Chemical elements · Directory entry

Aluminium

Element 13 · chemical symbol: Al

These Vrulum profiles mention Aluminium by name. Read each profile for its specific context; a mention alone does not establish composition, performance or use of the pure element.

For periodic-table data and other properties, consult the Royal Society of Chemistry periodic table.

Search materials profiles for Aluminium

Research and prototypes

Atmospheric water harvesting (MOF/sorbent based)

Sorbent-based atmospheric water harvesting captures water vapour in porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks, then releases it for collection as liquid water. Prototypes have operated in desert conditions, including at very low humidity, but measured output depends on sorbent mass, climate and device design. A key bottleneck is moving released vapour to a condenser cool enough to collect it.

Pilot and early commercial

MicroLED displays

MicroLED displays use arrays of microscopic light-emitting diodes as pixels, so each pixel makes its own light. Laboratory results are promising, but moving millions of tiny chips onto a screen with near-zero defects is the main manufacturing barrier, and the technology has so far reached commercial use mainly in large commercial and professional screens.

Research and prototypes

Optical atomic clocks

Optical atomic clocks keep time by counting the oscillations of light that atoms or ions absorb, which occur at much higher frequencies than the microwaves used by today's caesium standard. Laboratory systems now report systematic uncertainties near 10⁻¹⁸, and the BIPM is preparing a redefinition of the SI second based on optical transitions, with CGPM adoption anticipated in 2030 or later.

Lab demonstration

Structural batteries

A structural battery stores electrical energy while also carrying mechanical loads, for example in a composite panel whose carbon fibres act as electrodes. Laboratory cells have reported energy densities from about 30 to 187 Wh/kg, depending on design, electrolyte and mass basis, and high stiffness, but no complete vehicle or aircraft powered by a load-bearing battery structure has been demonstrated in the sources reviewed.

Pilot and early commercial

Superconducting power cables

High-temperature superconducting cables can carry large currents through compact conductors when they are kept cold. A small number of cables and fault-current limiters now run in real grids, but these are specialised links rather than a superconducting grid.

Research and prototypes

Thin-film flexible robots

Thin-film flexible robots are less than a millimetre thick and are built from flexible circuit films. They creep across surfaces and into narrow gaps using electrostatic forces, and a 2026 laboratory prototype was shown inspecting a gap and grinding and machining test workpieces, although it still depends on external high-voltage equipment.

Lab demonstration

Topological qubits

Topological qubits aim to store quantum information in Majorana zero modes, which could make the stored information less sensitive to local noise. Microsoft's 2025 Majorana 1 announcement and parity-readout paper are contested, and the existence of a working topological qubit is not yet established.