Applied Materials

New Wearable Technology - For Plants

Plants can't speak up when they are thirsty. And visual signs, such as shriveling or browning leaves, don't start until most of their water is gone. To detect water loss earlier, researchers have created a wearable sensor for plant leaves. The system wirelessly transmits data to a smartphone app, allowing for remote management of drought stress in gardens and crops.

Laser Light, Dye and a Nonsurgical Implant Help Overcome Obesity

When dieting and exercise aren't enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don't want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the "hunger hormone."

A Bioelectronic Tongue "Tastes" Sweetness

Candy, cookies, juices. Just about everyone likes sweet treats, but what one person thinks tastes too sugary, another might think is just right. This variability makes it challenging to develop new foods and beverages, so companies have sought a more objective method. Now, researchers have developed an ultrasensitive bioelectronic tongue that measures sweetness by mimicking human taste buds.

Device Wraps Around Hot Surfaces, Turns Wasted Heat to Electricity

The energy systems that power our lives also produce wasted heat — like heat that radiates off hot water pipes in buildings and exhaust pipes on vehicles. A new flexible thermoelectric generator can wrap around pipes and other hot surfaces and convert wasted heat into electricity more efficiently than previously possible.

Electroninks Expands Line of Particle-Free Conductive Inks

Electroninks announced the addition of gold and platinum particle-free conductive inks to its catalog of products. The addition of gold and platinum inks gives makers of consumer electronics, medical devices, sensors and semiconductors the ability to make lighter, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly products.

The Most Significant Advanced Materials News from 2021

With the pandemic still raging, supply chain disruptions, the chip shortage, climate catastrophes, and geopolitical turbulence, it is safe to say 2021 has not been smooth sailing. The materials and chemical sector provides the backbone of every industry and remains under pressure from all these challenges. In this article, IDTechEx highlights the key news from their independent perspective on this crucial industry.

Engineers Invent Ultra-Fast Manufacturing Technology

A team of engineers has invented new technology that could forever change the manufacturing of wearable, electronic sensors. They've figured out a way to speed up production without having to use polymer binders - the industry standard in printing flexible sensors, which are often used to monitor vital signs in health care settings.

Electroninks Receives US Air Force Contract

Electroninks has announced that it has received nearly $1.5M in Phase II Small Business Innovation Research funding to develop advanced manufacturing hardware and particle-free conductive inks for printed circuit boards from the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office.

AlixLabs

AlixLabs is an early-stage company that is commercialising an improved method of atomic layer etching (ALE) in semiconductor manufacturing. Their method, which they call Atomic Layer Etch Pitch-splitting (ASP), is projected by them to reduce process time, investment costs and environmental impact for fabrication of upcoming generation IC chips by approximately half per lithography mask layer.

Dental Implant Generates Electricity by Chewing to Repair Tissue

Researchers are developing a smart dental implant that resists bacterial growth and generates its own electricity through chewing and brushing to power a tissue-rejuvenating light.

SES

SES, formerly known as SolidEnergy Systems, used to pursue solid-state Li-Metal technology. SolidEnergy was a spin out from MIT founded in 2012 by Dr. Qichao Hu. It was incubated at A123 in its early years. In 2015, Dr Hu realized that all solid-state batteries look good on paper but have fundamental difficulties in real cell production. Then in 2018, the company changed its name to SES after restructuring, addressing its focus on hybrid approach with high-concentration solvent-in-salt liquid electrolyte, solid-state protection coating for Li-Metal anode and AI software to monitor the battery health. The hybrid approach also has a more practical mass manufacturing capability.

Smart Wound Dressings with Built-In Healing Sensors

Researchers have developed smart wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly. The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress.

A Dissolvable Smartwatch Makes for Easier Electronics Recycling

Small electronics, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, aren't easily dismantled and recycled. So when a new model comes out, most users send the old devices into hazardous waste streams. To simplify small electronics recycling, researchers have developed a two-metal nanocomposite for circuits that disintegrates when submerged in water. They demonstrated the circuits in a prototype transient device — a functional smartwatch that dissolved within 40 hours.

Inkjet Printing Shows Promise As New Strategy For Making E-Textiles

In a new study researchers have demonstrated they could print layers of electrically conductive ink on polyester fabric to make an e-textile that could be used in the design of future wearable devices.

Bruisable Artificial Skin Could Help Prosthetics, Robots Sense Injury

When someone bumps their elbow against a wall, they not only feel pain but also might experience bruising. Robots and prosthetic limbs don't have these warning signs, which could lead to further injury. Now, researchers have developed an artificial skin that senses force through ionic signals and also changes color from yellow to a bruise-like purple, providing a visual cue that damage has occurred.

3D Printing Technique Keeps Brittle Tungsten Crack-Free

Tungsten has many excellent properties. It resists corrosion, and its melting point of 3422 °C is the highest of all metals, making it an ideal material for components that operate at extreme temperatures. There is a problem, though: it is highly brittle at room temperature, which means it is hard to process using conventional techniques.

Uncrackable Combination of Invisible Ink and Artificial Intelligence

Coded messages in invisible ink sound like something only found in espionage books, but in real life, they can have important security purposes. Yet, they can be cracked if their encryption is predictable. Now, researchers have printed complexly encoded data with normal ink and a carbon nanoparticle-based invisible ink, requiring both UV light and a computer that has been taught the code to reveal the correct messages.

More Than 14 Million Euros for Flexible Battery Research

For batteries to fit into narrow and crooked spaces and to store more energy for e.g. electric mobility, flexibly adaptable cells are required. So far, however, lithium-ion battery cells have been produced in standardized formats and rigid systems.