Contactless aerosol printing method makes better sensors
In thermoelectric sensor, the weak links in the conductor path between the printed circuit board and the sensor contacts are the wire bonds, which impair gas and fluid flow. The solution, researchers have found, is to print the wire bonds with nanoparticle silver.
Nanowire circuitry relies on standard semicon methods
Like other mass synthesized nanoscale materials, nanowires are easily made but notoriously difficult to control. Harvard Univ. scientists, however, have made hundreds of nanowire photonic circuits using common methods and say they are scalable in a manufacturing setting.
Cuprate superconductor temperature theory is confirmed
With the help of scanning tunneling microscopy, researchers at Cornell Univ. have shown that variations in the distance between atoms correlate to the variation of temperatures at which superconductivity occurs. Until now, this property had been unexplained.
Sony brings hybridization to compact fuel cells
A small fuel cell design Sony Corp. revealed earlier this year has recently been explained in detail. The 3 W device depends on both a Li-polymer battery and a methanol fuel cell when electrical load is heavy. When the load is light, the fuel cell recharges the battery.
Scattered nanotube layer creates ‘ultramicroelectrode’
Volume production of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) rarely results in a useful product. The chemical vapor deposition and lithography process established by some UK researchers, however, creates a thin, even layer of electrically conductive SWNTs suitable for research into sensors or fuel cell catalysis.
Fate of nanoparticles is tied up in the solution
The question of how nanoscale particles move about in natural systems is a complex and sensitive one. Researchers thus far have, by using mathematical models and varying parameters, tracked the way clusters of carbon 60 either cling to soil or travel easily with water depending on the presence of organic compounds or surfactants.
MEMS Oscillators Earn Their Stripes
For decades, developers pursued a dynamic duo that, in theory, looked to hold all the cards: an accurate oscillator joined to a silicon resonator. Unfortunately, only one option presented itself as a viable oscillator material-quartz-and its material characteristics prevented any union with inexpensive silicon wafers.
MicroNano Systems Manufacturing—
Do You Need
Your Own Fab?
A key question in the commercialization of small (and large) products is: should you buy it or make it yourself? This question is related to a few other questions about the company strategy, its technology, and its environment: Do we have the needed background?
Picking up the Pace
Turbopumps are seldom standalone devices. A high vacuum or ultra-high vacuum system used to produce silicon-on-insulator wafers or to fill cholestric liquid crystal materials for LCDs, for instance, relies on a complex system of pumps, transmitters, flanges, valves, and control devices that must be carefully prepped to suit the desired application.
Desirable magnetic nanoparticles, in one simple step Not all nanoparticles are created equally. An iron-cobalt speck with a gold shell, for example, is both more magnetically responsive and bio-friendly than iron oxide. But the chemical process is pricey. Univ. of Minnesota research has produced a new physical method that could drop the cost drastically.
Rocket fuel nanomotors set miniscule speed records Nothing says rockets can’t be tiny. But until now, nanomotors have been both tiny and slow. Arizona State Univ. engineers have kicked up the output by adding carbon nanotubes to their gold and platinum nanowire motors, then spiking the fuel with hydrazine for 10 times the boost.
Nanoparticles enable OLED barrier breakthrough A materials institute in Singapore reports it has solved the “pinhole” or materials defect, problem in multi-layer barriers used to protect organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) from the harmful effects of moisture. The result is a thousand-fold improvement in water vapor transmission.
Micro-origami creates tiny drug delivery packages At first, the micrometer-sized containers created by Univ. of Southern California engineers are flat, resembling snowflakes. Magnetic force causes the electrocoated hinges to bend, and the folding is completed by capillary forces from wetting and drying.
Electrical engineers create world’s first “memristor” Titanium dioxide-coated “memory resistor” wires, a new form electronic memory devised by HP Labs, relies on principles of changing resistance levels. The device proves a long-held belief—the existence of a device that can retain an information record in the absence of electrical power.
Electrical airplanes charge forward. And up. Battery-powered airplanes, like their automotive counterparts, first appeared at the dawn of powered personal transport. Yet, like those cars, they’ve never really taken off. Some engineers now believe the time is right for batteries aloft, and start-ups are testing the water with small, but expensive, commercial airplane.
Researchers claim discovery of superheavy element “unbibium” R&D Daily previously reported on an “island of stability” chemists claim exists past the far end of the periodic table. Researchers now claim they have found one, the byproduct of collision experiments with thorium. Their paper claims the substance has an atomic weight of 292, sparking some online debate.
Stiction test for nanotubes marks a first for nanoscale systems Atomic force microscopy was the key technology used by Purdue Univ. scientists to measure precisely the force required to peel nanotubes from other materials. Potential uses for such knowledge: medical devices, nanowires, or biopolymers.
Radiation-blocking cement at forefront of nonproliferation efforts Ceramicrete, a phosphate cement for radiation shielding, is proving itself to be a useful component of Russo-American efforts at proliferation control. Born of research at Argonne National Lab, the neutron- and gamma ray-blocking cement has already earned its developer two R&D 100 Awards.
Hot PV measurements Another hot PV technology coming out of the Society of Vacuum Coaters' annual conference this week in Chicago is the Automated Spectroscopic Ellipsometer, which is particularly suitable for analyzing PVs, semiconductiors, and the interfacial characteristics of other functional coatings.
Carbon nanotubes that willingly fall in line Carbon nanotube (CNT) circuitry is the grail, but the “circuits” are finicky, showing a tendency to overlap even when grown to great length. Duke Univ. scientists, guiding growth using crystalline quartz forms, used copper growth catalysts and gasified alcohol to grow straight CNTs in volume.
Superconductor family grows—but relations are murky Superconductor science just got more confusing. Japanese and Chinese research teams each fielded reports of new types of “high temperature” electron pairing, similar to copper-and-oxygen cuprates discovered in 1986. Yet at least one theorist believes these new materials are a completely new family.
Silicon, not carbon, nanotubes best for hydrogen storage Though silicon nanotubes have only just emerged as an applications material, researchers in China used grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) software simulations to conclude the as yet untested silicon nanotube structure should perform better for hydrogen storage than its much-researched carbon cousin.
Photovoltaics the hot topic in Chicago As the Windy City basked in spring’s glow, the Society of Vacuum Coaters’ annual conference attracted some of the best new developments in nanoscale thin films. In addition to PV, vacuum advances meriting mention include Dexter Magnetic Technologies’ impulse magnetron sputtering.
Prosthetic “Fluidhand” emulates the real one The human hand, among nature’s most sophisticated creations, is not easy to replicate as a prosthesis. Recent efforts as a German university, however, have resulted in a soft-contact hand capable for full five-finger wraps and variable gripping power. The hand is now in the testing phase.
OLEDs could soon wave lifetime woes goodbye Moisture is the bane of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), shortening compound life expectancy despite expensive vacuum sealing methods. Using a nanoscale silicon oxynitride film instead of glass is the answer, say researchers who may have cracked the glass problem.
May 9, 2008
There are roughly 78 million baby boomers in the U.S. and about 8,000 of them turn 60 every day. A small number still have parents, many of whom are in continuing care retirement facilities, which many of the baby boomers themselves will have need of in the future. A number of studies have revealed that, under current situations, there won’t be enough health care workers available in the future to properly take care of the residents in these facilities.
One of the solutions noted was the implementation of robotic systems for many of the routine chores, thereby freeing up the available health care providers to do the more personal and intensive jobs. Other robotic systems have been demonstrated for the in-home care and monitoring of elderly citizens. Health care robotic assistants’ duties include systems for delivery and disposal of materials, infirm patient guidance and tracking, rehabilitation assistants, and overall monitoring and analysis. But while many of these systems have been demonstrated, relatively few have been transitioned into actual products and integrated into health care facilities or available for in-home use.
Likely, the overall costs for the systems including their initial acquisition, maintenance, and monitoring and control networks are still beyond the payback range required by the care facility operators or individuals. Their reliability, especially in power outage situations, also has not been proven. Certainly, the looming volume of potential customers for these products is highly visible and without question, so as to create a marketplace with adequate revenue possibilities and high-volume cost reductions. Regardless, the manufacturers of such systems are not visibly increasing, and the integrations of systems into facilities is meager at best. Indeed, research in robotic health care appears to be increasing in the EU and Japan—who have their own rising levels of senior citizens—faster than it is in the U.S.
Is this going to become a situation where robotic systems needed to take care of our elderly are sourced from suppliers outside the U.S.? These are primarily high-technology products and not commodities, so that the cost advantage for foreign suppliers should not be an issue. It will become primarily a situation of who actually designs and builds these systems and offers them for sale. I sincerely hope that U.S. industry will take advantage of this opportunity to create a new market sector.
