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    Category Technology/Electronics

    New Era of Electronics and Quantum devices could be ushered in with virtually perfect single layer of “white graphene”

    December 2, 2015, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Physics, Technology/Electronics

     

    The material, technically known as hexagonal boron nitride, features better transparency than its sister, graphene, is chemically inert, or non-reactive, and atomically smooth. It also features high mechanical strength and thermal conductivity. Unlike graphene, however, it is an insulator instead of a conductor of electricity, making it useful as a substrate and the foundation for the electronics in cell phones, laptops, tablets and many other devices.

    Growth and transfer of 2-D material such as hexagonal boron nitride and graphene was performed by a team that included Yijing Stehle of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: ORNL

    Growth and transfer of 2-D material such as hexagonal boron nitride and graphene was performed by a team that included Yijing Stehle of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: ORNL

    “Imagine batteries, capacitors, solar cells, video screens and fuel cells as thin as a piece of paper,” said ORNL’s Yijing Stehle...

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    Engineering students have successfully built Singapore’s first personal flying machine: “Snowstorm”

    December 2, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Snowstorm, the personal flying machine. (Photo: S Shiva)

    Snowstorm, the personal flying machine. (Photo: S Shiva)

    Comprising an intricate design of motors, propellers and inflated landing gear set within a hexagonal frame, Snowstorm is an electric-powered aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing that can be controlled by a single person seated within it. The NUS team envisions this as a clean and simple way to realise our dreams of flying.

    The personal flying machine was built over a one-year period, under the auspices of FrogWorks, a collaboration between NUS Faculty of Engineering’s Design-Centric Programme (DCP) and the University Scholars Programme (USP). FrogWorks engages students in the study, design and construction of clean leisure craft, a rapidly growing segment of green technology...

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    Skyrmions, found in Magnetic Systems, now show to also exist in Ferroelectrics

    December 1, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Schematic representation of the structure and dipolar configuration of the vortex state.

    Schematic representation of the structure and dipolar configuration of the vortex state. The structure consists of a cylindrical BaTiO3 (BTO) nanowire with a radius R of 2.7 nm (seven lattice constant units) embedded in a SrTiO3 (STO) matrix with lateral sides along the [100] and [010] directions of nx=ny=36 lattice constant units, and a length nz=6 along the [001] pseudocubic direction. (b) Cross-sectional dipolar configuration of the (Vxy|FEz) state characterized by a vortex pattern in the z-planes co-occurring with an electrical polarization along the [001] direction.

    Skyrmions are non-coplanar swirling field textures. Ferroelectrics convert changes in mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa...

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    Graphene and Metal Nitrides improve Performance and Stability of Energy Storage Devices

    November 30, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Illustration of the asymmetric supercapacitor, consisting of vertically aligned graphene nanosheets coated with iron nitride and titanium nitride as the anode and cathode, respectively. Credit: © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

    Illustration of the asymmetric supercapacitor, consisting of vertically aligned graphene nanosheets coated with iron nitride and titanium nitride as the anode and cathode, respectively. Credit: © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

    Supercapacitors can be charged and discharged tens of thousands of times, but their low energy density compared to conventional batteries limits their application for energy storage. Now, A*STAR researchers in Singapore have developed an ‘asymmetric’ supercapacitor based on metal nitrides and graphene that could be a viable energy storage solution.

    A supercapacitor’s viability is largely determined by materials its anodes and cathodes are comprised...

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