Science Daily July 5, 2018 Researchers in Canada have genetically engineered E. coli to produce large amounts of lycopene that is particularly effective at harvesting light for conversion to energy. The pigment‐producing cells are coated with TiO2 nanoparticles and the mixture is applied to a glass surface. With the coated glass acting as an anode at one end of their cell, they generated a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre — an improvement on the 0.362 achieved by others in the field. According to the researchers the hybrid materials can be manufactured economically and sustainably. With sufficient optimization, […]
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Trapping light using Tetris-like clusters of crystals
Nanowerk July 10, 2018 Lack of precision and control often produced photonic crystals that have inconsistent defects that jeopardise their commercial performance. Working under a project funded by the EU Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme, an international team of researchers (France, Sweden, Israel) has developed a new microfluidic set-up, where researchers can ‘bend matter’, enabling them to re-organise the colloidal droplet clusters used to fabricate the crystals into Tetris-like blocks. The clusters have sizes ranging between two to five monodispersed droplets with an average size of 400nm and are highly replicable. Using this technique allows researchers to easily construct […]
Robots learn by checking in on team members
Phys.org June 13, 2018 Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed the software and hardware needed to coordinate a team of UAVs that can communicate and work toward a common goal. They custom-built UAVs and incorporated a lightweight, low-power computing and wi-fi module on each one so that they could talk to each other during flight. Each drone makes its own plan based on a forecast of optimistic views of their teammates’ actions and pessimistic views of the opponent’s actions. They used Capture the Flag game scenario to test the drones. Their algorithm worked well in both indoor and outdoor arenas […]
Self-propelled mindless tiny robots work together to move a corral
Phys.org May 16, 2018 Researchers in France used assemblies of rodlike robots made motile through self-vibration. When confined in circular arenas, dilute assemblies of these rods act as a gas. Increasing the surface fraction leads to a collective behavior near the boundaries. The coexistence between a gas and surface clusters is a direct consequence of inertial effects as shown by their simulations. By using deformable but free to move arenas the surface induced clusters can lead to directed motion, while the topology of the surface states can be controlled by biasing the motility of the particles… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The History Began from AlexNet: A Comprehensive Survey on Deep Learning Approaches
ArXiv March 3, 2018 In this report researchers at the University of Dayton present a brief survey on the development of DL approaches, including Deep Neural Network, Convolutional Neural Network, Recurrent Neural Network including Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Units, Auto-Encoder, Deep Belief Network, Generative Adversarial Network, and Deep Reinforcement Learning. DL approaches explored and evaluated in different application domains are also included in this survey. Recently developed frameworks, SDKs, and benchmark datasets that are used for implementing and evaluating deep learning approaches are included… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
High-temperature superconductivity gets agile (w/video)
Nanotechweb January 12, 2018 An international team of researchers (Japan, Australia) has synthesized of YBa2Cu3O x superconducting nanorods using solution chemistry. Initially, a mixture of fine-grained coprecipitated powder was obtained and subsequently converted to YBa2Cu3O x nanorods by heating to 1223 K in oxygen for 12 h. The nanorods are superconducting without the need for any further sintering or oxygenation, thereby providing an avenue for direct application to substrates at room temperature or direct use as formed nanorods. The research opens a route to designer superconductors, tailoring them for specific uses… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Leaving flatland – quantum Hall physics in 4-D
Phys.org January 4, 2018 An international team of researchers (Germany, Italy, UK, Switzerland, USA – University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, Israel) has demonstrated a way to observe physical phenomena proposed to exist in higher-dimensional systems in analogous real-world experiments. Using ultracold atoms trapped in a periodically modulated two-dimensional superlattice potential, the scientists could observe a dynamical version of a novel type of quantum Hall effect that is predicted to occur in four-dimensional systems. The research provides the first experimental glimpse into the physics of higher-dimensional quantum Hall systems, which offer many fascinating prospects… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Researchers design dendrite-free lithium battery
Phys.org January 8, 2018 In lithium batteries the anode requires a rigid electrolyte to block dendrite growth, but it is difficult for a rigid electrolyte to maintain sufficient contact with the solid cathode, which creates a highly resistive cathode/electrolyte interface. To address this problem, the researchers in China designed an asymmetrical solid electrolyte, in which the side facing the anode is a rigid ceramic material that presses against the lithium anode to discourage dendrite growth, the side facing the cathode is made of a soft polymer, which allows for a strong interfacial connection with the cathode. In tests, the new […]
‘Magnetoelectric’ material shows promise as memory for electronics
Source: Science Daily, November 29, 2017 Devices tend to store information through electric fields or through magnetic fields. In the future, our electronics could benefit from the best of each method. Switching one functionality of a magnetoelectric material induces a change in the other, referred to as cross-coupling. To better understand cross-coupling, an international team if researchers (USA – University of Wisconsin, Temple University, Argonne National Laboratory, Northern Illinois University, Italy, UK, Luxembourg, Switzerland) describe their unique process for making a high-quality magnetoelectric material and exactly how and why it works… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE