Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 21


Greener greenhouses Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz are testing greenhouses capable of generating some of their own energy, without hampering plant growth. Greenhouses use electricity to control temperature and power fans, lights, and other monitoring systems. Electricity-generating solar greenhouses utilize Wavelength-Selective Photovoltaic Systems (WSPVs), a novel ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 15


Solar sunglasses Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) developed sunglasses with colored, semitransparent organic solar cells applied onto the lenses capable of supplying a microprocessor and two displays with electric power. The solar cell lenses, perfectly fitted to a commercial frame, have a thickness of approx. 1.6 millimeters and weigh about six grams, just like th... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 21


Making harder windows Using cubic silicon nitride materials, a team of researchers have developed a harder window that can sustain severe conditions. There is a demand for harder and stronger windows in various applications, such as engines, ball bearings, cutting tools and other others. To enable this technology, researchers used materials based on transparent polycrystalline ceramics. One... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 7


The University of California at Santa Barbara claims to have developed the world’s smallest hammer. The technology, dubbed the μHammer or microHammer, is geared for biomedical research. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the tiny hammer will allow researchers to get a cellular-level understanding when force is applied to brain cells. The project is part of the U.S.-b... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 11


Getting to 1nm Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University created a transistor with a working 1nm gate from carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). "The semiconductor industry has long assumed that any gate below 5 nanometers wouldn't work, so anything below that was not even considered," said fir... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 28


Mimicking roses for solar Scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) reproduced the epidermal cells of rose petals and integrated the transparent replicas into an organic solar cell, with an efficiency gain of 12%. The epidermis of rose petals consists of a disorganized arrangement of densely p... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 26


An on-chip light source Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) demonstrated that carbon nanotubes are suited for use as an on-chip light source. By integrating tiny carbon nanotubes into a nanostructured waveguide, the team developed a compact miniaturized switching element that converts electric signals into clearly defined optical signals. "The nanostructures act lik... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 23


Apple core batteries Apple waste could help reduce the cost of energy storage, say researchers seeking an improved sodium-ion at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Sodium-ion batteries are not only far more powerful than nickel-metal hydride or lead acid accumulators, but also represent an alternative to lithium-ion technology, as the initial materials neede... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 22


Photonic memories A team of researchers from Oxford University, the University of Münster, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the University of Exeter produced the first all-photonic nonvolatile memory chip. The new device uses the phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), used in rewritable CDs and DVDs, to store data. This material can be made to assume an amorphous state, like glass... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 4


Superfast fluorescence Duke University researchers developed an ultrafast light-emitting device, pushing semiconductor quantum dots to emit light at more than 90 gigahertz. This device could one day be used in optical computing chips or for optical communication between traditional electronic microchips. The new speed record was set using plasmonics. When a laser shines on the surface of ... » read more

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