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    Category Physics

    Scientists Create Laser-Activated Superconductor

    February 8, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    High speed maglev trains use superconductors to make the train hover above the track (Image from Shutterstock, cyo bo)

    High speed maglev trains use superconductors to make the train hover above the track (Image from Shutterstock, cyo bo)

    Shining lasers at superconductors can make them work at higher temperatures, suggests new findings from an international team of scientists including the University of Bath. Superconductors conduct electricity without power loss and produce strong magnetic fields, used in medical scanners, super-fast electronic circuits and in Maglev trains with superconducting magnets to allow train levitation over tracks, eliminating friction.

    Currently superconductors only work at very low temperatures, requiring liquid nitrogen or helium to maintain their temperature...

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    From Allergens to Anodes: Pollen derived Battery Electrodes

    February 6, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    This scanning electron microscope image shows bee pollen studied for potential use as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Color was added to the original black-and-white image. Credit: Purdue University image/ Jialiang Tang

    This scanning electron microscope image shows bee pollen studied for potential use as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Color was added to the original black-and-white image. Credit: Purdue University image/ Jialiang Tang

    Pollen could represent a boon for battery makers: Recent research has suggested their potential use as anodes in Li-ion batteries. “Our findings have demonstrated that renewable pollens could produce carbon architectures for anode applications in energy storage devices,” said A/Prof Vilas Pol. The anodes in most of today’s lithium-ion batteries are made of graphite. Lithium ions are contained in electrolyte, and these ions are stored in the anode during recharging.

    The researchers tested bee pollen- and cattail pollen-derived carbons as anodes...

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    Magnets Levitate above a Superconductor: New Properties of Superconductors discovered

    February 6, 2016, Categories  Physics

    A magnet levitating above a cuprate high temperature superconductor. New findings from an international collaboration led by Canadian scientists may eventually lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential of materials that could provide lossless energy storage, levitating trains and ultra-fast supercomputers. Credit: Robert Hill/University of Waterloo

    A magnet levitating above a cuprate high temperature superconductor. New findings from an international collaboration led by Canadian scientists may eventually lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential of materials that could provide lossless energy storage, levitating trains and ultra-fast supercomputers. Credit: Robert Hill/University of Waterloo

    New findings may lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential of materials that could provide lossless energy storage, levitating trains and ultra-fast supercomputers.

    Professors Hawthorn and Gingras and team have experimentally shown that electron clouds in superconducting m...

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    The Iron Stepping Stones to Better Wearable Tech without Semiconductors

    February 5, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Iron-dotted boron nitride nanotubes, made in Yoke Khin Yaps' lab at Michigan Tech, could make for better wearable tech because of their flexibility and electronic behaviors. Credit: Michigan Tech, Sue Hill

    Iron-dotted boron nitride nanotubes, made in Yoke Khin Yaps’ lab at Michigan Tech, could make for better wearable tech because of their flexibility and electronic behaviors. Credit: Michigan Tech, Sue Hill

    The road to more versatile wearable technology is dotted with iron. Specifically, quantum dots of iron arranged on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). Yap says the iron-studded BNNTs are pushing the boundaries of electronics hardware. The transistors modulating electron flow need an upgrade.

    “Look beyond semiconductors,” he says, explaining that materials like silicon semiconductors tend to overheat, can only get so small and leak electric current. The key to revamping the fundamental base of transistors is creating a series of stepping-stones that use quantum tunneling.

    The nanotubes are t...

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