The RENEW Institute - A Multidisciplinary Initiative
News Highlight
Study finds forever chemicals are more toxic as mixtures
Release Date: October 4, 2024
A first-of-its-kind study has measured the toxicity of several types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), better known as “forever chemicals,” when mixed together in the environment and in the human body. The good news: Most of the tested chemicals’ individual cytotoxicity and neurotoxicity levels were relatively low. The bad news: The chemicals acted together to make the entire mixture toxic.
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University at Buffalo engineers create new material to monitor remaining battery life
Published July 1, 2022
The website Hackster reports on new research led by Shenqiang Ren, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and of chemistry, and a core faculty member in the UB RENEW Institute, which focuses on next-generation battery designs.
"The main goal of this project was working on the magneto-ionics, which uses ions to control the magnetism of materials. As the lithium ions travel in or out of the material we are using, the material will change its magnetization," said Ren. "We can monitor the magnetism, and this enables us to indirectly monitor the lithium ions - the state of charge. We believe this is a new way to provide an accurate, fast, responsive sensing of the state of charge."