Category: Futuretech Tonics

Energy Storage into Structural Materials: No More Power Cords for Devices

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have come up with an intriguing prospect that has complete essence of futuretech in itself. Their current interest hovers around the likelihood of a more technologically enhanced capacity for storing electrical energy directly across applications including but not limited to EVs, laptops and home appliances. They have demonstrated this idea by fabricating small wafers that have the potential of storing and discharging considerable amount of electricity while they are put through static loads or moving forces like vibrations or impacts.

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Stanford-MIT System Aims at Harvesting Low-Grade Heat: New Battery Technology

Pooja Kashyap

It’s been more than a decade researchers across the globe are working towards harnessing waste energy into something useful. Most of the times, their energy focused around thermoelectric devices but efficiency of this approach was limited to the accessibility of materials Lately, researchers at Stanford University in collaboration with experts from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with an innovative technology, which captures and morphs waste heat into electricity. The approach holds the low temperature waste heat, that is, less than 100 degrees Celsius.

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Innovative Supercapacitor Architecture: A Hybrid between a Supercapacitor and a Pseudocapacitor

Pooja Kashyap

Using the nanoparticles of hydrous ruthenium oxide (RuO2) by first modifying them via carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene foam as the electrode material for the supercapacitor, the researchers at the University of California Riverside have developed an innovative energy storage device. They have simply called it a supercapacitor, which technically is a hybrid between a supercapacitor and a pseudocapacitor. Once the electrodes were formed via the modification (mentioned above), they were then added in an aqueous electrolyte. The resultant combination provided higher energy with more power density supercapacitors than the…

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Graphene Ushering the League of Viable Engine for Nanodevices: Lattice Mimics two-stroke Engine

Pooja Kashyap

Graphene is one of those rare gifts of nanotechnology that is still not unwrapped fully. Not long ago, we discovered that how sliding water over graphene generated electricity. Every time, researchers conduct an experiment, the lattice of carbon atoms pops up with different surprise. Lately, such revelation has brought to the fore by researchers at National University, Singapore. They have morphed a single layer of graphene along with certain amount of chlorine and fluorine atoms to create a two-stroke combustion engine. Similar mechanism although at a macro-scale is used for…

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Ryden Dual Carbon Battery: The Energy Storage Breakthrough for EVs

Pooja Kashyap

Power Japan Plus, a Japanese power company has stated that they have come up with a revolutionary battery technology that can easily beat the energy density of stereotypical batteries used in automobiles. They have termed it the Ryden dual carbon battery. With respect to the existing lithium ion batteries, the product has an ability of charging 20 times faster without reaching to the highest level of temperature where it requires cooling or burst like lithium-ion battery. This makes it safer, reliable and sustainable relatively, claimed the company. Power Japan envisions…

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Tesla’s Model X: Style and Functionality Combo Driving up the Research Budget

Pooja Kashyap

Stylish is the word that resonates well with Tesla Motors. This time, the coolness is reverberated by the Falcon Wings of the highly anticipated Model X electric car. A beautiful blend of an SUV and minivan, the electric powertrain boasts of providing an unfettered performance and brilliant functionality. Unlike any other SUV, the center of gravity is positioned at the lowest level providing nimble reflexes at every curve of the road. The automobile conveys moment torque during path progressions or while entering into a different lane deftly even when there…

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10 Unanswered Puzzles about Science: Will They Ever Reach Consensus?

Pooja Kashyap

Even though we have made tremendous progress in science, yet there remains a mystery when it comes to give reasons to some everyday activities. These mundane stuffs generate the same kind of awestruck curiosity to scientists as it does to a toddler. Some of these bewildering questions are: 1)  Slipperiness of Ice The unusual & unique properties of water have given numerous explanations about ice being slippery. Experts have dispensed most of the theories propagated so far and there could be more variations in the future discoveries envision majority of…

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Lamborghini Huracán: The New Italian Exotic Supercar Replaces Gallardo

Pooja Kashyap

21st century heralds the supercars that not only give preference to speed but also give equal importance to safety, reliability and spaciousness where minimum fuel consumption and less carbon emissions comes in as default features of course. The new Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 rolls in at the same time and earns full marks in all the set parameters. Huracán made its presence felt in the 2014 Geneva Auto Show, where it replaced Gallardo, the most sought after sports car from the same company. The exotic is expected to release somewhere…

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Magnetic Fields in Electric and Hybrid Cars Involve No Threat: Cars under Safety Margin

Pooja Kashyap

Majority welcomed the vehicular era when electric and hybrid automobiles took to the center stage. While there were still others who were doubtful regarding the dangers that might affect the passengers including drivers imposed by the possibly generated electromagnetic fields. However, the increasing number of electric car ownership has thwarted this idea. Seven various electric cars, including hydrogen, gasoline and diesel powered cars, were put under survey by SINTEF, Norway and they discovered that exposure of the electromagnetic radiation was less than 20%. A limit, which was suggested by ICNIRP,…

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Human Brain Simulated on Circuit Board: Mimicking Neurons and Synapses

Pooja Kashyap

Inspired by human brain, bioengineers at Stanford University have fabricated microchips that are relatively faster and energy-efficient where power consumption of PC is about 40k times more. Researchers envision that this would lead a novel way of understanding human brain as well as might take robotics especially prosthetics to the next level. Matching the Brain For an efficient mimicking of neurons and synapses, the team designed 16 Neurocore chips. Jointly these 16 chips were able to simulate about 1m neurons and billions of synaptic connections.

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Propagating Light Revealed New Fundamental Physical Features: Evanescent Electromagnetism

Pooja Kashyap

Dynamical properties of light have been consistent and very well accepted ‘fact’ amongst the academia of physics since more than a century. The same conviction has also helped in the understanding of electromagnetic radiation, which suggests that a quantum of light carries momentum in the direction of propagation and secondly a spinning or gyrating effect around the propagation axis. These two characteristics have become the basic tenets of daily occurrences and experimental interactions between light and matter. However, a new form of light called the evanescent waves has emerged having…

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Fabrication of Bi-Layer Molecular Electronic Devices: Nanoscale Circuitry

Pooja Kashyap

Until now, it was difficult to charge particles at molecular scale and hence developing circuits at microscopic level has always presented a huge challenge. However, Alexander Shestopalov from University of Rochester has crossed the huddle making a step closer to the fabrication of microscopically small circuit. He powered an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with a nanoscale circuitry in where he coupled the positive and negative electrodes with one-molecule thin sheet of organic material. Experimental trials and errors have proved that it’s impossible to control current passing through such a single…

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Magneto-Optical Storage: The Next Generation of Plastic Computers

Pooja Kashyap

In an effort to replace silicon chips with flexible plastic within gadgets like computers, cellular devices and related systems, researchers from University of Iowa and New York University have come up with an alternative to the high capacity storage technology. During the fiber optic transmission, it is easier and convenient to encode data in light while magnetism helps in storing information with an unlimited expiry date. With the proposed technology, converting information from one form to another is a critical issue. Since, the energy cost for this process is insignificant…

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Sliding Saltwater Over Graphene Generates Electricity

Pooja Kashyap

Call it serendipity or chance, a group of researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China while conducting an experiment of creating voltage by plunging carbon nanotubes in a flowing liquid hit upon a discovery of generating electricity by dragging saltwater over a piece of graphene. Traditional Techniques Conventionally, producing electricity via graphene has always been an expensive task plus its unique electrical properties have required for immense work from the end of researchers.

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Optimizing the Storage of Solar Energy in Chemical Bonds: Solar Thermal Fuel

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have come up with an innovative approach of tapping sun’s heat in form of chemical energy and releasing as per the requirement. The technique is not aimed for replacing the existing solar energy storage problem rather it is an effort of taking the solar power into the new areas which otherwise was not explored before. For instance, the output via this approach is heat, which could be directed towards cooking or industrial avenues where heat is required for powering processes. Molecules Act as Rechargeable…

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