Category Technology/Electronics

Minute Levels of Disease detected with Nanotechnology-enhanced Biochip


a Schematic representation at various stages of biosensor fabrication: (i) Bare electrodes (ii) SAM layer on the bare electrodes (iii) immobilized gold nano particles on the SAM layer (iv) Antibody immobilization on the electrodes (v) antigen–antibody conjugation on the electrodes. b Real image of the biosensor with microchannel

The difficulty in spotting minute amounts of disease circulating in the bloodstream has proven a stumbling block in the detection and treatment of cancers that advance stealthily with few symptoms. With a novel electrochemical biosensing device that identifies the tiniest signals these biomarkers emit, a pair of NJIT inventors are hoping to bridge this gap.

Their work in disease detection is an illustration of the power of electrical sensing – and the gr...

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Engineering for High-Speed Devices

If you use a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, then you benefit from research in photonics, the study of light. The research involved fabricating devices at UD’s Nanofabrication Facility.
Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson

New research explores graphene-silicon devices for photonics applications. If you use a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, then you benefit from research in photonics, the study of light. At the University of Delaware, a team led by Tingyi Gu, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing cutting-edge technology for photonics devices that could enable faster communications between devices and thus, the people who use them.

The research group recently engineered a silicon-graphene device that can transmit radiofrequency waves in less than a picoseco...

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New approach could boost energy capacity of lithium batteries

Molecular diagram shows the structure of molybdenum sulfide, one of the materials used to create the new kind of cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries.
Credit: Image courtesy of the researchers

‘Hybrid’ cathodes could provide more power for a given weight and volume. Researchers around the globe have been on a quest for batteries that pack a punch but are smaller and lighter than today’s versions, potentially enabling electric cars to travel further or portable electronics to run for longer without recharging. Now, researchers at MIT and in China say they’ve made a major advance in this area, with a new version of a key component for lithium batteries, the cathode.

The team describes their concept as a “hybrid” cathode, because it combines aspects of two different approaches that have b...

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Spintronics: Ultra-Short Spin Waves in an astoundingly Simple Material

An ultrashort spin wave (red) running through a nickel iron layer. Towards the center of the layer, the magnetic direction (blue arrows) swings only up and down in a sort of knot, while the motion in the other parts remains circular — with opposing sense of magnetic rotation.
Credit: HZDR / Juniks

Due to its potential to make computers faster and smartphones more efficient, spintronics is considered a promising concept for the future of electronics. In a collaboration including the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a team of researchers has now successfully generated so-called spin waves much more easily and efficiently than was previously deemed possible...

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