For a new study researchers used used iron-enhanced carbon cooked from hickory chips to successfully remove the toxin.
As reported in the journal Water Research Gao ground wood chips that were heated then in nitrogen gas but not burned.
This is a particular disadvantage for biocomputer components that serve as sensors for specific biomolecules and transmit the relevant signal.
The circuit controls the activity of individual sensor components using an internal imer. This circuit prevents a sensor from being active
when not required by the system; when required it can be activated via a control signal.
To understand the underlying technology it is important to know that these biological sensors consist of synthetic genes that are read by enzymes
To date the researchers have tested the function of their activation-ready sensor in cell culture of human kidney
and cancer cells. n electronics the different components that make up a circuit are connected always in the same way:
and other conditions. on channels have been called life s transistors because they act like switches generating electrical feedbacksays senior author Jon Sack assistant professor of physiology
In their experiments reported in the journal Science researchers measured the MRI signal with a novel diamond sensor chip using an optical readout in a fluorescence microscope.
The sensor consisted of an impurity in diamond known as the nitrogen-vacancy center. In this case two carbon atoms are missing in the otherwise regular diamond lattice
and power wearable sensors or medical devices or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cell phone in your pocketsays James Hone professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University
They then patterned metal electrodes onto the flakes. In research done at Georgia Tech Wang s group installed measurement electrodes on samples provided by Hone s group then measured current flows as the samples were deformed mechanically.
They monitored the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy and observed voltage and current outputs. The researchers also noted that the output voltage reversed sign
He says using a smartphone with Glass has several benefits as compared to using Glass by itself. lass has its own microphone
but it s designed for the wearersays Starner who is also a technical lead for Glass. he mobile phone puts a microphone directly next to the speaker s mouth reducing background noise
Wider beams are better able to cope with obstacles between the transmitter and the receiver and radio is affected not as by atmospheric turbulence as optics,
A receiver at the other end of the room then untwisted and recovered the different data streams. his technology could have very important applications in ultra-high-speed links for the wireless ackhaulthat connects base stations of next-generation cellular systems,
and professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois. his technology significantly expands the range of functionality in skin-mounted devices beyond that possible with electronics alone. ith its 3600 liquid crystals the photonic device has 3600 temperature
and flexible electronic devices to harvest solar energysays Luyao Lu a graduate student in chemistry and lead author of a paper in the journal Nature Photonics that describes the result.
The fibers serve as a pathway to allow electrons to travel to the electrodes on the sides of the solar cell. t s like you re generating a street
Left to their own devices carbon nanotubes form clumps that are perfectly wrong for turning into the kind of strong conductive fibers needed for projects ranging from nanoscale electronics to macro-scale power grids.
The technology uses aluminum nanoparticles to create the vivid red blue and green hues found in today s top-of-the-line LCD televisions and monitors.
and blue that are comparable to those found in high-definition LCD displays. luminum is useful
Olson s five-micron-square pixels are about 40 times smaller than the pixels used in commercial LCD displays.
and Link say the research team hopes to create an LCD display that uses many of the same components found in today s displays including liquid crystals polarizers and individually addressable pixels.
That structure can then be coated with a thin layer of just about any kind of material#a metal an alloy a glass a semiconductor etc.
#Ant-size radios could help create Internet of things A new radio the size of an ant can gather all the power it needs from the same electromagnetic waves that carry signals to its receiving antenna no batteries required.
and relay commands this tiny wireless chip costs pennies to Make it's cheap enough to become the missing link between the internet as we know it
and the linked-together smart gadgets envisioned in the nternet of Things. he next exponential growth in connectivity will be connecting objects together and giving us remote control through the websays Amin Arbabian an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Stanford university who recently demonstrated this ant
Much of the infrastructure needed to enable us to control sensors and devices remotely already exists:
Arbabian asks. y putting all the essential elements of a radio on a single chip that costs pennies to make. ost is critical
Everything hinged on squeezing all the electronics found in say the typical Bluetooth device down into a single ant-sized silicon chip.
The antenna had to be small one-tenth the size of a Wi-fi antenna and operate at the incredibly fast rate of 24 billion cycles per second.
Standard transistors could not easily process signals that oscillate that fast. So his team had to improve basic circuit and electronic design.
but in the end Arbabian managed to put all the necessary components on one chip: a receiving antenna that also scavenges energy from incoming electromagnetic waves;
a transmitting antenna to broadcast replies and relay signals over short distances; and a central processor to interpret
and execute instructions. No external components or power are needed. And this ant-sized radio can be made for pennies.
Based on his designs The french semiconductor manufacturer STMICROELECTRONICS fabricated 100 of these radios-on-a-chip.
Now Arbabian envisions networks of these radio chips deployed every meter or so throughout a house (they would have to be set close to one another
#Detector could vastly improve night-vision goggles Monash University right Original Studyposted by Glynis Smalley-Monash on September 8 2014 Researchers have developed a light detector that could revolutionize chemical-sensing equipment and night-vision technology.
The detector which is interconnected based on the carbon atoms in graphene can sense light over an unusually broad range of wavelengths including terahertz waves between infrared
Existing detectors that work at room temperature are bulky slow and expensive. Fuhrer says the new detector worked at room temperature
and was already as sensitive as any existing room-temperature detector technology in the terahertz range
but was also more than a million times faster. he combination of sensitivity and speed for terahertz detection is simply unprecedentedhe says.
Electronics casings in particular have been identified as a desirable application. Yet past attempts at finding a shaping process were unsuccessful.
Until now Schroers has focused on smaller-scale specialty production items including watch components and sensors. Smartphone cases were a natural
#Sensor device grabs energy in odd places University of Washington Posted by Michelle Ma-Washington on September 4 2014scientists have built a new power harvester that uses natural fluctuations in temperature
The device harvests energy in any location where these temperature changes naturally occur powering sensors that can check for water leaks
This powers sensors that also are placed on the bellows and data collected by the sensors is sent wirelessly to a receiver.
A number of battery-free technologies exist that are powered by solar and ambient radio frequency waves.
or inside a wall and sensors would be tuned to check for water leaks. Similarly when used inside a bridge the sensors could detect any cracks forming or structural deficiencies.
In both cases the sensors would send a signal to the nearby powered receiver. A temperature change of only 0. 25 degrees Celsius creates enough energy to power the sensor node to read
and send data wirelessly to a receiver 5 meters away. That means any slight shift in an office building s air conditioning or the natural outside air temperature during the course of a day would be more than enough to activate the chemical in the bellows.
The technology uses temperature changes over time as its power source. Devices called thermoelectric generators also leverage varying temperatures for power
but these instruments require a temperature difference at an exact moment such as in a place where one side is hot
The concept was inspired by the industrial assembly lines that churn out vehicles and electronics. A critical part of any assembly line is the mobile assembly carrier onto
In a paper published in the latest issue of Lab on a Chip Vogel and her team presented a molecular assembly line featuring all the elements of a conventional production line:
The photodetector which sees colors in much the same way the human eye does uses an aluminum grating that can be added to silicon photodetectors with the silicon microchip industry s mainstay technology omplementary metal-oxide
This color filtering is done commonly using off-chip dielectric or dye color filters which degrade under exposure to sunlight
and can also be difficult to align with imaging sensors. oday s color filtering mechanisms often involve materials that are not CMOS-compatible
but this new approach has advantages beyond on-chip integrationsays LANP Director Naomi Halas the lead scientist of the study. t s also more compact and simple
The battery sends an electric current through two electrodes that split liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen gas.
Unlike other water splitters that use precious-metal catalysts the electrodes in the Stanford device are made of inexpensive and abundant nickel
His next goal is to improve the durability of the device. he electrodes are fairly stable
That led the researchers to study the genetic relationships of all fungus-growing ants in South america including all five known and six newly-discovered species of the genus Mycocepurus to determine
The technology is featured in the journal Advanced Optical Materials. t opens a lot of area to deploy solar energy in a nonintrusive waylunt says. t can be used on tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e reader.
#Test keeps graphene pure enough for electronics Rice university rightoriginal Studyposted by Mike Williams-Rice on August 18 2014it s easy to accidentally introduce impurities to graphene
They expect the finding to be important to manufacturers considering the use of graphene in electronic devices.
The experimental results are a warning for electronics manufacturers . or any future device designs using graphene we have to take into account the influence of the surroundingssays Kono.
After depositing copper foams on an electrode the researchers set up experiments to see what kinds of products would be produced in an electrochemical reaction with CO2 in water.
what had been reported with planar electrodes which was a surprisepalmore says. e ve identified another parameter to consider in the electroreduction of CO2.
Instead some of the light from the laser scatters and the path length increases because of this multiple scattering#something scientists refer to as the aman effect. his scattered light is emitted then from the powder in a strong diffuse form that is visually similar to a bright LED light.
and collect the resulting signal with a powerful parabolic antenna so that the signal could then be analyzed
#Wearable vapor sensor can smell diabetes University of Michigan rightoriginal Studyposted by Catharine June-U. Michigan on August 6 2014.
A wearable vapor sensor could monitor diseases such as diabetes and hypertension by picking up airborne biomarkers exhaled
Fan is developing the sensor with Zhaohui Zhong an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Girish Kulkarni a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering.
Beyond disease monitoring the sensor has other applications. It would be able to register the presence of hazardous chemical leaks in a lab
To create their technology the researchers took a unique approach to detecting molecules. anoelectronic sensors typically depend on detecting charge transfer between the sensor
However these previous techniques typically led to strong bonds between the molecules being detected and the sensor itself.
The sensor can detect molecules in sample sizes at a ratio of several parts per billion.
These nanoelectronic graphene vapor sensors can be embedded completely in a microgas chromatography system which is the gold standard for vapor analysis the researchers say.
The entire microgas chromatography system can be integrated on a single chip with low power operation and embedded in a badge-sized device that can be worn on the body to provide noninvasive and continuous monitoring of specific health conditions. e believe this device can be extremely beneficial to societyfan says.
Or battery-free sensors embedded around your home could track minute-by-minute temperature changes and send that information to your thermostat to help conserve energy.
This not-so-distant nternet of Thingsreality would extend connectivity to perhaps billions of devices.
Sensors could be embedded in everyday objects to help monitor and track everything from the structural safety of bridges to the health of your heart.
This work builds upon previous research that showed how low-powered devices such as temperature sensors
The researchers instead developed an ultra-low power tag prototype with an antenna and circuitry that can talk to Wi-fi-enabled laptops or smartphones while consuming negligible power.
The University of Washington Commercialization Gap Fund the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship Washington Research Foundation the National Science Foundation and the University of Washington supported the work.
Stretching the material known as carbyne a hard-to-make one-dimensional chain of carbon atoms by just 3 percent can begin to change its properties in ways that engineers might find useful for mechanically activated nanoscale electronics and optics.
Band gaps which free electrons must overcome to complete a circuit give materials the semiconducting properties that make modern electronics possible.
which Yakobson says keeps them from slipping into a less-stable Peierls distortion. eierls said one-dimensional metals are unstable and must become semiconductors
because there are two driving factors. ne the Peierls distortion ants to open the gap that makes it a semiconductor.
How carbyne is attached to electrodes also matters Artyukhov says. ifferent bond connectivity patterns can affect the metallic/dielectric state balance
#Laser device sniffs out tiny traces of explosives University of California Berkeley rightoriginal Studyposted by Sarah Yang-Berkeley on July 24 2014mechanical engineers have found a way to dramatically increase the sensitivity of a light-based plasmon sensor.
The engineers put the sensor to the test with various explosivesâ##2. 4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) ammonium nitrate
The results published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology are much more sensitive than those for other optical sensors says Xiang Zhang professor of mechanical engineering at University of California Berkeley. ptical explosive sensors are very sensitive
which is one of the most powerful tools we have today. he new sensor could have an advantage over current bomb-screening methods says co-lead author Ren-Min Ma an assistant professor of
Our technology could lead to a bomb-detecting chip for a handheld device that can detect the tiny-trace vapor in the air of the explosive s small molecules. he sensor also could be developed into an alarm for unexploded landmines that
The nanoscale plasmon sensor used in the lab experiments is much smaller than other explosive detectors on the market.
It consists of a layer of cadmium sulfide a semiconductor that is laid on top of a sheet of silver with a layer of magnesium fluoride in the middle.
This quality increases the interaction of the molecules with natural surface defects on the semiconductor.
The device works by detecting the increased intensity in the light signal that occurs as a result of this interaction. e think that higher electron deficiency of explosives leads to a stronger interaction with the semiconductor sensorsays study co-lead author Sadao
Because of this the researchers are hopeful that their plasmon laser sensor could detect pentaerythritol tetranitrate or PETN an explosive compound considered a favorite of terrorists.
The sensor represents the latest milestone in surface plasmon sensor technology which is used now in the medical field to detect biomarkers in the early stages of disease.
The ability to increase the sensitivity of optical sensors traditionally had been restricted by the diffraction limit a limitation in fundamental physics that forces a tradeoff between how long
##and using the optical gain from the semiconductor to amplify the light energy. The amplified sensor creates a much stronger signal than the passive plasmon sensors currently available
which work by detecting shifts in the wavelength of light Zhang says. he difference in intensity is similar to going from a light bulb for a table lamp to a laser pointer.
which makes it easier to detect even smaller changes for tiny traces of explosives in the air. he sensor could have applications beyond chemical and explosive detection such as use in biomolecular research.
MISSILES AND PARASITES The heat-seeking detector, which is coupled to an infrared imaging microscope, allowed the team to detect the earliest stages of the malaria parasite in a single red blood cell.
The solutions are pumped into a cell containing a membrane between the two fluids with electrodes on either side releasing energy.
In addition, the researchers believe that the material lends itself to many kinds of highly sensitive sensors. e found this graphene oxide fiber was very strong
This new form of solid stable light-sensitive nanoparticles called colloidal quantum dots could lead to cheaper and more flexible solar cells as well as better gas sensors infrared lasers infrared light emitting diodes and more.
Collecting sunlight using these tiny colloidal quantum dots depends on two types of semiconductors: n-type which are rich in electrons and p-type
-and p-type layers simultaneously not only boosts the efficiency of light absorption it opens up a world of new optoelectronic devices that capitalize on the best properties of both light and electricity.
For the average person this means more sophisticated weather satellites remote controllers satellite communication or pollution detectors. his is a material innovation that s the first part
Using electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes attached to the scalps of 25 student subjects, a team led by University of Oregon psychology doctoral student David E. Anderson captured synchronized neural activity
and semiconductors are known to be fundamentally important in processes such as plant photosynthesis and optical communications that are the basis for the internet and cable TV.
Current detectors are need bulky and to be kept cold to operate. That limits their usefulness for applications like weapons and chemical detection and medical imaging and diagnosis, says Jay Guo,
an engineering professor at the University of Michigan. ur detector is sensitive, compact and works at room temperature,
Though ultrasound detectors existncluding those used in medical imaginghe researchers made their own sensitive one in the form of a microscopic plastic ring known as a microring resonator.
The response speed of the new detector is a fraction of a millionth of a second,
#Can supercapacitor wafers make power cords obsolete? Vanderbilt University rightoriginal Studyposted by David Salisbury-VU on May 22 2014imagine a future in which plugs and external power sources no longer limit our electrical gadgets.
The new device that Pint and Westover have developed is a supercapacitor that stores electricity by assembling electrically charged ions on the surface of a porous material instead of storing it in chemical reactions the way batteries do.
As a result supercaps can charge and discharge in minutes instead of hours and operate for millions of cycles instead of thousands of cycles like batteries.
and Westover report that their new structural supercapacitor operates flawlessly in storing and releasing electrical charge while subject to stresses or pressures up to 44 psi and vibrational accelerations over 80 g (significantly greater than those acting on turbine blades in a jet engine).
Furthermore the mechanical robustness of the device doesn t compromise its energy storage capability. n an unpackaged structurally integrated state our supercapacitor can store more energy
and operate at higher voltages than a packaged off-the-shelf commercial supercapacitor even under intense dynamic
One area where supercapacitors lag behind batteries is in electrical energy storage capability: Supercaps must be larger and heavier to store the same amount of energy as lithium-ion batteries.
However the difference is not as important when considering multifunctional energy storage systems. attery performance metrics change when you re putting energy storage into heavy materials that are needed already for structural integritysays Pint. upercapacitors store ten times less energy than current lithium-ion batteries
because they go dead. estover s wafers consist of electrodes made from silicon that have been treated chemically so they have nanoscale pores on their inner surfaces
Sandwiched between the two electrodes is a polymer film that acts as a reservoir of charged ions similar to the role of the electrolyte paste in a battery.
When the electrodes are pressed together the polymer oozes into the tiny pores in much the same way that melted cheese soaks into the nooks and crannies of the bread in a panini.
and solidifies it forms an extremely strong mechanical bond. he biggest problem with designing load-bearing supercaps is preventing them from delaminatingsays Westover. ombining nanoporous material with the polymer electrolyte bonds the layers together tighter than superglue. he use
of silicon in structural supercapacitors is suited best for consumer electronics and solar cells but Pint and Westover are confident that the rules that govern the load-bearing character of their design will carry over to other materials such as carbon nanotubes and lightweight porous metals like aluminum.
#eurogrid chips mimic the brain to use less energy Compared to the human brain, today computers are ridiculously slow
Boahen and his team have developed a circuit board consisting of 16 custom-designed eurocorechips. Together these 16 chips can simulate 1 million neurons and billions of synaptic connections.
The team designed these chips with power efficiency in mind. Their strategy was to enable certain synapses to share hardware circuits.
The result was called a device Neurogrid. It about the size of an ipad and can simulate many more neurons
IBM OLDEN GATECHIP One of these efforts is IBM Synapse Projecthort for Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics.
Synapse involves a bid to redesign chips, code-named Golden gate, to emulate the ability of neurons to make a great many synaptic connections feature that helps the brain solve problems on the fly.
HICANN CHIP FOR BRAIN SIMULATORS Heidelberg University Brainscales project has the ambitious goal of developing analog chips to mimic the behaviors of neurons and synapses.
Their HICANN chiphort for High Input Count Analog Neural Networkould be the core of a system designed to accelerate brain simulations
In his analysis, Boahen creates a single metric to account for total system costncluding the size of the chip,
Each of the current million-neuron Neurogrid circuit boards cost about $40 000. Boahen believes dramatic cost reductions are possible.
Those chips were made using 15-year-old fabrication technologies. By switching to modern manufacturing processes
and fabricating the chips in large volumes, he could cut a Neurocore cost 100-folduggesting a million-neuron board for $400 a copy.
For instance, a chip as fast and efficient as the human brain could drive prosthetic limbs with the speed
#Small tuning fork lets device find greenhouse gas Scientists have created a highly sensitive portable sensor to test the air for the most damaging greenhouse gases.
and the QEPAS sensor findings compared favorably with the lab much larger instrument, Tittel says. his was a milestone for trace-gas sensing,
or zinc sulfide at the scorching temperatures of 450 degrees Fahrenheit found on GJ 1214b. ou would expect very different kinds of clouds to form than you would expect say on Earthkreidberg says.
Skuse credits Youngâ#previous research that found mice with a mutated oxytocin receptor failed to recognize mice they previously encountered. his led us to pursue more information about facial recognition and the implications for disorders in
and consumer electronics. n order to have a broad impact we need to be able to apply this technology to programmable processorssays Kaushik Roy professor of electrical
and their interaction with other materialszavattieri says. his is important for the design of novel cellulose-based materials as other research groups are considering them for a huge variety of applications ranging from electronics
transparent flexible displays for electronic devices; special filters for water purification; new types of sensors; and computer memory.
Cellulose could come from a variety of biological sources including trees plants algae ocean-dwelling organisms called tunicates
000 LED bulbs by stomping one foot One day it may be possible to harvest the otherwise wasted energy of your footsteps
Beyond generating power the technology could also provide a new type of self-powered sensor allowing detection of vibrations motion water leaks explosions
and sensor applicationssays Zhong Lin Wang a professor in the School of Materials science and engineering. his opens up a source of energy by harvesting power from activities of all kinds. n its simplest form the triboelectric generator
If an electrical load is connected then to two electrodes placed at the outer edges of the two surfaces a small current will flow to equalize the charges.
Such sensors could be used for monitoring in traffic security environmental science health care and infrastructure applications. or the future Wang and his research team plan to continue studying the nanogenerators
and sensors to improve their output and sensitivity. The size of the material can be scaled up
and there is much more we can do with this. he US Department of energy National Science Foundation National Institute for Materials science in Japan Samsung
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