Scientists developed a way to make carbon-based molecules with a unique structural feature: interlocking rings.
Tag: Electronics
Two UCI researchers named fellows by the National Academy of Inventors
Irvine, Calif., Dec. 8, 2022 — The National Academy of Inventors has named two University of California, Irvine researchers as fellows for 2022. Philip Felgner, a pioneer in the development of lifesaving mRNA vaccines, and Payam Heydari, a prolific creator of cutting-edge microelectronics technologies, were both recognized for inventions that have made tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Scientists Grow Lead-Free Solar Material With a Built-In Switch
A lead-free solar material developed by Berkeley Lab scientists offers a simpler and more sustainable approach to solar cell manufacturing. The advance could also benefit halide perovskites, a promising solar technology that requires much less energy to manufacture than silicon.

Researchers recycle CDs into flexible biosensors
New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York offers a second life for CDs: Turn them into flexible biosensors that are inexpensive and easy to manufacture.
The Best Semiconductor of Them All?
Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and in its pure form the material has become the foundation of much of modern technology, from solar cells to computer chips. But silicon’s properties as a semiconductor are far from ideal.

It’s Only Natural: Separation And Purification Of Rare-Earth Elements By Microorganisms
Using naturally occurring and engineered proteins and bacteria, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators will separate and purify rare-earth elements so they can be used in the defense sector.
Ultrathin fuel cell uses the body’s own sugar to generate electricity
Glucose is the sugar we absorb from the foods we eat. It is the fuel that powers every cell in our bodies. Could glucose also power tomorrow’s medical implants?
Latest Development of Meta-Devices: From Sensing and Imaging to Quantum Optical Chip
Professor Din-Ping Tsai, the Chair Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), gave an online talk as part of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) Distinguished Lecture Series on Electronics and Photonics on 30 March 2022, titled “Meta-Devices: From Sensing and Imaging to Quantum Optical Chip”. Professor Hon Yan, Wong Chun Hong Professor of Data Engineering was the moderator.
Q&A: Making Earth-friendly electronics
April 21, 2022 The very components that make electronics fast and easy to use also make their disposal an environmental nightmare. Components of smartphones, computers and even kitchen appliances contain heavy metals and other compounds that are toxic to us…
Quantum physics sets a speed limit to electronics
How fast can electronics be? When computer chips work with ever shorter signals and time intervals, at some point they come up against physical limits.
Creating solar cells and glass from wood – or a billion tons of biowaste
A digital, urbanised world consumes huge amounts of raw materials that could hardly be called environmentally friendly. One promising solution may be found in renewable raw materials, according to research published in Advanced Materials.
LED Material Shines Under Strain
A team led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley has demonstrated an approach for achieving LEDs with near 100% light-emission efficiency at all brightness levels.
Finding new types of 2D material defects could enable better electronics
The discovery of new types of defects in 2D materials may lead to the creation of new ultra-compact electronic devices.

Researchers Demonstrate Technique for Recycling Nanowires in Electronics
Researchers have demonstrated a low-cost technique for retrieving nanowires from electronic devices that have reached the end of their utility and then using those nanowires in new devices. The work is a step toward more sustainable electronics.
Main Attraction: Scientists Create World’s Thinnest Magnet
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have created an ultrathin magnet that operates at room temperature. The ultrathin magnet could lead to new applications in computing and electronics – such as spintronic memory devices – and new tools for the study of quantum physics.
This crystal impurity is sheer perfection
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have developed a nanoparticle composite that grows into 3D crystals. The new 3D-grown material could speed up production and eliminate errors in the mass manufacturing of nanoscale photonics for smart buildings or actuators for robotics.

Physicists Achieve Significant Improvement in Spotting Accelerator-produced Neutrinos in a Cosmic Haystack
Scientists demonstrate how ground-breaking image reconstruction and analysis algorithms filter out cosmic ray tracks in the MicroBooNE neutrino detector to pinpoint elusive neutrino interactions with unprecedented clarity.
A silver lining for extreme electronics
Tomorrow’s cutting-edge technology will need electronics that can tolerate extreme conditions. That’s why a group of researchers led by Michigan State University’s Jason Nicholas is building stronger circuits today. Nicholas and his team have developed more heat resilient silver circuitry with an assist from nickel. The team described the work, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Program, on April 15 in the journal Scripta Materialia. The types of devices that the MSU team is working to benefit — next-generation fuel cells, high-temperature semiconductors and solid oxide electrolysis cells — could have applications in the auto, energy and aerospace industries.
Battery parts can be recycled without crushing or melting
Researchers at Aalto University have discovered that electrodes in lithium batteries containing cobalt can be reused as is after being newly saturated with lithium. In comparison to traditional recycling, which typically extracts metals from crushed batteries by melting or dissolving them, the new process saves valuable raw materials, and likely also energy.

Argonne’s 2021 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows bring new energy, promise to their fields
The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is proud to welcome five new FY21 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows to campus, each chosen for their incredible promise in their respective fields.

How to Make All Headphones Intelligent
How do you turn “dumb” headphones into smart ones? Rutgers engineers have invented a cheap and easy way by transforming headphones into sensors that can be plugged into smartphones, identify their users, monitor their heart rates and perform other services. Their invention, called HeadFi, is based on a small plug-in headphone adapter that turns a regular headphone into a sensing device. Unlike smart headphones, regular headphones lack sensors. HeadFi would allow users to avoid having to buy a new pair of smart headphones with embedded sensors to enjoy sensing features.
Researchers create ‘beautiful marriage’ of quantum enemies
Cornell University scientists have identified a new contender when it comes to quantum materials for computing and low-temperature electronics.

UChicago scientists design stretchable electronics, perform better under strain
Recent technological advances have made stretchable sensors possible, but their changes in shape can affect the data produced, and many sensors cannot collect and process the body’s faintest signals. A new sensor design from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago helps solve that problem.

Scientists Streamline Process for Controlling Spin Dynamics
UPTON, NY—Marking a major achievement in the field of spintronics, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yale University have demonstrated the ability to control spin dynamics in magnetic materials by altering their thickness. The study, published today in Nature Materials, could lead to smaller, more energy-efficient electronic devices.
Remote Work Suits Jefferson Lab Technical Designer
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned workplaces everywhere upside down, prompting countless brainstorming sessions on how to make work environments safer or whether jobs might be done just as well from home. Jefferson Lab technical designer Mindy Leffel says working from home during the pandemic has been a learning process, but has only motivated her to prove herself.

3D-Printed Smart Gel Changes Shape When Exposed to Light
Inspired by the color-changing skin of cuttlefish, octopuses and squids, Rutgers engineers have created a 3D-printed smart gel that changes shape when exposed to light, becomes “artificial muscle” and may lead to new military camouflage, soft robotics and flexible displays. The engineers also developed a 3D-printed stretchy material that can reveal colors when light changes, according to their study in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Nikhil Tiwale: Practicing the Art of Nanofabrication
Applying his passions for science and art, Nikhil Tiwale—a postdoc at Brookhaven Lab’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials—is fabricating new microelectronics components.

New Surgical Tools with Smart Sensors Can Advance Cardiac Surgery and Therapy
Researchers developed a new class of medical instruments equipped with an advanced soft electronics system that could dramatically improve the diagnoses and treatments of a number of cardiac diseases and conditions.

‘Cyborg’ technology could enable new diagnostics, merger of humans and AI
Connecting electronics directly to human tissues in the body is a challenge. Today, a team is reporting new coatings for components that could help them more easily fit into this milieu. The researchers will present their results at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.

Quantum Materials Quest Could Benefit From Graphene That Buckles
Graphene, an extremely thin two-dimensional layer of the graphite used in pencils, buckles when cooled while attached to a flat surface, resulting in beautiful pucker patterns that could benefit the search for novel quantum materials and superconductors, according to Rutgers-led research in the journal Nature. Quantum materials host strongly interacting electrons with special properties, such as entangled trajectories, that could provide building blocks for super-fast quantum computers. They also can become superconductors that could slash energy consumption by making power transmission and electronic devices more efficient.

Safer, longer-lasting energy storage requires focus on interface of advanced materials
More studies at the interface of battery materials, along with increased knowledge of the processes at work, are unleashing a surge of knowledge needed to more quickly address the demand for longer-lasting portable electronics, electric vehicles and stationary energy storage for the electric grid.
Physicists Find Misaligned Carbon Sheets Yield Unparalleled Properties
A material composed of two one-atom-thick layers of carbon has grabbed the attention of physicists worldwide for its intriguing — and potentially exploitable — conductive properties.

‘Blinking” Crystals May Convert CO2 into Fuels
Imagine tiny crystals that “blink” like fireflies and can convert carbon dioxide, a key cause of climate change, into fuels. A Rutgers-led team has created ultra-small titanium dioxide crystals that exhibit unusual “blinking” behavior and may help to produce methane and other fuels, according to a study in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The crystals, also known as nanoparticles, stay charged for a long time and could benefit efforts to develop quantum computers.

With a ‘catch-and-release’ process, researchers advance graphene electronics
A team of researchers has found a versatile method for the construction of high-quality vdW heterostructures using a dual-function polymeric film with a thickness of below five nanometers to promote the exfoliation of monolayer graphene.

NUS researchers develop stretchable, self-healing and illuminating material for ‘invincible’ light-emitting devices
Researchers from the National University of Singapore have developed a new stretchable material that can self-heal and light up. The novel material has promising applications that include damage-proof flexible display screens and illuminating electronic skin for autonomous soft robots.

NUS researchers create novel device that harnesses shadows to generate electricity
Researchers from the National University of Singapore have created a device called a ‘shadow-effect energy generator’ that makes use of the contrast in illumination between lit and shadowed areas to generate electricity. This novel concept opens up new approaches in harnessing indoor lighting conditions to power electronics.

Major upgrades of particle detectors and electronics prepare CERN experiment to stream a data tsunami
For an experiment that will generate big data at unprecedented rates, physicists led design, development, mass production and delivery of an upgrade of novel particle detectors and state-of-the art electronics.

A Great New Way to Paint 3D-Printed Objects
Rutgers engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new opportunities to create “smart skins” for printed parts. The findings are published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Electronics for high-altitude use can get smaller and sturdier with new nanomaterials
Demand is growing for new materials that can be printed at ever smaller dimensions. Scientists are now creating metal-based nanomaterials for circuit boards that could be resistant to high-altitude radiation encountered by aerospace equipment and fighter jets.

A new way to cool down electronic devices, recover waste heat
Using electronic devices for too long can cause them to overheat. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have developed a hydrogel that can both cool down electronics, such as cell phone batteries, and convert their waste heat into electricity.

Organic Memory Devices Show Promise for Flexible, Wearable, Personalized Computing
The advent of artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things is expected to change modern electronics. The pressing question for many researchers is how to handle this technological revolution. Brain-inspired electronics with organic memristors could offer a functionally promising and cost- effective platform. Since memristors are functionally analogous to the operation of neurons, the computing units in the brain, they are optimal candidates for brain-inspired computing platforms.
Rutgers Experts Can Discuss Emissions, Climate Change During COVID-19 Crisis
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 13, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick experts are available for interviews on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and efforts to promote a greener economy and lifestyles. “During the 2007…

Solving a 50-year-old puzzle in signal processing, part two:
Two Iowa State engineers, who announced the solution to a 50-year-old puzzle in signal processing last fall, have followed up with more research results. The engineers say their new algorithm is more useful and just as fast as the one previously used.

How a Magnet Could Help Boost Understanding of Superconductivity
Physicists have unraveled a mystery behind the strange behavior of electrons in a ferromagnet, a finding that could eventually help develop high temperature superconductivity. A Rutgers co-authored study of the unusual ferromagnetic material appears in the journal Nature.
Cobalt supply can meet demand for electric vehicle and electronics batteries
Supplies of the cobalt are adequate in the short term, but shortages could develop down the road if refining and recycling aren’t ramped up or made more efficient, according to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology.
Ultrasound device improves charge time and run time in lithium batteries
Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed an ultrasound-emitting device that brings lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, one step closer to commercial viability. Although the research team focused on LMBs, the device can be used in any battery, regardless of chemistry.
New air-pressure sensor could improve everyday devices
A team of mechanical engineers at Binghamton University, State University of New York investigating a revolutionary kind of micro-switch has found another application for its ongoing research.
Nanomaterial “twist” could boost next-gen electronics
Research by Nebraska engineers Peter and Eli Sutter points to a way to overcome the challenges of building multi-layered nanostructures

Award-winning engineer helps keep US nuclear deterrent safe from radiation
Sandia National Laboratories engineer Alan Mar ensures components made for the U.S. nuclear stockpile pass stringent standards to resist radiation and remain safe and reliable in extremely harsh environments.
Microcavities save organic semiconductors from going dark
More and more electronics manufacturers are favoring organic LED displays for smartphones, TVs and computers because they are brighter and offer a greater color range.