🛡️Strongest-ever armor material, 100,000-year nuclear waste disposal facility, world’s first 24/7 renewable energy gigascale project

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🎙️ Curious about how energy-efficient computing is transforming AI and beyond? 

Catch the episode on the IE website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!

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A research team led by scientists at Northwestern University has developed an unbreakable armor material with unprecedented bond density.

Specifically, they have developed the first-ever two-dimensional mechanically interlocked material with high flexibility and strength.

In the future, this could be used to develop lightweight yet high-performance body armor and other such tough materials. Let's take a closer look at this Must Read. 

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Senior Software Engineer

>Systems Engineer

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MUST-READ

🛡️ US makes the strongest-ever armor material with 100 trillion bonds/cm²

The researchers developed a novel process using X-shaped monomers as building blocks and arranging them into highly ordered crystalline structures. They then used another molecule to create bonds between the crystal's molecules.

The resulting material consists of layers of two-dimensional (2D) polymer sheets in which the ends of X-shaped monomers are interlocked with the ends of other X-shaped monomers, and more monomers are threaded through the gaps between them.

Together, the material consists of 100 trillion mechanical bonds per square centimeter, the highest density ever achieved.

☢️ Sweden starts digging grave to bury nuclear waste for 100,000 years

Sweden recently began constructing a final storage facility for its spent nuclear fuel. The facility will safely store highly radioactive waste for an extended period, specifically 100,000 years.

The construction work of the Spent Fuel Repository is taking place in Söderviken, adjacent to the Forsmark nuclear power plant.

This repository — located 500 meters below ground in solid bedrock — will be the second of its kind in the world.

⚡ UAE announces world’s first 24/7 renewable energy gigascale project

A new project combining solar generation and energy storage has been announced in the UAE. The project will provide 1GW of ‘round-the-clock’ dispatchable power. The facility will be capable of operating 24/7 on renewable energy.

This will also be the world’s first 24/7 solar PV, battery storage gigascale project, according to Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), which are part of the project.

The project will feature a 5.2GW (DC) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, coupled with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) BESS, setting a global benchmark in clean energy innovation.

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