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    Category Technology/Electronics

    A Miniature Robot that could check Colons for Early Signs of Disease

    June 20, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical

    Engineers have shown it is technically possible to guide a tiny robotic capsule inside the colon to take micro-ultrasound images. Known as a Sonopill, the device could one day replace the need for patients to undergo an endoscopic examination, where a semi-rigid scope is passed into the bowel – an invasive procedure that can be painful.
    The Sonopill is a small capsule – with a diameter of 21mm and length of 39mm, which the engineers say can be scaled down. The capsule houses a micro ultrasound transducer, an LED light, camera and magnet.

    Engineers have shown it is technically possible to guide a tiny robotic capsule inside the colon to take micro-ultrasound images. Known as a Sonopill, the device could one day replace the need for patients to undergo an endoscopic examination, where a semi-rigid scope is passed into the bowel – an invasive procedure that can be painful.

    Micro-ultrasound images also have the advantage of being better able to identify some types of cell change associated with cancer...

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    Breathing new Life into Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

    June 16, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Abstract Image
    Renaissance of Fused Porphyrins: Substituted Methylene-Bridged Thiophene-Fused Strategy for High-Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

    Researchers have made a popular type of dye-sensitized solar cell (aromatic-fused porphyrin) more efficient by adjusting and updating their structure. The team report a series of adaptations with a power conversion efficiency of 10.7%, the highest yet for this kind of dye-sensitized solar cell, the most efficient solar technology available at present.

    Current dye-sensitized solar cells are made up of a porous layer of titanium dioxide covered with a molecular dye. As sunlight is taken in, electrons are excited as they pass through, and are collected for power, before being ‘recycled’, reintroduced into the electrolyte and back to the dye molecule...

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    Flexible Generators turn Movement into Energy

    June 2, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Rice University postdoctoral researcher Michael Stanford holds a flip-flop with a triboelectric nanogenerator, based on laser-induced graphene, attached to the heel. Walking with the flip-flop generates electricity with repeated contact between the generator and the wearer's skin. Stanford wired the device to store energy on a capacitor. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
    Rice University postdoctoral researcher Michael Stanford holds a flip-flop with a triboelectric nanogenerator, based on laser-induced graphene, attached to the heel. Walking with the flip-flop generates electricity with repeated contact between the generator and the wearer’s skin. Stanford wired the device to store energy on a capacitor. Photo by Jeff Fitlow

    Laser-induced graphene nanogenerators could power future wearables. Researchers have produced triboelectric nanogenerators with laser-induced graphene. The flexible devices turn movement into electrical energy and could enable wearable, self-powered sensors and devices.

    The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has adapted laser-induced graphene (LIG) into small, metal-free devices that generate electricity...

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    Beyond 1 and 0: Engineers boost Potential for Creating Successor to Shrinking Transistors

    June 1, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    The image on the left shows two forms of zinc oxide combined to form a composite nanolayer in a new type of transistor: Zinc oxide crystals (inside the red circles) are embedded in amorphous zinc oxide. The image on the right is a computer model of the structure that shows electron density distribution.

    Scientists offer a solution to the fast-approaching physical minimum for transistor size: a multi-value logic transistor based on zinc oxide, capable of two stable intermediate states between 0 and 1. Computers and similar electronic devices have gotten faster and smaller over the decades as computer-chip makers have learned how to shrink individual transistors, the tiny electrical switches that convey digital information.

    Scientists’ pursuit of the smallest possible transistor has...

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