Power/Performance Bits: March 9


Healing perovskites Researchers at Brown University found that while perovskite solar cells can crack easily, they are also capable of healing those cracks. "The efficiency of perovskite solar cells has grown very quickly and now rivals silicon in laboratory cells," said Nitin Padture, a professor in Brown's School of Engineering and director of Brown's Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 13


Ferroelectric memory Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and North Carolina State University developed a ferroelectric memory cell and a method for measuring the electric potential distribution across a ferroelectric capacitor, an important aspect of creating new nonvolatile ferroelectric devices. The team's new ferroelectric memory cell is made from a 10nm thick z... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 3


Waking up IoT devices Researchers at UC San Diego developed an ultra-low power wake-up receiver chip that aims to reduce the power consumption of sensors, wearables, and Internet of Things devices that only need to communicate information periodically. "The problem now is that these devices do not know exactly when to synchronize with the network, so they periodically wake up to do this eve... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 5


Biofuels from microorganisms Researchers at Uppsala University are working on adapting microorganisms to be capable of producing useful biofuels out of carbon dioxide and solar energy. The team is focused on a series of modified cyanobacteria that produces the alcohol butanol, said Pia Lindberg, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University. "When ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 10


Quantum dots plus perovskites Researchers at the University of Toronto and KAUST created a hybrid material for solar cells that utilizes both perovskites and quantum dots. Both quantum dots and perovskites suffer from instability: perovskites degrade quickly and certain types become incapable of fully absorbing solar radiation at room temperature, while quantum dots must be covered with a p... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: May 6


Compressing objects Computer scientists at MIT propose a way to improve data compression in memory by focusing on objects rather than cache lines. "The motivation was trying to come up with a new memory hierarchy that could do object-based compression, instead of cache-line compression, because that's how most modern programming languages manage data," said Po-An Tsai, a graduate student at... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 19


Flexible energy harvesting rectenna Researchers from MIT, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, University Carlos III of Madrid, Boston University, University of Southern California, and the Army Research Laboratory created a flexible rectenna capable of converting energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity to power small devices and sensors. The device uses a flexible RF antenna to capture e... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 30


Long-term solar energy storage Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and Universidad de La Rioja created a system capable of storing solar energy for extended periods of time. The system, called Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage (MOST), hinges on a molecular photoswitch made from carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. When the molecule is hit by sunlight, it turns into an energy-rich... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 11


Non-toxic photoluminescent nanoparticles Researchers from Osaka University developed a way to improve display technologies using non-toxic light-emitting nanoparticles. In trying to replace cadmium and other toxic materials used in quantum dots, scientists have turned to non-toxic nanoparticles that emit light in an efficient manner by creating I–III–VI semiconductors, such as silver in... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 7


Optical neural network Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made a silicon chip that distributes optical signals precisely across a miniature brain-like grid, showcasing a potential new design for neural networks. Using light would eliminate interference due to electrical charge and the signals would travel faster and farther, said the researchers. "... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →