Category Technology/Electronics

This is a conceptual illustration of pattern recognition process performed by hybrid gel oscillator system. Credit: Yan Fang

The potential to develop “materials that compute” has taken another leap at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, where researchers for the first time have demonstrated that the material can be designed to recognize simple patterns. This responsive, hybrid material, powered by its own chemical reactions, could one day be integrated into clothing and used to monitor the human body, or developed as a skin for “squishy” robots.

The computations were modeled utilizing Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels, a substance that oscillates in the absence of external stimuli, with an overlaying piezoelectric (PZ) cantilever. These BZ-PZ units combine Dr...

Iowa State engineers are developing real-world, low-cost applications for graphene. Credit: Photos by Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University.

Engineers have used laser-treatment process that allows them to use printed graphene for electric circuits and electrodes – even on paper and other fragile surfaces. The technology could lead to many real-world, low-cost applications for printed graphene electronics, including sensors, fuel cells and medical devices. Previous technology meant that graphene had to be treated to improve electrical conductivity and device performance. That usually meant high temperatures or chemicals – both could degrade flexible or disposable printing surfaces such as plastic films or even paper.

Das PhD and assistant/Prof Claussen came up with the idea of using lase...

A simulation shows one possible way that a highly active iridium oxide layer could form on the surface of a strontium iridium oxide catalyst. Experiments by SLAC and Stanford researchers showed that strontium atoms (green spheres) left the top layer through a corrosion process during the catalyst’s first two hours of operation. The top layer then rearranged itself and became much better at accelerating chemical reactions. Follow-up X-ray studies at SLAC will examine these surface changes in more detail. (C.F. Dickens/Stanford University)

Researchers have developed a tough new catalyst that carries out a solar-powered reaction 100 times faster than ever before, works better as time goes on and stands up to acid...

When chemistry graduate student Demetrius A. Vazquez-Molina took COF-5, a nano sponge-like, non-flammable manmade material and pressed it into pellets the size of a pinkie nail, he noticed something odd when he looked at its X-ray diffraction pattern. Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo suggested he turn the pellets on their side and run the X-ray analysis again. The result: The crystal structures within the material fell into precise patterns that allow for lithium ions to flow easily — like in a liquid. Credit: Nick Russett

2 University of Central Florida scientists have discovered how to get a solid material to act like a liquid without actually turning it into liquid, potentially opening a new world of possibilities for the electronic, optics and computing industries. When Demetrius A...