Researchers Develop Nanoparticle Films for High-Density Data Storage

High density data storage gets a boost with the development of nanoparticle films

Data generation in this age is quadrupling with each passing day and we are unable to store or manage the mammoth amount of data at our disposal. Therefore finding an alternative which enables us to store data at longer period of time with great stability has become a critical necessity. Now researchers from Northeast Normal University in China has developed new nanoparticle films which are 80 times thinner than the human hair but can easily help in high density data storage. Researchers have asserted that these nanoparticle films can easily archive more than 1000 times worth of data than the traditional DVD on just a 10 by 10 centimeter large piece of film.

Promises usage from wearable device to deep space

It is a remarkable technology and we are likely to see it being used in the wearable devices in the short time. These nanoparticle films can also store the 3D images of the objects or people which can viewed as a 3D hologram with natural realistic and in-depth details later on. These nanoparticle films can be used in the regular devices and the storage medium developed by its usage is also environmentally stable which means used in the outside condition or can even be utilized in the space conditions where harmful radiations are the way of life.

Storing more and more data by taking less and less space

This new kind of nanoparticle films has been designed specifically for the new age holographic data storage. This data storage hasn't found much support or recognition so of today as it makes use of the laser to create as well as read the 3-D holographic recreation of the data present on the nanoparticle films. It is blazing fast with the ability to write as well as read millions of bits at once which makes the holographic data storage way ahead of its traditional counterparts.

The traditional counterpart are namely the optic and magnetic data storage system which happens to record and read just individual bits at a time with is both time consuming and extremely slow when it comes to huge amount of data.

Holographic approach in the high density data storage allows researchers to record information throughout the 3D volume of the entire naoparticle materials. Herein data is not just recorded on the surface but it also researchers to record multiple data or images in the same given area by simply using the light at varied angles and using different colours. Researchers are also working on recoding holographic images on the titania silver films in order to get the similar performance with lesser effort and higher stability.

At the moment researchers are aggressively planning to test the environmental stability of these nanoparticle films in order to ensure quick and safe real life application of the same in the upcoming days. It will certainly help in removing the data storage woes of millions of users worldwide with simple and easier application.

Triboelectric Nanogenerators Boost Mass Spectrometry Performance

Scientists Successfully Boost the Mass Spectrometry Performance by Using Tribolectric Nanogenrators

The most basic problem which surfaces in the entire consumer electronics device is the power consumption. We are actively looking for such kind of power source which doesn’t put a hole in our pocket and helps in getting performance out of the device. Researchers have come with a solution by developing the triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) which will help in converting the mechanical energy from the environment to electricity. And this electricity will be more than enough to power some of the small devices which include the sensors and consumer electronics products.

The team behind this remarkable technology

This technology has been developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology which can bring a trend of replacing the traditional power supplies with the TENG device for charging. Though in this case the TENG devices will be used of charging the molecules in the spectrometers and the research has shown that it take the sensitivity of it to an unimaginable level which is good in every way. Scientists have conducted few experiments on the smaller samples in order to understand the full extent of the applications of the TENG technology.

During their research it was found that this technology requires further study the TENG offers unique aspects in its output which has a remarkable high voltage as well as controlled current. This means that the TENG can help in making incredible improvements in the ionization process and later on increased voltage speed can be easily applied to the instrument without even damaging it. This research has already been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology and quite incidentally this research has been supported by the Natural Science Foundation as well as Department of Energy and NASA astrology Program. Researchers has been modest about their astonishing technological discovery based on the nanogenerators by stating that it is quite new and it is being used in a very controlled manner in order to charge the molecules.

The remarkable finding of the research

Researchers have made use of this technology in the electrospray ionization and plasma discharge ionization wherein they have been able to generate singular polarity as well as alternating polarity of ion pulses. Researchers have successfully measured the voltage level present in the mass spec ionizer to be between the 6000 to 8000 volts. It is a great achievement given the fact that the standard iconizer presently in use can only operate at less than 1500 volts.

The future application of the TENG technology

Researchers have retrofitted the tech technology to existing mass spectrometers and this has been done in the lab with great success. Their research has already been published in some of the journals and researchers are hopeful that more number of people starting making use of the TENG technology in not just the mass spectrometry but even other areas. This nanogenerators based technology will certainly help in getting more power for our daily use devices without spending huge amount of time and money.

Researchers Print Promising Two-Dimensional Transistors

Researchers just printed two dimensional transistors successfully

If you are wondering what transistors then please note it is essentially a semiconductor devices which helping amplifying and switching the electronic signals or electric power as a whole. It plays a vital in almost all the electronics products which are available in the market and without it you can’t even think of devices performing the way they are. Some of the researchers from AMBER and Trinity College in Dublin have successfully created printed transistors that consist of only two dimensional nanomaterials. The best thing about this innovation is that no one has done it before and the 2d materials used in comes loaded promising electronic properties which is extremely low cost in nature.
This research does have some of the incredible application potential which can’t be explained to its fullest. For example in future the food packaging industry can make use of it bring a digital countdown which will alert the users about the health of the food and placing it on wine bottle can help in showing whether wine is kept at the optimum temperature or not. Their finding has already been published in the Science magazine April issue.

 

The team behind this technology

Using the standard printing technique of combining the grapheme nanosheets which includes the electrodes with two other nanomaterials namely boron nitride and tungsten diselenide. The two most important parts of the transistors is called the channel and separator and researchers has been able to print it on a nanosheet thereby coming up with a working transistor.

The team of researchers consisted of Trinity College professors namely Jonathan Coleman and Georg Duesberg. Coleman has shed light on the future possibility of creating or combining together highly complex device by conducting, semiconducting as well as insulating the 2D nanomaterials. But during their research they simply focused on printing the transistors which can work as electric switches into the modern computing with ease and grace. 

New method indulge in testing without even touching

Earlier the chemical vapor deposition were used to develop the two dimensional transistors. Using this particular the transistors were great at performance but the method itself was quite expensive.

While the printable electronics brings a new way of printing components which are mostly based on the carbon based molecules at extremely low cost and get an amazing performance out of it at the same time. It is worth noting that carbon based molecules does have its own share instability and performance limitations but it is still better than the chemical vapor deposition.

A single nanosheet can do much better

Researchers has made use of many different nanosheets of completely varying size in order to get best combination available for the printing their transistors. When the printing process was initiated researchers simply deposited the nanosheets over one another in random fashion and it was found that the conductivity present within the nanosheets was just good for the job.

So the next job for the researchers is to come with a single nanosheet which will help in printing such 2D structures which offers better performance than the current one.

‘Nano-Earthquakes’ Result in Faster Electronic Components

Scientists from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology are working towards rocking the world of electronics. According to researchers Dr. Sumeet Walia as well as Dr. Amgad Rezk, the main key to connect the power of 2D materials lies under the Nano-earthquakes. They added that they have been able to find that the sound waves, if properly controlled will be able to influence the electronic properties of 2D materials such as graphene.

What are these earthquakes? 

The earthquakes as being referred by the researcher are no way linked with the actual earthquakes creating havoc around the world. But they are referring this to so called SAWs, which are surface acoustic waves, with the ability to circulate through a material. The researcher used this material as a source of photoluminescence rather than a semiconductor.

They took a layer which was coupled with several atoms to a substrate to understand the behaviour of SAWs rippling across the surface of the material. According to the experiment conducted by the researchers, they have utilized molybdenum disulfide, which is a quasi-2D material, with the ability to act as a semiconductor just like silicon.

The team was further able to modulate the electronic properties of the 2D material by controlling the intensity as well as direction of the ripples throughout the experiment. This research shed critical light on the relationship existing between the electronic performance of the molybdenum disulfide layer and the nano-quakes. Researchers found that with the increase in the intensity of the ripples, there was an increase in the photoluminescence property of the 2D material. More number of ripples led to the emitting of light from the layer.

What is the use of this technology? 

Scientists believe that the sound waves starts acting like the carriers of electrons and there by dragging them throughout the surface of the material as they are circulating. This is the main reason for change in the electronic property of the material. This ensures that the electrical conductance of the material is constantly increased till the time system is active.

The researchers believe that this technology will have lot of uses in the near future in terms of 2D materials, mainly towards the opto-eletric applications. A simple example is the camera quality in the Smartphone. The cameras of the Smartphones are often criticized for their low quality and poor adaptation to the dark due their small sensor size. Just image having a smartphone having a sensor made out of the 2D material which will increase the sensitivity of the lenses in the darkness by using the sound waves in the camera module. The manipulation of the sound as well as the 2D materials can certainly lead to an improvement in the solar panels as well.

As per the RMIT research team, increasing desirability of 2D materials has made this technology very strong and robust. They added that once the acoustic vibrations were stopped during the experiment, the molybdenum disulfide layer of the material regained its unique electronic state and no damage was seen in the material.

New Nano technology sensors that convert pressure of your fingers into light

Researchers have developed nano-sensors that can convert mechanical pressure (such as pressing a touch screen) into light. This will be used to transmit information faster and with better definition. This new invention is the result of a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Scientists have developed a device to convert the pressure of a finger or a stylus on a touch screen. These lights can then be used to gather information and much greater detail than before. The light produced is immediately captured and analyzed by optical fibers placed in another layer of the device, which then allows to have a resolution of 6300 DPI. Zhong Lin Wang, a professor at Georgia Tech says: "You can write with a stylus and the sensors detect visually what you write in high resolution and with great rapidity. This is a new way of imagining a force that can use different means of detection and can avoid many problems that exist in current pressure sensors. " This technology uses a special faculty of certain objects and materials which also has in the human body, i.e. piezoelectricity. It is the faculty that allows these objects become electrically polarized under the action of mechanical pressure, as the action of a finger on a metal surface. In this case, the piezoelectricity sensor allows components to produce light. Researchers at Georgia Tech expect marketing their new invention by 5-7 years. This could lead to new advances in the field of touch screens, offer new opportunities for users.