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3D-printed fuel cells could reshape sustainable aerospace applications

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3D-printed fuel cells could reshape sustainable aerospace applications


Planar vs 3D SOC. Credit: Nature Energy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01811-y

A team of researchers at DTU may have cracked one of the toughest nuts in sustainable energy: how to make fuel cells light and powerful enough for aerospace applications.

An interdisciplinary collaboration between DTU Energy and DTU Construct has developed a radical redesign of the so-called solid oxide cells (or SOCs), using 3D printing and gyroid geometry. This intricate structure is mathematically optimized to improve surface area in a given volume and is employed both by engineers for heat exchangers and by nature in structures such as butterfly wings.

Gyroidal architecture is structurally robust, has a large , and is lightweight. For the first time, DTU scientists have shown how to use the gyroid to make electrochemical conversion devices such as SOCs.

To power a commercial airplane today, you need . If you retrofit a regular jet, replacing its 70 tons of fuel with Li-ion batteries of similar capacity, its weight would be 3,500 tons. And so it wouldn’t take off.

The same has been true for fuel cells, mostly confined to flat, heavy stacks that rely on for sealing and connectivity. So, those are heavy, too. Metal components make up more than 75% of a fuel cell system’s weight, severely limiting their mobility and consequently, their usefulness in, for example, aerospace applications.

Sustainable flight?

In a new paper published in Nature Energy, DTU scientists may have flipped the script. Professor Vincenzo Esposito from DTU Energy, Senior Researcher Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli from DTU Construct, and several colleagues from both departments have designed a new fuel cell that is fully ceramic and is built by 3D printing. The printed structure is known as a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) and is mathematically optimized for maximum surface and minimum weight.

Their fuel cell—they call it a Monolithic Gyroidal Solid Oxide Cell or The Monolith for short—delivers more than one watt per gram. Not only is this a first, but it also broadens the field of possible fuel cell applications significantly, explains Nadimpalli, corresponding author of the study.

“Currently, using electricity-based energy conversion, such as batteries and fuel cells, doesn’t make sense for aerospace applications. But our new fuel cell design changes that. It’s the first to demonstrate the Watts to gram ratio—or specific power—needed for aerospace, while using a sustainable, green technology,” he says.

Extreme resilience

Fuel cells are nothing new, and their impact is evident in several sectors. While perhaps most visibly in hydrogen cars, they are, for example, also used as power supplies for hospitals and data centers, in ships, and as storage to stabilize renewable energy systems. Their ability to switch between power-generating and power-storing modes (electrolysis) makes them highly versatile in several applications.

There are many other reasons why the new fuel cells from the team of DTU scientists may be a game-changer. Apart from the weight being brought down significantly, the system allows gases to flow efficiently through the cell, improves heat distribution, and enhances mechanical stability. Switching to electrolysis mode, they produced hydrogen at nearly 10 times the rate of conventional designs.

“We also tested the system in , including temperature swings of 100°C, and repeatedly switched between and electrolysis modes. The fuel cells held up impressively, showing no signs of structural failure or layers separating,” says Esposito, corresponding author.

The researchers explain that this kind of resilience is vital for like NASA’s Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE), which aims to produce oxygen from Mars’ carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.

This mission currently relies on bulky stacks weighing more than 6 tons. The new design could deliver a similar performance at 800 kg, which would significantly lower the costs of launching the equipment up there.

What makes this design especially compelling is not only its performance but also how it’s made, explains Nadimpalli, “While conventional SOC stacks require dozens of manufacturing steps and rely on multiple materials that degrade over time, our monolithic ceramic design is produced in just five steps, where we eliminate the metal and avoid fragile seals.

“Still, I believe that we can improve the system further using thinner electrolytes, cheaper current collectors, like silver or nickel instead of platinum, and even more compact designs.”

More information:
Zhipeng Zhou et al, Monolithic gyroidal solid oxide cells by additive manufacturing, Nature Energy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01811-y

Yanhai Du, The power of the gyroid, Nature Energy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01816-7

Citation:
3D-printed fuel cells could reshape sustainable aerospace applications (2025, September 21)
retrieved 21 September 2025
from https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-3d-fuel-cells-reshape-sustainable.html

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Shop Major Appliances at Maytag Starting at Under $300

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Shop Major Appliances at Maytag Starting at Under 0


The Maytag Man is one of the most enduring characters in American advertising, lonely because no one needs his help repairing a Maytag appliance. The Maytag brand, too, has endured—going back to the days when Frederick Maytag’s washers involved wooden tubs and cranks. Maytag was the first company to put an agitator at the bottom of a washing machine, a design still in use today, and it was the first to stack a washer and dryer, and one of the earliest adopters on smart appliances. But mostly, the brand has eschewed novelty and staked its claim on durability and reliability for its heavy-duty dishwashers, washers, dryers, refrigerators, and ovens. This is true even as Maytag folded into ownership by former competitor Whirlpool.

Maytag remains one of the few appliance companies to offer 10-year limited warranties on essential parts. But Maytag promo codes are a bit more ephemeral, offering short-term deals on appliances that will hopefully last a decade. Here’s how to get a Maytag coupon code and Maytag promo codes, and find closeout deals on last season’s Maytag appliances to save even more.

Save Big With Maytag Appliance Closeout Deals

One of the easiest ways to find a deal on Maytag appliances is to look at the overstock and closeout deals, which offer significant markdowns on last season’s items as Maytag looks to clear out space for the new models. These deals do not require a Maytag coupon code, but they do require knowing where to look.

Go to the Maytag outlet site for appliance closeout deals. As of April 2026, this includes a $729 range with a built-in air fryer that used to sell for $1,300, and a $600 deal on a well-reviewed top-load dryer that previously sold for a thousand dollars. These deals generally last only until supplies run out.

Claim Free Delivery on Major Appliances Over $399

From now through April 8, Maytag customers can get free delivery on appliances priced $399 and above. Even better, Maytag will also haul away your old appliance for free. This deal does not require a Maytag discount code and includes standard home delivery for refrigerators, ranges, and laundry units. The discount will be applied automatically in your online shopping cart when you check out. Also, be sure to check the Maytag deals page often for current offers and rotating Maytag discounts and sales.

Select Customers Can Get a Special Maytag Promo Code

Like many big companies, Maytag offers professional discounts for military, first responders, healthcare workers, students, and teachers. To receive up to a 15% discount for active military, veterans, and spouses, you’ll need to create a Maytag account and then verify your military status using the SheerID program. Maytag first responder discounts and healthcare worker discounts also require SheerID verification. There’s also a discount program for both students and teachers, including a teacher savings program and up to 15% off sitewide. Verified students are able to access pricing unique to students, when moving into their first off-campus apartment.

Work Smarter, Not Harder With Maytag Smart Appliances

Maytag is also offering deals on select smart appliances. As of early April, this includes a somewhat unique combination toaster-microwave that’s about $100 off MSRP, and a slide-in electric range with smart connectivity that’s on a steep discount to $1,260—hundreds of dollars less than even other recent sale prices. You can check out the special Maytag deals on connected and smart appliances by scrolling down to the bottom of Maytag’s smart appliance page.



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Meta Pauses Work With Mercor After Data Breach Puts AI Industry Secrets at Risk

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Meta Pauses Work With Mercor After Data Breach Puts AI Industry Secrets at Risk


Meta has paused all its work with the data contracting firm Mercor while it investigates a major security breach that impacted the startup, two sources confirmed to WIRED. The pause is indefinite, the sources said. Other major AI labs are also reevaluating their work with Mercor as they assess the scope of the incident, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mercor is one of a few firms that OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI labs rely on to generate training data for their models. The company hires massive networks of human contractors to generate bespoke, proprietary datasets for these labs, which are typically kept highly secret as they’re a core ingredient in the recipe to generate valuable AI models that power products like ChatGPT and Claude Code. AI labs are sensitive about this data because it can reveal to competitors—including other AI labs in the US and China—key details about the ways they train AI models. It’s unclear at this time whether the data exposed in Mercor’s breach would meaningfully help a competitor.

While OpenAI has not stopped its current projects with Mercor, it is investigating the startup’s security incident to see how its proprietary training data may have been exposed, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to WIRED. The spokesperson says that the incident in no way affects OpenAI user data, however. Anthropic did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Mercor confirmed the attack in an email to staff on March 31. “There was a recent security incident that affected our systems along with thousands of other organizations worldwide,” the company wrote.

A Mercor employee echoed these points in a message to contractors on Thursday, WIRED has learned. Contractors who were staffed on Meta projects cannot log hours until—and if—the project resumes, meaning they could functionally be out of work, a source familiar claims. The company is working to find additional projects for those impacted, according to internal conversations viewed by WIRED.

Mercor contractors were not told exactly why their Meta projects were being paused. In a Slack channel related to the Chordus initiative—a Meta-specific project to teach AI models to use multiple internet sources to verify their responses to user queries—a project lead told staff that Mercor was “currently reassessing the project scope.”

An attacker known as TeamPCP appears to have recently compromised two versions of the AI API tool LiteLLM. The breach exposed companies and services that incorporate LiteLLM and installed the tainted updates. There could be thousands of victims, including other major AI companies, but the breach at Mercor illustrates the sensitivity of the compromised data.

Mercor and its competitors—such as Surge, Handshake, Turing, Labelbox, and Scale AI—have developed a reputation for being incredibly secretive about the services they offer to major AI labs. It’s rare to see the CEOs of these firms speaking publicly about the specific work they offer, and they internally use codenames to describe their projects.

Adding to the confusion around the hack, a group going by the well-known name Lapsus$ claimed this week that it had breached Mercor. In a Telegram account and on a BreachForums clone, the actor offered to sell an array of alleged Mercor data, including a 200-plus GB database, nearly 1 TB of source code, and 3 TBs of video and other information. But researchers say that many cybercriminal groups now periodically take up the Lapsus$ name and that Mercor’s confirmation of the LiteLLM connection means that the attacker is likely TeamPCP or an actor connected to the group.

TeamPCP appears to have compromised the two LiteLLM updates as part of an even larger supply chain hacking spree in recent months that has been gaining momentum, catapulting TeamPCP to prominence. And while launching data extortion attacks and working with ransomware groups, such as the group known as Vect, TeamPCP has also strayed into political territory, spreading a data wiping worm known as “CanisterWorm” through vulnerable cloud instances with Farsi as their default language or clocks set to Iran’s time zone.

“TeamPCP is definitely financially motivated,” says Allan Liska, an analyst for the security firm Recorded Future who specializes in ransomware. “There might be some geopolitical stuff as well, but it’s hard to determine what’s real and what’s bluster, especially with a group this new.”

Looking at the dark-web posts of the alleged Mercor data, Liska adds, “There is absolutely nothing that connects this to the original Lapsus$.”



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Our Favorite iPad Is $50 Off

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Our Favorite iPad Is  Off


Need a new tablet for your casual couch surfing sessions? There are a variety of options out there, but we think most people will be happy with the standard 11-inch model from 2025. You can grab it right now at Amazon for just $300, a $50 discount from its usual price.

  • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

  • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

The outside of the iPad hasn’t changed all that much in the few years since it was updated last, with the screen growing a barely noticeable 0.1 inches and the standard USB-C port and selfie camera, plus Touch ID built into the power button. Most of the changes affect the inside of the tablet, including a major processor upgrade to the A16 chip and storage that mean this tablet is much snappier and more responsive than the 2022 version. There’s twice as much storage, with 128 GB as a baseline and up to 512GB on the upgraded model, so you won’t need to keep deleting apps to make room for more movies.

While it does have the A16 processor, which is also found in the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus, the reduced RAM means there’s no support for Apple Intelligence. Whether that’s a benefit or a drawback will depend on how much you like or dislike AI. Beyond the lack of Apple Intelligence, you’re really only making a compromise when it comes to the screen, which isn’t laminated, so the Apple Pencil doesn’t feel quite as sharp as it does on other iPads, and it isn’t nano-textured, so glare and bright rooms may be more of an issue.

For most folks, the 2025 A16 iPad will be more than enough tablet for streaming, web browsing, and even some light gaming. You can head over to Amazon to pick up the iPad in either Silver or Blue at the discounted $300 price, with similar discounts on the 256GB and 512GB models too, but availability by color varies as you climb up the storage ladder. If you’re interested in what the other, more premium iPads offer, make sure to check out our guide that covers the entire lineup.



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