The Kynix Blog

Yes, current Wi-Fi-based smart home technology can turn on the lights with your smartphone or voice. But do you call that home automation, really? Isn’t it just a slightly more convenient light switch? How about this? When you unlock your front door, the lights in the foyer come on, the motion sensors on your alarm system turn off, the thermostat starts the air conditioning, and your entertainment system begins playing your favorite music—all before you put your keys down!Now that’s home automation, right? What about a more serious, or potentially life-and-death scenario, where hospital staff could track patients, staff members, and equipment from any console, PC, or tablet on the premises? While the best Wi-Fi systems allow us to take baby steps into building automation, wireless security, asset tracking, and more, a new technology called Bluetooth Mesh — an update to the standard Bluetooth wireless solution that most of us know — promises a better, more efficient, and much less expensive solution. “As people’s expectations for networks go up, they demand networks capable of handling hundreds (or thousands) of IP addresses, offering Wi-Fi-level of signal performance across the house and building,” Daniel Cooley, Senior Vice President of Silicon Labs, told Digital Trends. “People won’t put up with flaky Wi-Fi anymore. If they can get away with fewer antennas, it would be much better.” Cooley is a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or SIG, which oversees and develops Bluetooth technology. If he’s right—and industry watchers and makers of networking equipment are betting that he is—many aspects of our lives will soon be secured and simplified by this latest Bluetooth update. Traditional wireless networks, including one-to-one Bluetooth networks, are limited by distance between the two devices communicating. Wi-Fi makes that worse with an additional impediment—relatively high-power requirements. It’s difficult to make a Wi-Fi signal extend more than a few hundred feet without a massive antenna and large power supply. Bluetooth Mesh devices find a clever way to fix that.  They connect to each other, and pass signals to peers that are within range, forming a web, or mesh, of interconnected devices capable of relaying data. This means that information is passed from one device to another, and another, and so on. This “managed flood” approach to data transmission, according to the Bluetooth SIG, “is uniquely suited for low-power wireless mesh networks, especially those handling a significant amount of multicast traffic.” “Multicast” is a form of network communication where a single sender broadcasts to multiple receivers. In a “flood network,” every device in the chain, or mesh, is multicasting to every device within its range, and so on. That creates a reliable network without the need for massive power draw or a big, beefy antennas. How Bluetooth Mesh works An important component of the Bluetooth protocol is its Generic Access Profile, or GAP, which controls how Bluetooth devices scan, broadcast, and connect to their peers. Until Bluetooth Mesh, GAP had a typical parent-child network relationship, where the parent did all the routing, and the child performed its allotted task. That’s what happens when you connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your tablet, for example. Ref.KY45-TMP421YZDRKY45-AD7814ARMZ

In autumn, an abundance of fallen leaves from deciduous phoenix trees are scattered around the streets in Northern China. These leaves are generally burned in the colder season, exacerbating the country's air pollution problem.Investigators in Shandong, China, recently discovered a new method to convert this organic waste matter into a porous carbon material that can be used to produce high-tech electronics. The advance is reported in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, by AIP Publishing. The investigators used a multistep, yet simple, process to convert tree leaves into a form that could be incorporated into electrodes as active materials. The dried leaves were first ground into a powder, then heated to 220 degrees Celsius for 12 hours. This produced a powder composed of tiny carbon microspheres. These microspheres were then treated with a solution of potassium hydroxide and heated by increasing the temperature in a series of jumps from 450 to 800 C. The chemical treatment corrodes the surface of the carbon microspheres, making them extremely porous. The final product, a black carbon powder, has a very high surface area due to the presence of many tiny pores that have been chemically etched on the surface of the microspheres. The high surface area gives the final product its extraordinary electrical properties.(Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of porous carbon microspheres.)The investigators ran a series of standard electrochemical tests on the porous microspheres to quantify their potential for use in electronic devices. The current-voltage curves for these materials indicate that the substance could make an excellent capacitor. Further tests show that the materials are, in fact, supercapacitors, with specific capacitances of 367 Farads/gram, which are over three times higher than values seen in some graphene supercapacitors. A capacitor is a widely used electrical component that stores energy by holding a charge on two conductors, separated from each other by an insulator. Supercapacitors can typically store 10-100 times as much energy as an ordinary capacitor, and can accept and deliver charges much faster than a typical rechargeable battery. For these reasons, supercapacitive materials hold great promise for a wide variety of energy storage needs, particularly in computer technology and hybrid or electric vehicles. This research is led by Hongfang Ma of Qilu University of Technology, and has been heavily focused on looking for ways to convert waste biomass into porous carbon materials that can be used in energy storage technology. In addition to tree leaves, the team and others have successfully converted potato waste, corn straw, pine wood, rice straw and other agricultural wastes into carbon electrode materials. Professor Ma and her colleagues hope to improve even further on the electrochemical properties of porous carbon materials by optimizing the preparation process and allowing for doping or modification of the raw materials. The supercapacitive properties of the porous carbon microspheres made from phoenix tree leaves are higher than those reported for carbon powders derived from other biowaste materials. The fine scale porous structure seems to be key to this property, since it facilitates contact between electrolyte ions and the surface of the carbon spheres, as well as enhancing ion transfer and diffusion on the carbon surface. The investigators hope to improve even further on these electrochemical properties by optimizing their process and allowing for doping or modification of the raw materials.  This article is authored by Hongfang Ma, Zhibao Liu, Xiaodan Wang and Rongyan Jiang and is published in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.  Ref.KY36-5KK560KOAAM(capacitor)KY36-DEBB33F222KA3B(capacitor)KY605-NH12VP(rechargeable battery)  

The rapid development of wearable technology has received another boost from a new development using graphene for printed electronic devices. New research from The University of Manchester has demonstrated flexible battery-like devices printed directly on to textiles using a simple screen-printing technique. The current hurdle with wearable technology is how to power devices without the need for cumbersome battery packs. Devices known as supercapacitors are one way to achieve this. A supercapacitor acts similarly to a battery but allows for rapid charging which can fully charge devices in seconds. Now a solid-state flexible supercapacitor device has been demonstrated by using conductive graphene-oxide ink to print onto cotton fabric. As reported in the journal 2D Materials the printed electrodes exhibited excellent mechanical stability due to the strong interaction between the ink and textile substrate. Further development of graphene-oxide printed supercapacitors could turn the vast potential of wearable technology into the norm. High-performance sportswear that monitors performance, embedded health-monitoring devices, lightweight military gear, new classes of mobile communication devices and even wearable computers are just some of the applications that could become available following further research and development. To power these new wearable devices, the energy storage system must have reasonable mechanical flexibility in addition to high energy and power density, good operational safety, long cycling life and be low cost. Dr Nazmul Karim, Knowledge Exchange Fellow, the National Graphene Institute and co-author of the paper said: "The development of graphene-based flexible textile supercapacitor using a simple and scalable printing technique is a significant step towards realising multifunctional next generation wearable e-textiles." "It will open up possibilities of making an environmental friendly and cost-effective smart e-textile that can store energy and monitor human activity and physiological condition at the same time". Graphene-oxide is a form of graphene which can be produced relatively cheaply in an ink-like solution. This solution can be applied to textiles to create supercapacitors which become part of the fabric itself. Dr Amor Abdelkader, also co-author of the paper said: "Textiles are some of the most flexible substrates, and for the first time, we printed a stable device that can store energy and be as flexible as cotton. "The device is also washable, which makes it practically possible to use it for the future smart clothes. We believe this work will open the door for printing other types of devices on textile using 2D-materials inks." The University of Manchester is currently completing the construction of its second major graphene facility to complement the National Graphene Institute (NGI). Set to be completed 2018, the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) will be an international research and technology facility. The GEIC will offer the UK the unique opportunity to establish a leading role in graphene and related 2D materials. The GEIC will be primarily industry-led and focus on pilot production and characterisation. Ref.MS614SE-FL28EML-614S/FN

As we can know, a new technique that can change plastic's molecular structure to help it cast off heat is a promising step in that direction. Advanced plastics could usher in lighter, cheaper, more energy-efficient product components, including those used in vehicles, LEDs and computers -- if only they were better at dissipating heat. Developed by a team of University of Michigan researchers in materials science and mechanical engineering and detailed in a new study published in Sciene Advances, the process is inexpensive and scalable. The concept can likely be adapted to a variety of other plastics. In preliminary tests, it made a polymer about as thermally conductive as glass -- still far less so than metals or ceramics, but six times better at dissipating heat than the same polymer without the treatment."Plastics are replacing metals and ceramics in many places, but they're such poor heat conductors that nobody even considers them for applications that require heat to be dissipated efficiently," said Jinsang Kim, U-M materials science and engineering professor. "We're working to change that by applying thermal engineering to plastics in a way that hasn't been done before." The process is a major departure from previous approaches, which have focused on adding metallic or ceramic fillers to plastics. This has met with limited success; a large amount of fillers must be added, which is expensive and can change the properties of the plastic in undesirable ways. Instead, the new technique uses a process that engineers the structure of the material itself. Plastics are made of long chains of molecules that are tightly coiled and tangled like a bowl of spaghetti. As heat travels through the material, it must travel along and between these chains -- an arduous, roundabout journey that impedes its progress. The team -- which also includes U-M associate professor of mechanical engineering Kevin Pipe, mechanical engineering graduate researcher Chen Li and materials science and engineering graduate student Apoorv Shanker -- used a chemical process to expand and straighten the molecule chains. This gave heat energy a more direct route through the material. To accomplish this, they started with a typical polymer, or plastic. They first dissolved the polymer in water, then added electrolytes to the solution to raise its pH, making it alkaline. The individual links in the polymer chain -- called monomers -- take on a negative charge, which causes them to repel each other. As they spread apart, they unfurl the chain's tight coils. Finally, the water and polymer solution is sprayed onto plates using a common industrial process called spin casting, which reconstitutes it into a solid plastic film. The uncoiled molecule chains within the plastic make it easier for heat to travel through it. The team also found that the process has a secondary benefit -- it stiffens the polymer chains and helps them pack together more tightly, making them even more thermally conductive. "Polymer molecules conduct heat by vibrating, and a stiffer molecule chain can vibrate more easily," Shanker said. "Think of a tightly stretched guitar string compared to a loosely coiled piece of twine. The guitar string will vibrate when plucked, the twine won't. Polymer molecule chains behave in a similar way." Pipe says that the work can have important consequences because of the large number of polymer applications in which temperature is important. "Researchers have long studied ways to modify the molecular structure of polymers to engineer their mechanical, optical or electronic properties, but very few studies have examined molecular design approaches to engineer their thermal properties," Pipe said. "While heat flow in materials is often a complex process, even small improvements in the thermal conductivities of polymers can have a large technological impact." The team is now looking at making composites that combine the new technique with several other heat dissipating strategies to further increase thermal conductivity. They're also working to apply the concept to other types of polymers beyond those used in this research. A commercial product is likely several years away. "We're looking at using organic solvents to apply this technique to non- water soluble polymers," Li said. "But we believe that the concept of using electrolytes to thermally engineer polymers is a versatile idea that will apply across many other materials." Ref.KY59-GW5BTF50K00KY59-LMR040-0700-40F8-20100EW

Washington State University physicists have found a way to write an electrical circuit into a crystal, opening up the possibility of transparent, three-dimensional electronics that, like an Etch A Sketch, can be erased and reconfigured. The work, to appear in the on-line journal Scientific Reports, serves as a proof of concept for a phenomenon that WSU researchers first discovered by accident four years ago. At the time, a doctoral student found a 400-fold increase in the electrical conductivity of a crystal simply by leaving it exposed to light. Matt McCluskey, a WSU professor of physics and materials science, has now used a laser to etch a line in the crystal. With electrical contacts at each end of the line, it carried a current. "It opens up a new type of electronics where you can define a circuit optically and then erase it and define a new one," said McCluskey. "It's exciting that it's reconfigurable. It's also transparent. There are certain applications where it would be neat to have a circuit that is on a window or something like that, where it actually is invisible electronics." Ordinarily, a crystal does not conduct electricity. But when the crystal strontium titanate is heated under the right conductions, it is altered so light will make it conductive. The phenomenon, called "persistent photoconductivity," also occurs at room temperature, an improvement over materials that require cooling with liquid nitrogen. "We're still trying to figure out exactly what happens," said McCluskey. He surmises that heat forces strontium atoms to leave the material, creating light-sensitive defects responsible for the persistent photoconductivity. McCluskey's recent work increased the crystal's conductivity 1,000-fold. The phenomenon can last up to a year. "We look at samples that we exposed to light a year ago and they're still conducting," said McCluskey. "It may not retain 100 percent of its conductivity, but it's pretty big." Moreover, the circuit can be by erased by heating it on a hot plate and recast with an optical pen. "It's an Etch A Sketch," said McCluskey. "We've done it a few cycles. Another engineering challenge would be to do that thousands of times." The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. Co-authors on the paper are former students Violet Poole and Slade Jokela. The work is in keeping with WSU's Grand Challenges, a suite of initiatives aimed at addressing large societal problems. It is particularly relevant to the challenge of Smart Systems and its theme of foundational and emergent materials. Ref.KY163-NX1255GBKY163-TSX-3225

(Researchers made a major breakthrough in smart printed electronics. ) 2D transistors make displays so cheap that they would be literally disposable. Then wine labels could show when the contents is at the optimal drinking temperature. Researchers from AMBER and TU Delft, Netherlands have fabricated printed transistors consisting entirely of 2-dimensional nanomaterials for the first time. These 2D materials combine exciting electronic properties with the potential for low-cost production. This breakthrough could unlock the potential for applications such as food packaging that displays a digital countdown to warn you of spoiling, wine labels that alert you when your white wine is at its optimum temperature, or even a window pane that shows the day’s forecast. This discovery opens the path for industry, such as ICT and pharmaceutical, to cheaply print a host of electronic devices from solar cells to LEDs with applications from interactive smart food and drug labels to next-generation banknote security and e-passports. Printed electronic circuitry will allow consumer products to gather, process, display and transmit information: for example, milk cartons could send messages to your phone warning that the milk is about to go out-of-date. 2D nanomaterials can compete with the materials currently used for printed electronics. Compared to other materials employed in this field, they have the capability to yield more cost effective and higher performance printed devices. However, while the last decade has underlined the potential of 2D materials for a range of electronic applications, only the first steps have been taken to demonstrate their worth in printed electronics. Nanosheets for two-dimensional transistorsResearchers now show that conducting, semiconducting and insulating 2D nanomaterials can be combined together in complex devices. It was critically important to focus on printing transistors as they are the electric switches at the heart of modern computing. This work opens the way to print a whole host of devices solely from 2D nanosheets. Standard printing techniques were used to combine graphene nanosheets as the electrodes with two other nanomaterials, tungsten diselenide and boron nitride as the channel and separator (two important parts of two-dimensional transistors) to form an all-printed, all-nanosheet, working transistor. Carbon-based molecules with limitationsPrintable electronics have developed over the last thirty years based mainly on printable carbon-based molecules. While these molecules can easily be turned into printable inks, such materials are somewhat unstable and have well-known performance limitations. There have been many attempts to surpass these obstacles using alternative materials, such as carbon nanotubes or inorganic nanoparticles, but these materials have also shown limitations in either performance or in manufacturability. While the performance of printed 2D devices cannot yet compare with advanced transistors, the team believe there is a wide scope to improve performance beyond the current state-of-the-art for printed transistors. The ability to print 2D nanomaterials is based on Prof. Coleman’s (AMBER) scalable method of producing 2D nanomaterials, including graphene, boron nitride, and tungsten diselenide nanosheets, in liquids, a method he has licensed to Samsung and Thomas Swan. These nanosheets are flat nanoparticles that are a few nanometres thick but hundreds of nanometres wide. Critically, nanosheets made from different materials have electronic properties that can be conducting, insulating or semiconducting and so include all the building blocks of electronics. Liquid processing is especially advantageous in that it yields large quantities of high quality 2D materials in a form that is easy to process into inks. Prof. Coleman’s publication provides the potential to print circuitry at extremely low cost which will facilitate a range of applications from animated posters to smart labels. Ref.KY56-C4706KY56-2SA1860