Tech Xplore news

Tech Xplore / Organic solar cells achieve 20.02% efficiency with new giant acceptors

A research team has developed novel giant acceptors with an oxygenated linker, enabling the creation of highly efficient nonhalogenated-processed organic solar cells (OSCs), with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up ...

Dec 12, 2025 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / GPT‑5.2: OpenAI beefs up GPT models in AI race with Google

OpenAI released its latest artificial intelligence models on Thursday, shrugging off worries about how it will cash in on massive spending in its technology race with Google.

Dec 12, 2025 in Machine learning & AI
Tech Xplore / New window insulation blocks heat, but not your view

Physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have designed a new material for insulating windows that could improve the energy efficiency of buildings worldwide—and it works a bit like a high-tech version of Bubble ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / Transistor 'design limitation' actually improves performance, scientists find

What many engineers once saw as a flaw in organic electronics could actually make these devices more stable and reliable, according to new research from the University of Surrey and Joanneum Research Materials.

Dec 11, 2025 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / Carbon capture made easier: Simple additive could slash costs for industrial plants

Capturing carbon dioxide from industrial plants is an important strategy in the efforts to reduce the impact of global climate change. It's used in many industries, including the production of petrochemicals, cement, and ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / Simple teflon coating boosts hydrogen production efficiency by 40%

A common non-stick coating used in cookware has been shown to enhance hydrogen production efficiency in water electrolyzers by approximately 40%. The key innovation involves applying a specialized coating to critical components ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Energy & Green Tech
Tech Xplore / How much for a bot army? Index tracks prices across hundreds of online platforms, from TikTok to Amazon

A new site that tracks the daily fluctuating costs behind building a bot army on over 500 social media and commercial platforms—from TikTok to Amazon and Spotify—in every nation on the planet is launched today by the ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Internet
Tech Xplore / Squashing 'fantastic bugs' hidden in AI benchmarks

After reviewing thousands of benchmarks used in AI development, a Stanford team found that 5% could have serious flaws with far-reaching ramifications.

Dec 11, 2025 in Computer Sciences
Tech Xplore / AI can pick up cultural values by mimicking how kids learn

Artificial intelligence systems absorb values from their training data. The trouble is that values differ across cultures. So an AI system trained on data from the entire internet won't work equally well for people from different ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Computer Sciences
Tech Xplore / Tantalum oxide addition slows lithium-ion battery capacity loss by nearly half

Skoltech researchers have developed a new method to improve the cathode, a key battery component. They proposed doping the cathode material with high-valent tantalum and discovered that adding 0.5 mole % of tantalum oxide ...

Dec 11, 2025 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / Tumbleweed aerodynamics inspire hybrid robots for harsh terrains

A new study published in Nature Communications details a hybrid robot that combines the wind-driven mobility of tumbleweeds with active quadcopter control, offering a new paradigm for energy-efficient terrestrial exploration.

Dec 10, 2025 in Robotics
Tech Xplore / Carbon nanotubes could power a new generation of flexible solar panels

Perovskite solar cells can be made not only more robust but also more efficient, scalable and cheaper to manufacture by replacing the indium tin oxide (ITO) in the device, according to research led by the University of Surrey. ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Energy & Green Tech