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Light-emitting silicon overcomes a major obstacle to denser, faster chips
Light-emitting silicon nanowires are finally a reality, opening the door to a new wave of denser and faster chips.
Six next-gen battery technologies
By Cat DiStasio We all love our battery-powered gadgets, but portable power cells can be devastating to the environment. Fortunately, recent developments have proven that greener batteries are coming in the not-too-distant future. Engineers are replacing toxic components with less harmful materials ranging from leaves to sugar. Other innovations on the rise look to nature to help make batteries last longer, perform better and leave less of a trace once they've been discarded. This gold nanowire-based battery, for instance, was created by accident and could make lithium ion batteries obsolete, while this single-use battery dissolves in water when its job is done, making it easier to reuse its components.
Gene-modified soil bacteria promise eco-friendly computing
You normally need non-renewable elements or minerals to create nanowires. However, the US Navy's Office of Naval Research may have a better solution: the life living in the dirt under your feet. Its sponsored researchers have crafted nanowires from genetically modified Geobacter, a bacteria you find in soil just about everywhere on Earth. The team altered the bacteria so that it would replace amino acids with tryptophan, which is a much better electrical conductor (2,000 times) at the nanoscopic scale. String enough of those bacteria together and you suddenly have wiring that's virtually invisible to the human eye. They wires are tougher and smaller, too, so they stand a better chance of surviving inside electronics.
Brain-like computers may now be realistic
Power consumption is one of the biggest reasons why you haven't seen a brain-like computer beyond the lab: the artificial synapses you'd need tend to draw much more power than the real thing. Thankfully, realistic energy use is no longer an unattainable dream. Researchers have built nanowire synapses that consume just 1.23 femtojoules of power -- for reference, a real neuron uses 10 femtojoules. They achieve that extremely low demand by using a wrap of two organic materials to release and trap ions, much like real nerve fibers.
ICYMI: VR Mars bus tour, self-assembling nanowire and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Lockheed Martin is encouraging kids to get into STEM with a Mars Experience Bus, with giant displays that look as though they're actually driving on the surface of Mars. Rice University created nanotubes that quickly self-assemble into nanowire. And Yamaha created an acoustic guitar that can store and loop back reverb and chorus sounds. We are also collectively irritated by the latest smart mattress with sensors inside, designed to catch your partner cheating, on your own mattress, when you're not at home. Ugh. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Nanowire technology will improve brain-stimulating implants
Scientists at Lund University have published a paper about a new nanowire thread (only 80 nanometres in diameter) that will work to strengthen brain implants. Neuro-prostheses are currently used to stimulate and collect information from the brain of those with Parkinson's disease, along with other illnesses. However, one of the biggest problems that current tech faces is that the brain identifies the implant as a foreign object and uses cellular material to surround the electrode, resulting in a loss of signal. With the newly developed technology, this will (hopefully) no longer be the case.
Here's how 'flawless' materials break on a nanoscopic scale
Have you ever wondered why a supposedly defect-free material ends up cracking? University of Pennsylvania researchers have an answer. They've studied supposedly flawless materials (in this case, palladium nanowires) to see how they break on a nanoscopic level. As it turns out, these failures usually come down to atoms floating around when their bonds break, usually with little change in temperature. It's seemingly random, too, since the bonds vary widely from atom to atom. The scientists hope that identifying these weak points will help design devices that hold up under strain, even at the smallest possible level. Don't be surprised if you're one day using gadgets that are much more reliable, even at the smallest possible levels. [Image credit: VladKol/Shutterstock]
Nanowires three atoms wide could lead to paper-thin gadgets
What's that odd shape, you ask? That's the world's thinnest nanowire -- and it could be the key to a future wave of flexible devices. In blasting single-layered, semiconducting materials with an electron beam, Vanderbilt University student Junhao Lin has created wires that measure just three atoms wide while remaining strong and very bendy. Since there are already transistors and memory gates made out of the same material, Lin envisions circuits and whole devices that are paper-thin, yet can stand up to abuse; in the long run, he envisions rollable tablets and TVs that could fit in your pocket. The technique could help produce 3D circuitry, too. We're still a long way from either of those becoming practical realities, but the discovery at least shows that they're technically possible.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: TORQ Roadster, quantum-dot solar cells and an invisibility cloak
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week, Team Inhabitat traveled to Mountain View, Calif., to get a look at the 100 percent sun-powered Solar Impulse airplane before it embarks on its first flight across the United States. Inhabitat editors also braved the crowds at the 2013 New York International Auto Show to report on the hottest new hybrids and electric cars. Some of the green cars unveiled at this year's show were the compact Mercedes-Benz 2014 B-Class Electric Drive and BMW's sexy new Active Tourer plug-in hybrid. The Tesla Model S was named the 2013 World Green Car of the Year, beating out the Renault Zoe and the Volvo V60. And speaking of new auto unveils, Epic EV unveiled its new all-electric TORQ Roadster, which looks like a roofless Batmobile and can go from 0-60 MPH in just four seconds.
New process for nanotube semiconductors could be graphene's ticket to primetime (video)
In many ways, graphene is one of technology's sickest jokes. The tantalizing promise of cheap to produce, efficient to run materials, that could turn the next page in gadget history has always remained frustratingly out of reach. Now, a new process for creating semiconductors grown on graphene could see the super material commercialized in the next five years. Developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the patented process "bombs" graphene with gallium, which forms droplets, and naturally arranges itself to match graphene's famous hexagonal pattern. Then, arsenic is added to the mix, which enters the droplets and crystallizes at the bottom, creating a stalk. After a few minutes of this process the droplets are raised by the desired height. The new process also does away with the need for a (relatively) thick substrate to grow the nanowire on, making it cheaper, more flexible and transparent. The inventors state that this could be used in flexible and efficient solar cells and light emitting diodes. We say forward the revolution.
NCSU creates stretchable conductors from silver nanowires, lets gadgets go the extra inch
As often as we've seen flexible electronics, there haven't been many examples that could stretch -- a definite problem for wearables as well as any gadget that could afford to take a pull or squeeze. North Carolina State University's Yong Zhu and Feng Xu may have covered this gap through a form of silver nanowire conductor that keeps the energy flowing, even if the wire is stretched as much as 50 percent beyond its original length. By coating the nanowires with a polymer that traps the silver when solid, the researchers create an elastic material that can crumple and let the nanowire take the strain without interruption. Although the stretchy conductor's nature as a research project could put any practical use years into the future, Zhu notes that it can take loads of abuse, making it a perfect fit for rugged mobile devices. It should also allow for robots with a gentler touch and a more natural look... although we'll admit we're skittish about the creepy androids likely to follow.
Researchers take nanowire transistors vertical, double up on density
3D silicon is all the rage, and now nanowire transistors have further potential to keep Moore's Law on life support. Researchers at A*STAR have found a way to double the number of transistors on a chip by placing the atomic-scale wires vertically, rather than in the run-of-the-mill planar mode, creating two "wrap-around gates" that put a pair of transistors on a single nanowire. In the future, the tech could be merged with tunnel field effect transistors -- which use dissimilar semiconductor materials -- to create a markedly denser design. That combo would also burn a miniscule percentage of the power required conventionally, according to the scientists, making it useful for low-powered processors, logic boards and non-volatile memory, for starters. So, a certain Intel founder might keep being right after all, at least for a few years more.
Copper-nickel nanowires from Duke University could make ubiquitous printable circuits
Nanowires, although they're building steam, still have to overcome the not-so-small problem of cost -- they often have to use indium tin oxide that's not just expensive, but fragile. Duke University has developed copper-nanowire films that could remedy this in style. The choice of material is both a hundred times less expensive to make than indium and is much more durable. It's flexible, too: if layered on as a coating, the nanowires would make for considerably more viable wearable electronics that won't snap under heavy stress. The catch, as you might suspect, stems from the copper itself, which doesn't conduct as much electricity as indium. The nickel will keep your copper electronics from oxidizing faster than the Statue of Liberty, however. Any practical use could be years away, but further successes from Duke could quickly see printable electronics hit the mainstream power and power our dreams of flexible displays.
This electric wire is four atoms thick, and you thought speaker cable was fiddly (video)
This should come as a great relief to anyone planning a quantum computer self-build: wires still conduct electricity and obey key laws of classical physics even when they're built at the nanoscale. Researchers at Purdue and Melbourne universities used chains of phosphorus atoms inside a silicon crystal to create a wire that's just four atoms wide and a single atom high -- 20 times smaller than the previous record-holder and infinitely narrower than anything you'd find at Newegg. The video after the break almost explains how they did it.
Ferroelectric transistor memory could run on 99 percent less power than flash
We've been keeping an optimistic eye on the progress of Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) for a few years now, not least because it offers the tantalizing promise of 1.6GB/s read and write speeds and crazy data densities. But researchers at Purdue University reckon we've been looking in the wrong place this whole time: the real action is with their development of FeTRAM, which adds an all-important 'T' for 'Transistor'. Made by combining silicon nanowires with a ferroelectric polymer, Purdue's material holds onto its 0 or 1 polarity even after being read, whereas readouts from capacitor-based FeRAM are destructive. Although still at the experimental stage, this new type of memory could boost speeds while also reducing power consumption by 99 percent. Quick, somebody file a patent. Oh, they already did.
Nanowire batteries now as 'small as possible,' could one day be included with nano toys
That black dot isn't a battery, it's an ultra-thin disc containing thousands of individual nanowire batteries. Rice University scientists claim their miniscule wires are "as small as such devices can possibly get," because each one comes complete with its own anode, cathode and gel-like electrolyte coating. This contrasts with previous examples we've seen, which bolted nanowires onto a chunky exterior cathode. On the other hand, these new all-in-one nano-batts only last for 20 charge cycles, so personally we're still betting on gooey Cambridge crude to be the next big thing in electricity. Full PR after the break.
MIT's genetically modified viruses boost solar-cell efficiency by herding nanotubes
The wizards of MIT have done it again. Having checked artificial leaves and Operabots off the to-do list, they've moved on to improving the efficiency of solar cells. Their technique combines a genetically modified version of the M13 virus with carbon nanotubes, which have already been shown to increase efficiency. Unfortunately, some nanotubes enhance solar cell performance, while others inhibit it – and both types tend to clump together, negating their benefits. The modified M13 virus, however, can separate the two types as well as prevent clumping; we've seen similar use of the Tobacco mosaic virus to build better electrodes. Adding virus-built structures to dye-sensitized solar cells increased power conversion efficiency by almost one-third and, with only one additional step in the manufacturing process required, the new approach could be rapidly taken up by existing production facilities. MIT: proving once again that viruses are good for more than just smiting your enemies.
NASA makes longer, straighter piezoelectric nanowires in microgravity, no flat iron needed
Piezoelectric nanowires are the stuff that make power-generating pants a possibility, and that prodigious potential has drawn the attention of NASA. You see, self-powered spacesuits are awfully attractive to our nation's space agency, and a few of its finest student researchers have discovered that the current-creating strands of zinc oxide can be made longer and straighter -- and therefore more powerful -- when freed from gravity's unrelenting pull. That means nanowires grown in microgravity could lead to higher capacity batteries and the aforementioned juice-generating interstellar garb. Of course, there's no such end-products yet, but let's see if NASA can do what others have not: give pants-power to the people.
World's smallest battery uses a single nanowire, plant-eating virus could improve Li-ion cells tenfold
When it comes to building better batteries, building electrodes with greater surface area is key, and scientists are looking to exotic methods to attract the tiny particles they need. We've already seen graphene and carbon nanotubes soak up those electrons, but the University of Maryland has another idea -- they're using the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) to generate usable patterns of nanorods on the surface of existing metal electrodes. By simply modifying the germ and letting it do its thing, then coating the surface with a conductive film, they're generating ten times the energy capacity of a standard lithium-ion battery while simultaneously rendering the nasty vegetarian bug inert. Meanwhile, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Sandia Labs was more curious how these tiny charges actually work without confusing the forest for the trees, so to speak, so a team of scientists set about constructing the world's smallest battery. Using a single tin dioxide nanowire as anode, a chunk of lithium cobalt dioxide as cathode, and piping some liquid electrolyte in between, they took a microscopic video of the charging process. See it in all its grey, goopy glory right after the break.
Glowing nanowires could light up your life, one particle at a time
A gadget without LEDs is like hug without a squeeze or apple pie without cheese -- no blinkenlights no care. But, what about nanoscale gadgets? Previously things that were smaller than LEDs naturally couldn't offer their charming glow, but now nanobots too can assault your rods, cones, and good taste thanks to a new process of creating "nano-LEDS" developed by Babak Nikoobakht and Andrew Herzing at NIST. They're really just nanowires, but these have a very different composition than usual due to their method of creation: growing horizontally like vines instead of vertically like trees. By growing them along a gallium nitride surface the wire partially picks up that substance's composition and, with the addition of a little electric current, that GaN infusion causes the wires to glow. Appropriate, that, since gallium nitride is also used in the production of normal-sized LEDs. And thus, the science comes full-circle.
