Recent Comments

    Category Technology/Electronics

    Researchers Engineer Novel Material capable of ‘Thinking’

    August 25, 2022, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    man holds rubber block in one hand and squeezed rubber block in other hand
    Penn State researchers create mechanical integrated circuit materials from conductive and non-conductive rubber materials that sense and react to tactile input, such as force. Credit: Kelby Hochriether/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

    Collaboration builds on decades-old research to engineer advanced material. Someone taps your shoulder. The organized touch receptors in your skin send a message to your brain, which processes the information and directs you to look left, in the direction of the tap. Now, Penn State and U.S. Air Force researchers have harnessed this processing of mechanical information and integrated it into engineered materials that “think.”

    The work, published today (Aug. 24) in Nature, hinges on a novel, reconfigurable alternative to integrated circuits...

    Read More

    Antiferromagnetic Hybrids achieve important Functionality for Spintronic Applications

    August 24, 2022, Categories  Technology/Electronics

    Antiferromagnetic hybrids achieve important functionality for spintronic applications
    (a) Cross-sectional transmission electron micrograph of the m-plane Al2O3/Cr2O3 interface with the c-axis [0001]-oriented out of the page and (b,c) the corresponding diffractograms of Cr2O3 and Al2O3 indicating epitaxial order. (d) Sample geometry. The magnetic field is applied parallel to the c-axis. (e) Spin Seebeck (SSE) voltage of the Cr2O3/Pt sample shows a sign change across the SF transition. (f) SSE signals dominated by left-hand (LH) and quasiferromagnetic (QFM) magnons fall rapidly with increasing temperature. Credit: Rodolfo Rodriguez et al, Physical Review Research (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033139

    Antiferromagnets have zero net magnetization and are insensitive to external magnetic field perturbations...

    Read More

    Mathematicians suggest Liquid Crystals could be used to create Building Blocks for a New Kind of Computer

    August 23, 2022, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Mathematician pair suggest liquid crystals could be used to create building blocks of a new kind of computer
    Nbits pinned to an LC defect line. The local nematic director field n(r), indicated by cylindrical bars, rotates by π along closed curves encircling the defect line (black). The director field is colored by its out-of-plane component, nz(r), while xy-planes are colored by the director’s azimuthal orientation nϕ(r) relative to the x axis. The near-field director profile (red) close to the defect line defines the nbit state. The vertical direction may be interpreted as either a spatial or a time dimension. Credit: Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abp8371

    A pair of researchers at MIT have found evidence suggesting that a new kind of computer could be built based on liquid crystals rather than silicon...

    Read More
    The new moisture-driven electricity generation device invented by NUS researchers capitalises on the difference in moisture content of the wet and dry regions of the carbon-coated fabric to create an electric current. Sea salt is used as a moisture absorbent for the wet region.

    Researchers have developed a new moisture-driven electricity generation device made of a thin layer of fabric, sea salt, carbon ink, and a special water-absorbing gel. The device works by keeping one end of the fabric dry, while the other end is perpetually wet. The difference in moisture content of the wet and dry regions of the carbon-coated fabric creates an electric current...

    Read More