Category Technology/Electronics

When two monolayers of WTe2 are stacked into a bilayer, a spontaneous electrical polarization appears, one layer becoming positively charged and the other negatively charged. This polarization can be flipped by applying an electric field.
Credit: Joshua Kahn

Researchers report that the 2D form of tungsten ditelluride can undergo ‘ferroelectric switching.’ Materials with ferroelectric properties can have applications in memory storage, capacitors, RFID card technologies and even medical sensors – and tungsten ditelluride is the first exfoliated 2D material known to undergo ferroelectric switching.

2D materials can be prepared in crystalline sheets as thin as a single monolayer, only one or a few atoms thick...

For the first time, the researchers from MIT and AFFOA have produced fibers with embedded electronics that are so flexible they can be woven into soft fabrics and made into wearable clothing.
Credit: Image courtesy of MIT; Courtesy of the researchers

Researchers incorporate optoelectronic diodes into fibers and weave them into washable fabrics. The latest development in textiles and fibers is a kind of soft hardware that you can wear: cloth that has electronic devices built right into it. Researchers at MIT have now embedded high speed optoelectronic semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and diode photodetectors, within fibers that were then woven at Inman Mills, in South Carolina, into soft, washable fabrics and made into communication systems...

Researchers at Binghamton University, State University at New York have created a biodegradable, paper-based battery that is more efficient than previously possible.
Credit: Seokheun ‘Sean’ Choi

Proposed design is easy to produce, low-cost, flexible and more efficient than previously proposed paper-based batteries. The batteries of the future may be made out of paper. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University at New York have created a biodegradable, paper-based battery that is more efficient than previously possible.

For years, there has been excitement in the scientific community about the possibility of paper-based batteries as an eco-friendly alternative...

A smart wristband with a wireless connection to smartphones.
Credit: Abbas Furniturewalla

Engineers invent biosensor technology for wearable devices. Rutgers University-New Brunswick engineers have created a smart wristband with a wireless connection to smartphones that will enable a new wave of personal health and environmental monitoring devices. Their technology, which could be added to watches and other wearable devices that monitor heart rates and physical activity, is detailed in a study published online in Microsystems & Nanoengineering...