Next Big Future April 14, 2018 China has implemented metamaterials for enemy radar absorption and improved active radar, deployed a railgun to a navy ship before the United States, will have an operational hypersonic missile before the USA, making large investments in artificial intelligence, quantum computer and other quantum technologies. These show that China is competitive with the USA in science and technology for military systems. They are able to build, upgrade and incorporate the new technology with more flexibility and speed than the US… read more.
Tag Archives: S&T China
Researchers develop nanoparticle films for high-density data storage
Nanowerk April 3, 2018 Films made of the semiconductor titania and silver nanoparticles are promising for holographic data storage. But exposure to UV light has been shown to erase the data, making the films unstable for long-term information storage. Researchers in China used electron-accepting molecules that measured 1 to 2 nanometers to disrupt the electron flow from the semiconductor to the metal nanoparticles. They fabricated semiconductor films with a honeycomb nanopore structure that allowed the nanoparticles, electron-accepting molecules and the semiconductor to all interface with each other. In tests holograms could be written into them efficiently and with high stability […]
Knitting electronics with yarn batteries
Science Daily March 28, 2018 Researchers in China twisted carbon nanotube fibers into a yarn, then coated one piece of yarn with zinc to form an anode, and another with magnesium oxide to form a cathode. These two pieces were then twisted like a double helix and coated with a polyacrylamide electrolyte and encased in silicone. In tests the yarn zinc-ion battery was stable, had a high charge capacity, was rechargeable and waterproof. The material could be knitted and stretched, cut into several pieces, each of which could power a watch. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, eight pieces of the cut […]
Compact fiber optic sensor offers sensitive analysis in narrow spaces
Science Daily March 15, 2018 Researchers in China have developed a refractive index sensor based on an S-tapered fiber probe with a silver mirror on its end facet. It can sense concentration, pH and other chemical parameters. They have demonstrated that the device is nine times more sensitive than other tapered fiber refractive index sensors, requires very little sample for analysis and measurements are not affected by temperature changes. The sensor’s small size, about 1mm, means that it could potentially be used inside blood vessels. With additional development, the sensor might be used to detect specific chemicals, DNA molecules or […]
Approximate quantum cloning: The new way of eavesdropping in quantum cryptography
Physorg February 20, 2018 Uncertainty at the quantum scale makes exact cloning of quantum states impossible. Yet, they may be copied in an approximate way using probabilistic quantum cloning. Continuing previous work, researchers in China showed that if an independent subset cannot be expressed as the superposition of the other states in the set, then these dependent states can be partially cloned. Cloning operation allows scientists to make many copies of the output of computations—which take the form of unitary operations. These can, in turn, be used as input and fed into various further processes. Cloning also has applications in […]
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.
China will fortify islands with railguns, drones, missiles and stealthy planes
Next Big Future February 17, 2018 By 2022, China should have twenty fortified islands in the South China Sea. This will be up from about 7 to 12 today. China should have over fifty fortified islands by 2030. Dozens of man-made islands with railguns and planes will make it impossible for the US to defeat the defenses using conventional forces. The US would have to use nuclear weapons to overcome those defenses… read more.
Beijing Is Getting a $2.1 Billion AI District
MIT Technology Review January 4, 2018 China is gearing up to build a technology park in Beijing entirely dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence. The endeavor is just the latest sign of China’s remarkable ambition to master and dominate artificial intelligence by 2020. The plan will apparently establish a “national AI research center” and will include efforts to form partnerships with foreign research institutions and companies. China’s AI masterplan seems to have been inspired, in part, by the the U.S. government report at the very end of the Obama administration, PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Related document National […]
Scientists develop ultrafast battery with quarter-million cycle life
Phys.org January 8, 2018 Rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries are promising in high-power density but still face critical challenges of limited lifetime, rate capability, and cathodic capacity. Researchers in China have designed a “trihigh tricontinuous” (3H3C) graphene film cathode. It retains high specific capacity of around 120 mAh g−1 at ultrahigh current density of 400 A g−1 (charged in 1.1 s) with 91.7% retention after 250,000 cycles. The battery works well within a wide temperature range of −40 to 120°C with remarkable flexibility bearing 10,000 times of folding, promising for all-climate wearable energy devices. This design opens an avenue for future super-batteries… […]
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 […]