Category Physics

A cathode containing nanoparticles made from cobalt, cobalt oxide and a carbon-based outer shell improved the performance of a zinc-air battery. Credit: © 2016 A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering

Nanoparticles containing 3 different layers of material can help to boost the performance of a zinc-air battery, A*STAR researchers have found. Zinc-air batteries are cheap, have a high energy density, and last for a very long time. Their use of a water-based electrolyte makes them safer than other batteries, so they’re often found in medical applications, such as hearing aids and heart monitoring devices.

The battery’s negative electrode contains zinc metal, which gives up electrons when it reacts with hydroxide ions in the electrolyte...

Dr. Png Rui-Qi (left), Mervin Ang (middle) and Cindy Tang (right) working on conducting polymers that can provide unprecedented ohmic contacts for better performance in a wide range of organic semiconductor devices. Credit: Seah Zong Long

Semiconductors, which are the very basic components of electronic devices, have improved our lives in many ways. They can be found in lighting, displays, solar modules and microprocessors that are installed in almost all modern day devices, from mobile phones, washing machines, and cars, to the emerging Internet of Things. To innovate devices with better functionality and energy efficiency, researchers are constantly looking for better ways to make them, in particular from earth-abundant materials using eco-friendly processes...

This is a schematic of the BIC laser: a high frequency laser beam (blue) powers the membrane to emit a laser beam at telecommunication frequency (red). Credit: Kanté group, UC San Diego

UCSD Researchers have demonstrated the world’s first laser based on an unconventional wave physics phenomenon called bound states in the continuum. The technology could revolutionize surface lasers, making them more compact and energy-efficient for communications and computing applications. The new BIC lasers could also be developed as high-power lasers for industrial and defense applications.

“Lasers are ubiquitous in the present day world, from simple everyday laser pointers to complex laser interferometers used to detect gravitational waves...

NIST researchers applied a special form of microwave light to cool a microscopic aluminum drum to an energy level below the generally accepted limit, to just one fifth of a single quantum of energy. Having a diameter of 20 micrometers and a thickness of 100 nanometers, the drum beat 10 million times per second while its range of motion fell to nearly zero. Credit: Teufel/NIST

NIST Physicists have cooled a mechanical object to a temperature lower than previously thought possible, below the”quantum limit.” The new theory and experiments showed that a microscopic mechanical drum – a vibrating aluminum membrane – could be cooled to <1/5 of a single quantum, or packet of energy, lower than ordinarily predicted by quantum physics...