Phys.org July 29, 2022 Many of the most promising short-term applications of quantum computers fall under the umbrella of quantum simulation: modelling the quantum properties of microscopic particles that are directly relevant to modern materials science, high-energy physics, and quantum chemistry. This would impact several important real-world applications, such as developing materials for batteries, industrial catalysis or nitrogen fixing. Quantum simulation can be performed not only on future fault-tolerant digital quantum computers but also through special-purpose analogue quantum simulators. An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, Austria, USA – industry) has provided an overview of the state of the art […]
Smart chip senses, stores, computes and secures data in one low-power platform
Nanowerk July 30, 2022 Modern software cryptosystems require extensive computational infrastructure for implementing ciphering algorithms, making them difficult to be adopted by IoT edge sensors that operate with limited hardware resources and at low energy budgets. Researchers at the State University of Pennsylvania proposed and experimentally demonstrated an “all-in-one” 8 × 8 array of robust, low-power, and bio-inspired crypto engines monolithically integrated with IoT edge sensors based on 2D memtransistors. Each engine comprises five 2D memtransistors to accomplish sensing and encoding functionalities. They showed that the ciphered information is secure from an eavesdropper with finite resources and access to deep […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of July 29, 2022
01. Artificial skin sweats on command 02. At the water’s edge: Self-assembling 2D materials at a liquid-liquid interface 03. Bioinspired protein creates stretchable 2D layered materials 04. First electric nanomotor made from DNA material 05. New glass-ceramic emits light when under mechanical stress 06. New imaging method reveals concealed objects 07. New method can improve explosion detection 08. Researchers 3D print sensors for satellites 09. Researchers develop nanoporous zinc electrodes that make primary alkaline zinc batteries rechargeable 10. Scientists capture first-ever view of a hidden quantum phase in a 2D crystal And others… The peer review system is broken. We […]
Artificial skin sweats on command
Phys.org July 27, 2022 Following their previous work on artificial sweating skin an international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Italy) demonstrated three-dimensionally steered dynamic liquid mobility at nanoporous liquid crystal polymer coatings. The release of fluid is stimulated by UV light. Upon a primary flood exposure to UV light, liquid is ejected globally over the entire coating surfaces. They reallocated the secreted liquid by applying a secondary electric field stimulus. By doing so, the liquid is transported and collected at pre-set positions as determined by the electrode positions. They monitored the process in real-time. Through precise analysis they found that […]
At the water’s edge: Self-assembling 2D materials at a liquid-liquid interface
Science Daily July 21, 2022 Researchers in Japan have demonstrated a facile one-pot synthesis of laminated 2D coordination polymer films comprising bis(terpyridine)iron and cobalt at a water/dichloromethane interface. Cross-sectional elemental mapping unveiled the stratum-like structure of the film and revealed that the second layer grows to the dichloromethane side below the first layer. Cyclic voltammetry clarified that the bottom layer mediates charge transfer between the top layer and the substrate in a narrow potential region of mixed-valence states. Furthermore, the bilayer film sandwiched by electrodes in a dry condition shows stable rectification character, and the barrier voltage corresponds to the […]
Bioinspired protein creates stretchable 2D layered materials
Science Daily July 25, 2022 Protein based composites, such as nacre and bone, show astounding evolutionary capabilities, including tunable physical properties. These composites become insensitive to flaws as soon as the structural size reaches a critical length. A team of researchers in the US (Pennsylvania State University, Brown University) studied the assembly of atomistically thin inorganic sheets with genetically engineered polymeric proteins to achieve mechanically compliant and ultra-tough materials. Although bare inorganic nanosheets are brittle, they designed flexible composites with proteins, which are insensitive to flaws due to critical structural length scale (∼2 nm). These proteins, inspired by squid ring […]
First electric nanomotor made from DNA material
Phys.org July 21, 2022 It has been quite difficult to recreate molecular motors with mechanical properties roughly similar to those of natural molecular motors like ATP synthase. An international team of researchers (Germany, UK) used the DNA origami method to assemble the motor from DNA molecules which was invented in 2006. The new nanomotor made of DNA material consists of three components: base, rotor arm, and platform. The base is fixed to a glass plate in solution via chemical bonds on a glass plate, the rotor arm is mounted on the base so that it can rotate, and the platform […]
New glass-ceramic emits light when under mechanical stress
Phys.org July 26, 2022 Mechanoluminescence (ML) materials emit light in response to mechanical stimulation. However, most of today’s ML materials are polycrystalline ceramics or ceramic particle composites, which puts constraints on their bulk processability, material homogeneity and optical transparency. Researchers in Germany created a glass-ceramic material with mechanoluminescence properties by developing an exceptionally fast and stable crystallization process that allows the tiny chromium-doped zinc gallate (ZGO) crystals to precipitate homogeneously inside the glass after it has been shaped. They demonstrated it by using the ball-drop methos to show that the mechanoluminescence response was reproducible and rechargeable and that it exhibited […]
New imaging method reveals concealed objects
Phys.org July 20, 2021 Most conventional methods used to image objects behind an obstruction use ultra-short pulses in visible or infrared range. Researchers at NIST developed a method using submillimeter range, ranging from 300 micrometers up to 1 millimeter. In this range walls made of a variety of materials appear relatively smooth and act as partial mirrors, reflecting rather than diffusely scattering into view radiation from a concealed object. They used a curved mirrors to focus the invisible light. The prototype technique employed state-of-the-art indium phosphide transistors, which amplify submillimeter radiation with little noise over a wide range of wavelengths. […]
New method can improve explosion detection
Science Daily July 22, 2022 Explosions produce infrasound waves capable of propagating globally, but the spatio-temporal variability of the atmosphere makes detecting events difficult. Machine learning (ML) is well-suited to identify the subtle and nonlinear patterns in explosion infrasound signals, but a previous lack of ground-truth data inhibited training of generalized models. A team of researchers in the US (University of Alaska, Air Force, University of Mississippi, Los Alamos National Laboratory) has developed a physics-based method that propagates infrasound sources through realistic atmospheres to create 28,000 synthetic events, which are used to train ML classifiers. A simple artificial neural network […]