Certain configurations of the filler element barium will be very effective in lowering the materials’ thermal conductivity and thus increasing their conversion efficiency. Today’s state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials are only five percent efficient. Skutterudites, and this new knowledge about how best to arrange their atoms, could help improve their performance to 15- or 20-percent, at which …
The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), today announced a collaborative partnership with Stanford University in USA to develop nanoelectromechanical (NEM) relay technology to enable ultra-low power computation. NEMS-based integrated circuits are ideal for a wide range of emerging green electronics solutions as they eliminate …
Even though China’s central economic indicators have yet to be finalized, quite a few provinces have already set ambitious targets for the 12th Five Year Program (2011-2015). Under the local development plans that have been published so far, there are already four provinces or municipalities that have set targets to double GDP or even GDP …
This is an optical photograph of an aluminum z-pinch target tube installed in the Z machine. A new X-ray imaging capability has taken pictures of a critical instability at the heart of Sandia’s huge Z accelerator. The effort may help remove a major impediment in the worldwide, multidecade, multibillion dollar effort to harness nuclear fusion …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Shot 9-09-10-02, 0.225 microsec before pinch Right – Shot 9-15-10-07, magnified plasmoid at the pinch. We see the plasmoid on axis, which is about 150 microns across. The small dots are individual pixels, and do not represent actual fluctuations in intensity. On September 29, Lawrenceville Plasma …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Polyyne is believed to be 40 times harder than diamond. Eric Drexler discusses the synthesis of the longest polyyne chain to date, a chain of 44 carbon atoms. Peierls instability is the reason that polyyne is so strong and the reason that it is tough to …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Reversible adhesion stamp can vary its adhesion strength by 1,000 times. Researchers were also successful at printing layers of electronics, that may lead to the development of complex devices in the future. Four pyramids on the stamp press firmly against the surface of an electronic device, …
Richard Varvill, technical director and one of the founders of Reaction Engines believes the Skylon spaceplane project is now reaching its final stages. After decades of withdrawn government support and huge technical hurdles, the tide has turned in favour of high-tech manufacturing and, more importantly, human space travel. A recent study into the Skylon’s ability …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Hyperion Power Generation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Savannah River National Laboratory Thursday to build the first demonstration reactor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Hyperion is developing a 25-MW fast reactor that uses uranium nitride fuel and lead bismuth eutectic coolant. …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Alphabet Energy is a startup that has a a thermoelectric chip that can be inserted into any exhaust flue or engine to convert heat into electrical power.lphabet says its innovation is in both the choice of material and proprietary technology that gives it low thermal conductivity, …
Ad Support : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Air Force Office of Scientific Research-supported holographic, adaptive, optics research may help transform software into computer-free, electronics for unmanned aerial vehicles, high energy lasers and free-space optical communications that will enable each to run faster and more efficiently than before “The current system for UAV imagery, …