Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 2/24/23

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.290; Month Ago: $3.380; Year Ago: $3.301. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $4.677; Month Ago: $5.058; Year Ago: $3.575.

Carbon aerogels are ultralight, conductive materials, which are extensively investigated for applications in supercapacitor electrodes in electrical cars and cell phones. Chinese scientists have now found a way to make these electrodes sustainably. The aerogels can be obtained directly from cellulose nanofibrils, the abundant cell-wall material in wood, finds the study reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Supercapacitors are capacitors that can take up and release a very large amount of energy in a very short time. Key requirements for supercapacitor electrodes are a large surface area and conductivity, combined with a simple production method. Another growing issue in supercapacitor production—mainly for smartphone and electric car technologies—is sustainability. However, sustainable and economical production of carbon aerogels as supercapacitor electrode materials is possible, propose Shu-Hong Yu and colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. Click Read More below for additional information.

Due to a massive shortage in silicones and silicone-based materials from manufacturers, Sun Chemical will increase prices by 35 percent on its entire silicone-based product line in North America, effective January 15, 2018. “Because of the silicone shortage we’re seeing in the industry, our suppliers have passed on price increases beyond anything we have seen in recent years,” said Dennis Sweet, Vice President-Commercial, Rycoline and Distributors, North American Inks, Sun Chemical. “While Sun Chemical has utilized all its resources to offset these shortages and increases, it has now become necessary to pass some of these increases on.”