Category Technology/Electronics

Outline of the microsatellite SOCRATES and the NICT optical ground station located in Koganei city. a. Picture of the lasercom terminal SOTA. b. Polarization states that encode the bits of the transmitted information. c. Optical ground station. d. Configuration diagram of the quantum receiver.

Big step toward building a truly-secure global communication network. The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: Hideyuki Tokuda, Ph.D.) developed the world’s smallest and lightest quantum-communication transmitter (SOTA) onboard the microsatellite SOCRATES...

Drexel University researchers have developed two new electrode designs, using MXene material, that will allow batteries to charge much faster. The key is a microporous design that allows ions to quickly make their way to redox active sites. Credit: Drexel University

Researchers use mxene to push charging rate limits in energy storage. Can you imagine fully charging your cell phone in just a few seconds? Researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering can, and they took a big step toward making it a reality with their recent work unveiling of a new battery electrode design...

1, Bismuthene film interrupted at a step in the silicon carbide substrate viewed through a scanning tunnelling microscope. The film areas inevitably end at the substrate step and a conducting edge channel (white) occurs.
2. Schematic illustration of the conducting edge channels at the boundaries of the bismuthene film. The edge channels protect the spins against scattering and thereby allow loss-free and efficient spin-based data transmission.

It’s ultra-thin, electrically conducting at the edge due to quantum effects and insulating within – and all that at room temperature: Physicists from the University of Würzburg have developed a promising new material. The material class of topological insulators is presently the focus of international solids research...

Self-Healing and Shape Memory Effects in Gold Microparticles through the Defects-Mediated Diffusion. Advanced Science, 2017; 1700159 DOI: 10.1002/advs.201700159

Researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Germany have demonstrated for the first time the phenomena of shape memory and self-healing in gold microparticles. Achieved through defects-mediated diffusion in the particle, the discovery could one day lead to development of micro- and nano-robots capable of self-repair; mechanically stable and damage-tolerant components and devices; and targeted drug delivery.

Shape-memory materials are characterized by the ability to repair the damage caused to them (such as plastic deformation) and to recover their original shape...