Category Technology/Electronics

Lattice architecture can provide channels for effective transportation of electrolyte inside the volume of material, while for the cube electrode, most of the material will not be exposed to the electrolyte. The cross-section view shows the silver mesh enabling the charge (Li+ ions) transportation to the current collector and how most of the printed material has been utilized.
Credit: Rahul Panat, Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering

Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, can be used to manufacture porous electrodes for lithium-ion batteries – but because of the nature of the manufacturing process, the design of these 3D printed electrodes is limited to just a few possible architectures...

A phonon laser formed by coupled optical resonators. Mechanical vibrations in resonator (blue) could be enhanced when the frequency difference of two optical supermodes matches with the frequency mechanical vibrations.
Credit: Micro/Nano Photonics Lab

New laser uses light to create sound. A team of international researchers led by engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has seen the light and now has a lasing system that produces “good vibrations.” They developed a lasing system already adept at producing tiny light packets called photons into a tunable system that also makes little bits of mechanical energy called phonons – the energy products of oscillation, or vibration...

A film deflects from a magnetic field when exposed to light.
Credit: SilkLab, Tufts University

Elastomeric composites can flex, grip, release, or rotate when exposed to lasers, diffuse light or sunlight. Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed magnetic elastomeric composites that move in different ways when exposed to light, raising the possibility that these materials could enable a wide range of products that perform simple to complex movements, from tiny engines and valves to solar arrays that bend toward the sunlight. The research is described in an article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In biology, there are many examples where light induces movement or change – think of flowers and leaves turning toward sunlight...

EPFL researchers have developed a transistor based on excitons – a type of particle most people have not heard of – that is able to function at room temperature. This breakthrough could lead to a new breed of faster, more energy efficient and smaller electronics.

Excitons could revolutionize the way engineers approach electronics. A team of EPFL researchers has created a new type of transistor – one of the components of circuits – using these particles instead of electrons. What is remarkable is that their exciton-based transistor functions effectively at room temperature, a hitherto insurmountable obstacle. They achieved this by using two 2D materials as semiconductors...