Category Technology/Electronics

An Intrinsically Stretchable and Compressible Supercapacitor Containing a Polyacrylamide Hydrogel Electrolyte, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2017). DOI: 10.1002/anie.201705212

A polyacrylamide hydrogel electrolyte renders supercapacitors extraordinarily stretchable and compressible. Flexible, wearable electronics require equally flexible, wearable power sources. Chinese scientists have introduced an extraordinarily stretchable and compressible polyelectrolyte which, in combination with carbon nanotube composite paper electrodes, forms a supercapacitor that can be stretched to 1000% in length and compressed to 50% in thickness with even gaining, not losing capacity.

Supercapacitors bridge the gap between batteries, which are merely energy-storing devices, and normal capacitors, w...

The sample here contains hundreds of thousands of nanoparticles that manipulate the incoming light. Credit: Stuart Hay, ANUy

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have designed a new nano material that can reflect or transmit light on demand with temperature control, opening the door to technology that protects astronauts in space from harmful radiation. Dr Mohsen Rahmani from ANU said the material was so thin that hundreds of layers could fit on the tip of a needle and could be applied to any surface, including spacesuits.

“Our invention has a lot of potential applications, such as protecting astronauts or satellites with an ultra-thin film that can be adjusted to reflect various dangerous ultraviolet or infrared radiation in different environments,” said Dr Rahmani, an A...

A nitrogen-vacancy (dark blue) quantum probe in diamond (light grey) performing nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on molecular hydrogen sitting on the diamond’s surface. A green laser controls the quantum state of the probe, which is tuned to the resonant frequency of target nuclear spins. The probe responds to the nuclear spins of the hydrogen atoms and provides a direct measurement via the red light emitted. Credit: David A. Broadway/cqc2t.org

Limitations of conventional NMR spectroscopy overcome. Researchers at the University of Melbourne have demonstrated a way to detect nuclear spins in molecules non-invasively, providing a new tool for biotechnology and materials science...

Hybrid laser 3-D-view. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Twente

Researchers have developed the world’s most narrowband diode laser on a chip. This laser represents a breakthrough in the fast-growing field of photonics, and will bring applications like 5G internet and accurate GPS closer. We are slowly reaching the bounds of what is possible with electronics. That is why scientists and the private sector are committed to photonics – a key technology that makes numerous other innovations possible. This involves the deployment of photons (light particles) for transporting and processing data.

For photonic chips to function as efficiently as possible, one has to be able to properly control the light signals...