Category Technology/Electronics

Single molecule-high sheets of graphene oxide mix in solution with synthetic tandem repeat proteins patterned on squid ring teeth. The two separate materials self assemble so that the tandem repeat proteins attach to the edges of the graphene oxide sheets — one end on a sheet — to bring the graphene into stacks and uniformly space the sheets. The amount of spacing between graphene oxide sheets is determined by the length of the tandem repeat protein. Credit: Penn State

Squid-inspired proteins can act as programmable assemblers of 2D materials, like graphene oxide, to form hybrid materials with minute spacing between layers suitable for high-efficiency devices including flexible electronics, energy storage systems and mechanical actuators, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn Stat...

André Dankert, Saroj P. Dash. Electrical gate control of spin current in van der Waals heterostructures at room temperature. Nature Communications, 2017; 8: 16093 DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS16093

Graphene Flagship researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden have showed a graphene-based spin field-effect transistor operating at room temperature. Using the spin of the electrons in graphene and other layered material heterostructures they have produced working devices as a step towards integrating spintronic logic and memory devices. Current semiconductor logic devices within our computers use the flow and control of electronic charge for information processing. Spintronic memory devices use electron spin to store information...

1. An array of the temperature sensor chips is shown. 2, Near-zero-power temperature sensor runs on 113 picowatts of power. Photos by David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Electrical engineers at the UCSD have developed a temperature sensor that runs on only 113 picowatts of power – 628 times lower power than the state of the art and about 10 billion times smaller than a watt. This near-zero-power temperature sensor could extend the battery life of wearable or implantable devices that monitor body temperature, smart home monitoring systems, Internet of Things devices and environmental monitoring systems.

The technology could also enable a new class of devices that can be powered by harvesting energy from low-power sources, such as the body or the surrounding environment...

A diagram of the VES-4, a scorpion-milking machine.

A new scorpion-milking robot designed could replace the traditional manual method. Scorpion venom is used in medical applications such as immunosuppressants, anti-malarial drugs and cancer research, but the extraction process can be potentially life-threatening. “This robot makes venom recovery fast and safe,” says Mr Mouad Mkamel who designed the robot with a team of researchers from Ben M’sik Hassan II University, Morocco.

“The extraction of scorpion venom is a very difficult task and usually takes at least two experimenters,” says Mr Mkamel. “There are numerous risks including potentially deadly scorpion stings and electric shocks from the stimulators used to extract the venom...