a plant in California that extracts lithium and other battery materials without having to dig new holes in the ground.

The company has developed a way for getting valuable metals from the discharge brine of geothermal plants, a process that could help make the U.S. a much larger producer of lithium and other important metals. Its operation, which it expects to expand next year, is in the Imperial Valley of California.

Rather than drill wells or mine for minerals, Simbol Materials' process separates lithium carbonate, zinc, and manganese from the brine brought up … Read more

No one wants to stumble upon the radiation warning sign. But its presence at least indicates that hazardous materials have been detected, and that there might be some form of control of those materials.

In high-risk scenarios without up-to-date signage (war zones, abandoned testing sites, and now airport security lines), it could prove quite handy to have a handheld device that can detect hard radiation--including nuclear weapons.

Chemists at Northwestern University report in the journal Advanced Materials that they are one step closer to developing such a device.

"We have designed promising semiconductor materials that, once optimized, could be … Read more

Researchers have developed a way to find novel solar cell materials: throw computers at the problem.

In a paper published this week in Nature Communications, the researchers said their method of sifting through millions of possible molecules has yielded a compound that holds promise as a material for organic solar cells.

The Harvard University-led project, which started more than two years ago, is a collaboration with IBM to manage and supply the computing resources for the World Community Grid, where people supply idle PC time to contribute to research projects lacking sufficient compute resources.

Traditional solar cells are made from … Read more

Bridgelux expects to begin making LED chips on silicon wafers in about two years, a technology transition which promises to slash LED lighting costs.

The company today announced it has met performance targets for the new process which it projects could lower the cost of end-user lighting products by roughly 20 percent to 30 percent.

Bridgelux manufactures LED light sources, or chips, which are fitted into lamps and fixtures made by lighting companies. LEDs are more energy efficient and last longer than other lighting technologies, but the higher cost remains a barrier to mass adoption, particularly in the consumer market. … Read more

DuPont today said it has bought Silicon Valley upstart Innovalight, which makes a "silicon ink" material to enhance the efficiency of solar cells.

The chemicals giant said that it intends to integrate Innovalight's technology into its existing solar photovoltaics business and expand the market for Innovalight's products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Innovalight makes a black ink-like nanomaterial that is applied to silicon cells during the solar manufacturing process. Adding a silicon ink printing step can boost the efficiency of monocrystalline solar cells by up to 19 percent over the traditional process, according … Read more

Ford Motor today announced it has combined rubber from more than 2.2 million pounds of recycled tires with other material, such as soybean oil, to produce what it says are environmentally friendly gaskets and seals for new cars.

Teaming up with Detroit-based supplier Recycled Polymeric Materials, Ford has turned 210,000 used tires and 150,000 pounds of soy into material for the new gaskets and seals.

"The gaskets and seals are derived from 25 percent post-consumer, recycled-tire particulate and 17 percent biorenewable content from soy," Ford said in a press release.

"The sustainable gaskets were … Read more

Low-profile solar start-up Alta Devices today will detail a technique it claims can deliver record solar cell efficiency, a step toward making solar cheaper than fossil fuels.

Executives from the Silicon Valley company, which has raised at least $72 million in funding, will present technical papers today at the IEEE's Photovoltaic Specialist Conference in Seattle on how it has set a new mark in converting sunlight to electricity. Among its investors is Bill Joy, a Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers partner and famed technologist.

In tests, engineers achieved 27.6 percent efficiency last year and later hit 28.2 … Read more

To green up its iconic brown delivery trucks, UPS is scrapping aluminum in favor of lightweight composite material.

The company last month began testing five delivery trucks built using a plastic-like material that reduces a truck's weight by about 1,000 pounds, or 10 percent. Although that may seem minor, it allows UPS to use a smaller, 4-cylinder diesel engine and get a projected 40 percent improvement in fuel efficiency.

The cost of the trucks is roughly the same, according to UPS executives. The material meets safety requirements and the strength of composite materials, which are widely used in … Read more