Category Technology/Electronics

David Newman et al. Performance of a quantum heat engine at strong reservoir coupling, Physical Review E (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.032139 

Research from The University of Manchester has thrown new light on the use of miniaturised ‘heat engines’ that could one day help power nanoscale machines like quantum computers. Heat engines are devices that turn thermal energy into a useful form known as ‘work’ which can provide power – like any other engine. Dr Ahsan Nazir wanted to see how heat engines performed at the quantum level. Heat engines at this scale could help power the miniaturised nanoscale machines of the future, such as components of quantum computers.

Dr Nazir’s research showed that heat engines were inclined to lose performance at the quantum scale due to the way such devi...

Particles are pulled out of a dispersion to form a ‘pearl necklace’, by applying an electric field through a needle-shaped electrode. Credit: Ming Han

Rozynek, a researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna, Poland, demonstrated something that looked almost like magic. When he poked a needle-shaped electrode into a mixture of micron-sized, spherical metal particles dispersed in silicone oil, a sphere stuck to its end. As Rozynek pulled the electrode out of the dispersion, another sphere attached to the first sphere, and then another to the second sphere, and so on, until a long chain formed. “The spheres behaved like magnetic beads, except no magnetism was involved,” said Prof. Luijten, NW McCormick School of Engineering. “The particles have no tendency to cluster...

Illinois professor Paul Braun and Hailong Ning, the director of research and development at Xerion Advanced Battery Corporation, led a research team that developed a method for directly electroplating lithium-ion battery cathodes. Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

The process that makes gold-plated jewelry or chrome car accents is now making powerful lithium-ion batteries. Researchers at the University of Illinois, Xerion Advanced Battery Corporation and Nanjing University in China developed a method for electroplating lithium-ion battery cathodes, yielding high-quality, high-performance battery materials that could open the door to flexible and solid-state batteries.

Traditional lithium-ion battery cathodes use lithium-containing powders formed at high temperatures...

The authors observed in real-time the transformation of a HfO2 nanorod from its room temperature to tetragonal phase, at 1000° less than its bulk temperature. Nanorod surfaces and twin boundary defects (pictured here) serve to kinetically trap this phase.

Materials research creates potential for improved computer chips and transistors. The inorganic compound hafnium dioxide commonly used in optical coatings has several polymorphs, including a tetragonal form with highly attractive properties for computer chips and other optical elements. However, because this form is stable only at temperatures above 3100F – scientists have had to make do with its more limited monoclinic polymorph. Until now...