In the future, it could become easier to manufacture methanol from biomass decentrally and on site. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) are proposing a method with which raw and waste materials from plants can be processed in a self-contained procedure under mild reaction conditions.

This method means that the complex drying and transportation of biomass to large biomass gasification plants becomes superfluous. The results are published in the journal Green Chemistry.

Methanol is a versatile basic chemical and promising energy carrier—for example, as a drop-in fuel that can be used directly in existing vehicles. The methyl alcohol with the chemical formula CH₃OH is currently mainly gained from fossil natural gas, making this process incompatible with long-term climate goals.

“Sustainable methanol from biomass will be able to compensate a proportion of methanol production from fossil fuels in the future. However, the current methods mean that this process is very complex and uses large amounts of energy,” says Dr. Patrick Schühle from the Chair of Chemical Reaction Engineering at FAU.

Research into methanol synthesis from biomass has primarily focused on biomass gasification up to now. During this process, waste material from agriculture or forestry and waste products such as hydrolysates from paper manufacturing is first dried, often ground up and subsequently transported to large gasification plants.

The material is first converted into synthesis gas at temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius and subsequently converted into methanol at pressures of between 50 and 100 bar. Since dry biomass has a lower volumetric energy density, it is often made into pellets before being transported, which means additional costs are involved.

80% carbon efficiency

The new method has a decisive advantage in that it enables wet biomass such as pomace, grass cuttings, wood chips or straw to be processed without prior drying. Since further processing such as shredding and pelleting is not required and hardly any external process heat, smaller plants can also be used.

“This process allows methanol to be produced in a more decentralized manner than was previously possible,” says Schühle. “Investing in this new technology could definitely be worthwhile for large farms or forestry operations or agricultural cooperatives.” The researchers have also been using the expertise of OxFA GmbH, a company based in Scheßlitz near Bamberg and a world leader in producing formic acid from biomass.

Competitive costs

Since the costs for methanol production mainly depend on the availability of green hydrogen, the researchers incorporated an electrolyzer into their design. It produces the oxygen and the hydrogen required for the reaction by splitting water.

Schühle says, “Electrolysis requires large amounts of energy. Ideally, the electricity required comes from renewable sources, such as photovoltaics or a local wind farm.”

Agrivoltaics, which is the use of agricultural land for producing both food and electricity, is increasingly being discussed in this context. With feed-in tariffs continuing to stagnate or even decline, it is becoming more economically attractive to use electricity generated by PV to produce methanol. In addition, it would be possible to produce methanol by storing formic acid temporarily only when electricity prices are particularly favorable.

“We have calculated that green methanol could be produced in the future at a similar cost to methanol produced using natural gas,” explains Schühle. “This means it could make a meaningful contribution to the defossilization of our industrial landscape from an economic point of view.”

From health monitors and smartwatches to foldable phones and portable solar panels, demand for flexible electronics is growing rapidly. But the durability of those devices—their ability to stand up to thousands of folds, flexes and rolls—is a significant concern.

New research by engineers from Brown University has revealed surprising details about how cracks form in multilayer flexible electronic devices. The team shows that small cracks in a device’s fragile electrode layer can drive deeper, more destructive cracks into the tougher polymer substrate layer on which the electrodes sit. The work overturns a long-held assumption that polymer substrates usually resist cracking.

“The substrate in flexible electronic devices is a bit like the foundation in your house,” said Nitin Padture, a professor of engineering at Brown and corresponding author of the study published in npj Flexible Electronics. “If it’s cracked, it compromises the mechanical integrity of the entire device. This is the first clear evidence of cracking in a device substrate caused by a brittle film on top of it.”

The layers used in flexible electronics have specific jobs. The top layer conducts electricity across the surface to keep the device running. That layer is usually made of special ceramic oxide materials because they are transparent and also good conductors, which is essential for things like display screens, sensors and solar cells. But ceramics are brittle and prone to cracking, so the substrate’s job is to add some toughness. Substrates are generally made from polymer materials that are highly flexible and resist cracking.

While using these materials to make flexible solar cells, Anush Ranka, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown who performed the work as a Ph.D. student in materials science, became increasingly curious about the mechanism by which fatigue can degrade performance. He decided to take a closer look at the cracking processes.

For the study, Ranka made small experimental devices using various types of ceramic electrodes and polymer substrates. He then subjected them to bending tests and used a powerful electron microscope to examine the cracks. In places where he found cracks in the ceramic layer, he used a focused ion beam—a kind of nanoscale sandblaster—to etch away the ceramic and reveal the substrate directly beneath a ceramic crack.

The work showed that cracks in the ceramic layer often drive deeper cracks into the substrate. The effect occurred across ceramic and polymer combinations, suggesting this is a common—and surprising—failure mechanism in flexible electronics.

Once cracks form deep in the polymer, the researchers say, they become permanent structural defects. With repeated bending, these cracks widen, misalign or fill with debris, which then prevents the ceramic crack faces from reconnecting. That causes electrical resistance to increase and device performance to degrade.

Working with Haneesh Kesari, a Brown engineering professor who specializes in theoretical and applied mechanics, and solid mechanics Ph.D. student Sayaka Kochiyama, the researchers analyzed this cracking problem. They showed that a mismatch in the elastic properties of the two layers was driving the deep cracking phenomenon in the substrate. Understanding the cracking mechanism led the team toward a potential fix: Adding a third layer of material between the ceramic and the substrate that mitigates the elastic mismatch.

“We created a design map that identified hundreds of polymers that—with the correct thickness—could potentially mitigate this elastic mismatch and prevent cracking in a wide range of electrode-substrate combinations,” said Padture, who leads Brown’s Initiative for Sustainable Energy. “Using this design map, we were able to choose a specific polymer for the third layer and experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.”

The researchers are hopeful that the design diagram will make for more durable devices. Just as important, however, is the discovery that cracks do indeed affect polymer substrates—a fact that was not apparent before this research.

“We’re essentially solving a problem people didn’t know they had,” Padture said. “We think this could significantly improve the cyclic life of flexible devices.”

These trips have seemingly influenced the way traditional politicians spread diplomatic messages on their own social media accounts. When the Trump administration first partnered with the Nayib Bukele government this spring to send migrants detained in the US to the El Salvadoran megaprison Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), government officials traveled to the prison, and images of the visits were blasted online. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem stood in front of dozens of CECOT’s prisoners who were lined up behind the prison’s bars where she took photos and videos warning immigrants that this prison could be “one of the consequences” they face if they’re caught unlawfully entering the US.

The strategy hasn’t been confined to explicitly political influencers either. In July, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined popular YouTuber group the Nelk Boys for their Full Send Podcast. The more than an hourlong podcast provided Netanyahu with a new audience composed primarily of young men who rarely tune into traditional news, allowing the world leader to reach a coveted demographic credited with helping Trump win reelection in 2024. Netanyahu’s team reached out to Full Send to schedule the interview, John Shahidi, who manages the Nelk brand, tells WIRED.

“We are so not qualified to do this,” Kyle Forgeard said at the beginning of the podcast, shortly before Netanyahu joined. “That’s what’s interesting about this.”

The podcast also showed how these kinds of political collaborations could blow up in the creators’ faces. Clips of Nelk’s interview with Netanyahu drew fierce criticism from both the right and left online, with critics accusing the Full Send crew of trivializing Israel’s war on Gaza and extending Netanyahu a platform to spread propaganda.

“Asking him if he prefers Burger King or McDonald’s … while people are starving … this is insane,” one YouTube commenter wrote. (After going on the Israel365 trip and getting some similar blowback, Zirkle “parted ways” with Bannon’s War Room, Axios reported.)

For foreign governments seeking approval from the MAGA base, meeting with these creators provides them with insight on US voters and a platform to speak directly to them.

“If you want to understand MAGA, you have to understand the online ecosystem that fuels our movement. That’s why it’s no surprise countries around the world are eager to engage with creators who have the ear of the administration and finger on the pulse,” says CJ Pearson, a MAGA-aligned creator.

Conducting diplomacy via influencer may in some cases have the additional advantage of falling into blind spots in social media regulation and existing laws governing lobbying, allowing creators to operate on behalf of foreign governments without traditional disclosures.

“Part of the challenge with political influencers is that it’s unclear the extent to which they’re being paid by various competing interest groups and organizations,” says Samuel Woolley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies digital propaganda. “Political influencers exist in this liminal space where they’re one part campaign mouthpiece and another part independent actor.”

This points to what’s new—not trips and conferences for potentially sympathetic and influential people but rather using them to establish a new type of diplomatic messenger. Partisan influencers with millions of followers can amplify foreign policy talking points on behalf of the MAGA movement and any foreign governments eager to access their platforms—all beyond existing rules and oversight.

“It makes them very valuable,” says Woolley, “given discrepancies and extant holes in the law to political organizations that are hoping to do things a little more under the table and in a little bit more of a casual or less trackable manner.”