A new study shows that systems designed to capture methane from cow manure, called dairy digesters, are highly effective. But on the rare occasions they fail, the leaks are large enough to offset their climate benefits.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have created a groundbreaking physics‑informed machine‑learning model that can run molecular simulations for unprecedented lengths of time, even at temperatures as high as 1000 Kelvin.

Focusing on the engineering challenge of achieving stable, high-strength welding between rough metals surfaces and transparent materials, this work provides an in-depth elucidation of the femtosecond laser welding mechanism for dissimilar materials under non-optical-contact conditions. Through high-speed in situ imaging techniques, it reveals the dynamic coupling between linear absorption in the metal and nonlinear absorption in sapphire during ultrafast laser irradiation. The study further identifies an active interfacial gap filling effect of molten metal, which proactively regulates the free space region at the interface. It clarifies that the welding strength is primarily limited by cracks induced by thermal stress in sapphire, and demonstrates welding performance exceeding 10 MPa between rough Invar alloy and sapphire. These findings offer theoretical guidance and technical support for high-strength, highly stable welding of dissimilar materials.

Electrochromic smart windows (ESWs) can significantly reduce building energy consumption, but the high cost hinders large-scale production. The in situ growth of tungsten oxide (WO₃) films is only by a simple immersion process, the silver nanowires (AgNWs) undergo oxidation to Ag⁺ ions through electron loss, and the liberated electrons provide driving force for the deposition of WO₄²⁻. Enabled the fabrication of large-area WO₃ films and ESWs were fabricated under minimal laboratory conditions, demonstrating the economic feasibility, efficient and reliable nature of industrial production. Structural characterization and density functional theory calculations were combined to confirm that AgNWs effectively regulate oxygen vacancies of WO₃ films and promote the in situ growth process. The optimized WO₃ exhibits a maximum transmittance modulation of 90.8% and excellent cycling stability of 20,000 cycles. The large-scale WO₃-based ESWs can save building energy up to 140.0 MJ m⁻² compared to traditional windows in tropical regions, as verified by simulations more than 40 global cities. This research provides a new approach for improving the performance and industrial production of ESW, providing the full understanding and development direction to short the distance of the ESW commercial production.