TechXplore February 26, 2018 The low rate capabilities and low energy densities of the all-solid-state batteries are partly due to a lack of suitable solid-solid heterogeneous interface formation technologies. Researchers in Japan grew garnet-type oxide solid electrolyte crystals in molten LiOH on a substrate that bonded the electrode into a solid state as they grew. They were able to control the thickness and connection area within the cubic layer, which acts as a ceramic separator. Each crystal is connected to neighboring ones. The new technique of stacking solid electrolyte layer could be an ideal ceramic separator with a dense thin-interface […]
Chipmakers Test Ferroelectrics as a Route to Ultralow-Power Chips
IEEE Spectrum February 26, 2018 Researchers at a company in the US chose a ferroelectric material that does not require ions or atoms to relocate which slows things down in ferroelectric materials. In their experimental 14-nm transistors, clouds of electrons around silicon-doped hafnium dioxide experience the polarization. Ring oscillators made with these transistors can switch at the same frequency as those made with the usual recipe, yet they require just 54 mV to achieve a tenfold increase in the current. Their devices require a 3- to 8-nm-thick layer of ferroelectric material, which is still relatively thick… read more. Related TECHNICAL […]
DARPA Seeks to Expand Real-Time Radiological Threat Detection to Include Other Dangers
DARPA News February 20, 2018 DARPA announced its SIGMA+ program, an expansion of the existing SIGMA program. The program calls for the development of highly sensitive detectors and advanced intelligence analytics to detect minute traces of various substances related to WMD threats. SIGMA+ will use a common network infrastructure and mobile sensing strategy. The detection network would be scalable to cover a major metropolitan city and its surrounding region. The program is structured around two Phases. The first phase focuses on developing novel sensors for chemicals, explosives, and biological agents, the second phase focuses on network development, analytics, and integration. […]
Magnetic nanoparticles will help stop internal bleeding 15 times more effectively
Nanowerk February 28, 2018 Researchers in Russia used magnet-driven nanoparticles consisting of two key components – thrombin, an enzyme responsible for blood clotting and magnetite. Thrombin interacts with the protein called fibrinogen and triggers clot formation to block the damaged vessel. The thrombin is wrapped into a special porous matrix made of magnetite that allows for precise control of the movement of particles inside the body using an external magnetic field. A drug based on these nanoparticles is nontoxic and can be injected intravenously and delivered straight to the site of a vascular injury. It can accelerate local clot formation […]
Exotic state of matter: An atom full of atoms
Science Daily February 26, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – Rice University, MIT, Switzerland, Brazil, Austria, Germany) reports spectroscopic observation of Rydberg polarons in an atomic Bose gas. Polarons are created by excitation of Rydberg atoms as impurities in a strontium Bose-Einstein condensate. As computer simulations show, this comparatively weak kind of interaction decreases the total energy of the system, and so a bond between the Rydberg atom and the other atoms inside the electronic orbit is created. This new, weakly bound state of matter is an exciting new possibility of investigating the physics of ultracold atoms… read […]
MIT Engineers Have Built a Device That Pulls Electricity Out of Thin Air
Science Alert February 27, 2018 Researchers at MIT designed materials that maximize the thermal effusivity by impregnating copper and nickel foams with conformal, chemical-vapor-deposited graphene and octadecane as a phase change material. These materials are ideal for ambient energy harvesting in the form of thermal resonators to generate persistent electrical power from thermal fluctuations over large ranges of frequencies. The harvestable power is proportional to the thermal effusivity of the dominant thermal mass. With 18-degree Fahrenheit temperature difference between night and day, a small sample of material produced 350 millivolts of potential and 1.3 milliwatts of power, which is enough […]
New technology may protect troops from blast-induced brain injury
Science Daily February 26, 2018 Researchers at the University of Maryland developed highly advanced shock absorber designs that incorporate polyurea-coated tubes and other structures to reduce the blast acceleration experienced by vehicle occupants by up to 80 percent. It spreads out the application of force. Polyurea is compressible and rebounds following compression, resulting in an excellent ability to decrease the acceleration. The research has produced new insights into the causes of TBI experienced by vehicle occupants, even in the absence of significant pressure changes… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
‘Two-way signaling’ possible with a single quantum particle
Physorg February 26, 2018 By using a quantum particle that has been put in a superposition of two different locations, researchers in Austria have theoretically shown that both partners are able to encode their messages into a single quantum particle simultaneously. Being in a quantum superposition means that the quantum particle is “simultaneously present” at each partner’s location. Therefore, both partners are able to encode their messages into a single quantum particle simultaneously, a task that is essentially impossible using classical physics. The experimental results show that the communication is secure and anonymous, the direction of communication is hidden—an eavesdropper […]
China’s inexpensive missile firing drones and long duration solar drone
Next Big Future February 28, 2018 China’s domestically-produced UAV Caihong 4 (CH-4) is an upgraded version of the model which was first produced in 2015. The CH-4 can conduct effective air strikes on more targets, from longer distances with faster reaction. The drone flew for 15 hours, 20 kilometers above sea level well within near space. It is designed to reach altitudes of 65 km and fly for weeks on end. The plane can shoot 50-kilogram cluster bombs and an assortment of guided missiles… read more… read more.
Faster data transfer through plasmons
Nanowerk February 22, 2018 Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) function like photonic elements, carrying information at high speeds. Researchers in Singapore designed transducers comprising aluminum and gold electrodes, separated by a two nanometer-thick layer of aluminum oxide that acts as an insulating ‘quantum tunneling’ barrier. Electrons that make the quantum leap across this gap will either generate or detect SPPs. By joining two transducers with a plasmonic waveguide, so that one acted as a source and another as detector they observed about 1 in 7 of the tunneling electrons coupling to a SPP. The invention has potential applications in three-dimensional integrated […]