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Electric Vehicles will now be able to go from zero battery power to an 80 per cent charge thanks to Researchers at the University of Waterloo who made a breakthrough in lithium-ion battery design to enable this extremely fast charging. 15 minutes is much faster than the current industry standard of nearly an hour, even at fast-charging stations.

In a global first, University of Waterloo researchers have used 3D imaging technology to understand the fine details of microplastics, paving the way for more effective methods of plastic waste recycling. Micro and nanoplastics, tiny particles of plastic that come from the breakdown of larger plastic items, have become an exponentially worsening environmental crisis.

Waterloo researchers advance nanoscale imaging capabilities. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has revolutionized the field of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), making it possible to study a wider range of materials, biomolecules and complex dynamic processes such as how proteins fold and change shape inside a cell.

Scientists at McGill University are uncovering revolutionary solutions for electric vehicle batteries, which could cut manufacturing costs by 20%. The global shift towards electric vehicles is gaining momentum, but extracting battery materials has major environmental consequences and high costs. Recently, two groundbreaking studies by scientists at McGill University have paved the way for the development of more economical and environmentally-friendly lithium-ion batteries - used in the manufacture of electric vehicles.

McGill researchers unlock game-changing alternatives for electric vehicle batteries, potentially reducing manufacturing costs by 20 per cent The global shift to electric vehicles is gaining momentum, yet the extraction of battery materials has a significant environmental footprint that comes with high costs.

Researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine find a way to use 3D printing to produce heart valves for eventual use in surgery on children with cardiac defects. In a breakthrough in pediatric cardiac science, Canadian researchers have successfully produced a bio-ink that could someday be used to print functional, durable heart valves, offering hope for improving the prognosis of children with heart defects.

Materials engineers have spent decades trying to make stronger metals by making their constituent crystals - their grains - smaller. And we mean small: to the nanoscale. That's because the smaller the grain, generally the stronger, tougher and lightweight the metal can be, while less energy is consumed and emitted when it's used in structural applications.

New technique developed by researchers at McGill and UQAM offers unprecedented view inside lithium-ion batteries, potentially leading to dramatically faster charging times for EVs, computers, and phones What if you could charge your electric vehicle in the same amount of time it takes to fill a tank of gas?

There is an urgent need to address climate change, making the development of sustainable energy alternatives more important than ever. While proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have shown great promise for energy production, particularly in the transportation industry, there is a long-standing problem with their durability and cost.

The proposed freshwater generation systems are inexpensive, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly A team of researchers is designing novel systems to capture water vapour in the air and turn it into liquid. University of Waterloo professor Michael Tam and his PhD students Yi Wang and Weinan Zhao have developed sponges or membranes with a large surface area that continually capture moisture from their surrounding environment.

May 3, 2023 New material converts vibrations into electricity  In a world hungry for clean energy, engineers have created a new material that converts the simple mechanical vibrations all around us into electricity to power sensors in everything from pacemakers to spacecraft. The first of its kind and the product of a decade of work by researchers at the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto, the novel generating system is compact, reliable, low-cost and very, very green.

April 24, 2023 Unique smart fabric is the first to change both colour and shape in response to two different stimuli A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk from the car to the office in winter and vehicle bumpers that return to their original shape after a collision.

A team of researchers from the University of Toronto has created a triple-junction perovskite solar cell with record efficiency by overcoming a key limitation of previous designs. The prototype represents a significant advance in the development of low-cost alternatives to silicon-based solar cells, which are the current industry standard.

A team of University of Toronto researchers, led by Professor  Yu Zou  in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, is working to advance the field of metal additive manufacturing at the university's first metal 3D printing laboratory.

An international team of researchers has developed a new technique to enhance the durability of inverted perovskite solar cells - an important step toward commercialization of an emerging photovoltaic technology that could significantly reduce the cost of solar energy. Unlike traditional solar cells, which are made from wafers of extremely high-purity silicon, perovskite solar cells are built from nano-sized crystals.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a method of harnessing artificial intelligence to discover new and more efficient materials for clean energy technology. A team led by Alex Voznyy , an assistant professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at University of Toronto Scarborough, used machine learning to significantly speed up the amount of time needed to find new materials with desired properties.

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto have designed a solution to reduce the amount of microplastic fibres shed when washing synthetic fabrics. In a world swamped by fast fashion - an industry that produces a high-volume of cheaply made clothing at an  immense cost to the environment  - more than two thirds of clothes are now made of synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, polyester, acrylic and rayon.

McGill University research team develops chemical-free solution that could be used to de-ice electrical wires, wind turbines and even airplane wings In 1998, ice build-up on electrical towers and wires caused the ice storm that paralyzed eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, leaving many people in the dark and cold for days and even weeks.

Each mistletoe berry can produce up to two metres of a gluey thread called viscin. It allows the seeds of this parasitic plant to stick to and infect host plants. Since ancient times, mistletoe berries have been explored as treatments for everything from infertility and epilepsy to cancer. But, until now, no one has fully investigated the potential medical or technical uses of the glue itself.

Wood-derived materials can be used to harvest electrical energy from everyday movements such as walking, according to University of Toronto and University of Waterloo researchers. In a new study recently published in Nano Energy , the team demonstrated the use of lignocellulosic nanofibrils - derived from tree bark - in a prototype self-powered device capable of sending a wireless signal to a smartphone via bluetooth.