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technology section

Where material becomes function

Technologies

A battery, a magnet, a turbine blade or a transistor is a specific arrangement of specific elements. Change the design and you change which mine matters.

Lithium-Ion Battery for BMW i3 - SB-LiMotive Cells · RudolfSimon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
LFP Lithium-Ion Battery

LFP Lithium-Ion Battery

Iron and phosphate instead of nickel and cobalt: heavier, cheaper, safer and very long-lived.

Electric VehiclesCommercial
NMC Lithium-Ion Battery

NMC Lithium-Ion Battery

The high-energy chemistry — nickel, manganese and cobalt in the cathode — used where range matters most.

Electric VehiclesCommercial
Sodium-Ion Battery

Sodium-Ion Battery

A cell that uses sodium — from ordinary salt — instead of lithium, at the cost of energy density.

Grid StorageScaling
Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

A battery that stores its energy in two tanks of dissolved vanadium, so power and capacity scale separately.

Grid StorageScaling
Direct-Drive Offshore Wind Turbine

Direct-Drive Offshore Wind Turbine

A turbine with no gearbox, using a very large permanent-magnet generator instead.

Wind PowerCommercial
EV Traction Motor

EV Traction Motor

The permanent-magnet synchronous motor that drives most electric cars.

Electric VehiclesCommercial
NdFeB Permanent Magnet

NdFeB Permanent Magnet

The strongest permanent magnet ever made — neodymium, iron and boron, sintered and coated.

Electric VehiclesCommercial
Alkaline Electrolyser

Alkaline Electrolyser

The century-old design: steel, nickel and potassium hydroxide, with no precious metals at all.

Hydrogen & ElectrolysisCommercial
HVDC Transmission Cable

HVDC Transmission Cable

High-voltage direct-current cable, the technology used to move power hundreds of kilometres with low loss.

Power GridsCommercial
PEM Electrolyser

PEM Electrolyser

Splits water using a polymer membrane, platinum and iridium — fast-responding but catalyst-hungry.

Hydrogen & ElectrolysisScaling
Pressurised Water Reactor

Pressurised Water Reactor

The most common reactor design: enriched uranium fuel in zirconium tubes, water as both coolant and moderator.

Nuclear PowerCommercial
Three-Way Catalytic Converter

Three-Way Catalytic Converter

The ceramic honeycomb in an exhaust that converts three pollutants at once, coated in platinum-group metals.

Construction & SteelCommercial
Cadmium Telluride Thin-Film Module

Cadmium Telluride Thin-Film Module

A solar panel a few microns thick, using no silicon at all.

Solar PowerCommercial
Crystalline Silicon Solar Module

Crystalline Silicon Solar Module

The standard solar panel: silicon wafers, silver contact paste, glass and an aluminium frame.

Solar PowerCommercial
Gallium Nitride Power Device

Gallium Nitride Power Device

A switch that turns on and off far faster than silicon, so power supplies can shrink.

Data Centres & AIScaling
Leading-Edge Logic Chip

Leading-Edge Logic Chip

The most advanced processors, built on wafers that pass through hundreds of process steps.

SemiconductorsCommercial
Single-Crystal Turbine Blade

Single-Crystal Turbine Blade

A turbine blade grown as one continuous crystal so it has no grain boundaries to creep along.

Aerospace & DefenceCommercial

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