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Droplets with tail-like filaments. Credit: Emily Lin.
Abstract:
By combining oil drops with water containing a detergent-like substance, the scientists found they could produce artificial swimmers that are able to swim independently and even harvest energy to recharge.
Scientists create rechargeable swimming microrobots using oil and water
London, UK | Posted on July 16th, 2021
The oil droplets use fluctuating temperature changes in their surrounding environment to store energy and to swim. When cooled, the droplets release thin tail-like threads into the environment. The friction generated between the tails and surrounding fluid, pushes the droplet causing them to move. On heating, the droplets then retract their tails returning to their original state, and harness the heat from their environment to recharge.
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Home > Press > Stress-free path to stress-free metallic films paves the way for next-gen circuitry: Optimized sputtering technique helps minimize stress in tungsten thin films
(top left) An illustration of the HiPIMS process (top right) The energy distribution of tungsten ions arriving at the substrate over time. At short times, there are a large proportion of ions with high energy. (bottom) Stress-free tungsten films created with the selective pulsed bias technique. (a) Plan view transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of the film; (b) a higher resolution image; (c) reconstructions of the selected area in (b) based on inverse Fourier transforms, with two regions magnified.
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Home > Press > New form of silicon could enable next-gen electronic and energy devices: Novel crystalline form of silicon could potentially be used to create next-generation electronic and energy devices
Visualization of the structure of 4H-Si viewed perpendicular to the hexagonal axis. A transmission electron micrograph showing the stacking sequence is displayed in the background.
CREDIT
Image courtesy of Thomas Shiell and Timothy Strobel
Abstract:
A team led by Carnegie s Thomas Shiell and Timothy Strobel developed a new method for synthesizing a novel crystalline form of silicon with a hexagonal structure that could potentially be used to create next-generation electronic and energy devices with enhanced properties that exceed those of the normal cubic form of silicon used today.
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Home > Press > Nanophotonics enhanced coverslip for phase imaging in biology
a The nanophotonics enhanced coverslip (NEC) adds phase imaging capability to a normal microscope coverslip, thereby shrinking bulky phase-imaging methods down to the size of a chip. The less than 200 nm thick design consists of a subwavelength spaced grating on top of an optically thin film, supported by a glass substrate. b Exemplary demonstration of phase-imaging of human cancer cells (HeLa cells) using the NEC. By placing the Petri dish containing the cell culture directly on top of the NEC, pseudo 3D images of the cells are created. The obtained images are similar to those obtained by the conventional phase-imaging technique of differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. In the reference image, recorded without the NEC, the cells are mostly invisible. c Use of the NEC device not only enabled visualization of the general shape of the cell, but also features inside of the cel