The Kynix Blog

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 

Global connectivity and sensor provider, TE Connectivity (TE), offers a range of connectivity solutions for diverse motor types. With trends in connectivity toward more miniaturisation, reduced installation times, improved reliability, and lower costs in installation and operation, TE’s heavy duty connectors are suitable for numerous applications in servo and spindle motors. Designed to perform reliably under the most demanding conditions, TE’s heavy duty connectors offer IP69K rated protection and can endure 1,000 hours of salt spray resistance.These heavy duty connectors are built on a modular basis so they can offer power, signal and data transmission in a single compact unit. A one-piece connector frame allows for easy assembly of the modular inserts, and a docking frame that allows for blind mating provides more savings in installation time and costs. TE’s heavy duty connector has a history dating back over 60 years, during which time it has gone through various generations and options, offering special features for a wide range of applications. “The heavy duty connector is an iconic product that stands the test of time,” said Sascha Lambauer, Product Manager for TE’s heavy duty connectors. “Like many other TE solutions, the HDC also withstands harsh environments, reliably performing under demanding operating conditions, and is engineered to give designers flexibility and reliability in their servo and spindle motor designs.” Servo motors are increasingly being chosen for their high efficiency, especially in material handling systems and inside machinery. Meanwhile, advances in machine tooling requiring high precision and reliability are leading to spindle motors being put at the heart of modern production systems, delivering high quality end products.  Ref.KY270-106421-1KY270-1-1102296-1

Printed organic photodetectors and large-area image sensors company, Isorg, has announced that its first large-sized high-resolution (500dpi) flexible plastic fingerprint sensor, co-developed with FlexEnable, won the 2017 Best of Sensors Expo – Silver Applications Award. The high-resolution, ultra-thin, 500dpi flexible image sensor (sensitive from visible to near infrared) offers system integrators advantages in performance and compactness. Its ability to conform to three-dimensional shapes sets it apart from conventional image sensors. The device provides dual detection: fingerprinting as well as vein matching. Due to its large-area sensing and high-resolution image quality, the device is highly suited to biometric applications from fingerprint scanners and smartcards to mobile phones, where accuracy and robustness as well as cost-competiveness are key. Several biometric solution providers have sampled the flexible image sensor, verifying its readiness for deployment in products and compliance with FBI Image Quality Standards (IQS). “Isorg is very honoured to have received an international award for our groundbreaking high-resolution flexible image sensor technology whilst attending the most important global trade event dedicated to sensor innovations,” said Emmanuel Guerineau, General Manager and CFO at Isorg. “We are delighted to have collaborated with FlexEnable to produce the world’s first printed electronics image sensor that overcomes the limitations of traditional sensors. Biometric solution providers will be able to take advantage of the key differentiating factors that our technology brings, such as customised formats in large and small sizes, and easy integration. We see these opening up new opportunities across multiple applications.” Isorg is planning to launch high-volume production of the flexible image sensor at its new plant in Limoges, France, in order to support its large-scale commercialisation in the global biometrics market. The global biometrics hardware market is expected to grow from $3.9bn (approximately £2.99bn) in 2016 to $6.2bn (approximately £4.76bn) by 2021, according to the Yole Développement report on ‘Sensors for Biometry and Recognition 2016′. Central to the 500dpi flexible image sensor is an Organic Photodiode (OPD), a printed structure developed by Isorg that converts light into current – responsible for capturing the fingerprint. Isorg also developed the readout electronics, the forensics quality processing software and the optics to enable seamless integration in products. FlexEnable, a specialist in developing and industrialising flexible organic electronics, developed the Organic TFT backplane technology, an alternative to amorphous silicon. This partnership between the two companies began in Q4 2013. “We are delighted that the large area flexible fingerprint sensor we developed with Isorg has been recognised with such a prestigious award. Thanks to being thin, light and glass-free, the sensor can be conformed to almost any surface to enable new form factors and use cases not possible with conventional fingerprint sensors,” said Paul Cain, Strategy Director at FlexEnable. Designed on a large area (3x3.2”; 7.62x8.13cm) plastic substrate, the flexible image sensor is ultra-thin (300µ), therefore remarkably lightweight, compact and highly resistant to shock. Sensors Expo and Conference, held in San Jose, California, is the largest gathering of engineers and engineering professionals involved in sensors and sensing-related technologies. For over 30 years, it has welcomed more than 6,400 professionals from across the US and over 40 countries to explore today’s sensor technologies and find the solutions to tomorrow’s sensing challenges. The Best of Sensors Expo Awards are announced in conjunction with Sensors Online, a leading resource and authority on sensing, communication and control. The awards are designed to spotlight the advances in both innovations and real-world applications of sensors. Ref.NOIL2SM1300A-GDCMT9V022IA7ATCMT9V011

（The new device is smaller than a thumbnail with a size of 0.1 x 4mm, and could be integrated into everyday electronic devices like smartphones.） Integrated circuits, so called chips, are used in everyday electronic equipment like mobile phones and computers. It is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece of semiconductor material, normally silicon. But this material has some limitations when it comes to processing data. To overcome these limitations and improve data processing, researchers are developing optical circuits made of chalcogenide glass. This special type of glass is used for ultrafast telecommunication networks, transferring information at the speed of light. Integrating these glass optical circuits into silicon chips could lead to a more advanced communications system, processing data a hundred times faster. Can these two materials be combined? The answer is yes! In a collaboration with physicists in the University of Sydney's Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (AINST), the Australian National University (ANU) and RMIT University, the CUDOS research group around PhD candidate Blair Morrison and senior researcher Dr Alvaro Casas Bedoya created compact, mass manufacturable optical circuits with enhanced functionalities by combining nonlinear glasses with silicon-based material. "In the last few years the group at the University of Sydney has repeatedly demonstrated exciting functionalities, such as broadband microwave devices that enhance radar, using these novel chalcogenide glasses," Blair Morrison said from the University of Sydney CUDOS node. "Now we have shown it is possible to combine this material with the current industry standard platform for photonic integration, silicon," he said. "We integrated a novel nonlinear glass into an industrially scalable CMOS compatible platform. We maintained the key advantages of both the silicon and the glass, and made a functional and efficient ultra-compact optical circuit," said Dr Alvaro Casas Bedoya who is the lead photonics nanofabrication manager for CUDOS. "A wealth of new opportunities will be created, and this takes us one step closer to moving our research from the lab into industrial applications," said Blair Morrison. CUDOS Director and ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Benjamin Eggleton from the University of Sydney said this new approach will one day allow the industry to miniaturise the photonics functionalities from devices that are the size of a laptop to the size of a smartphone and even smaller, allowing for deployment in real world applications. "This is exciting, because this is a platform which is more compatible with existing semiconductor manufacturing and will allow us to integrate multiple functionalities on a single silicon chip, with active and passive components, such as detectors and modulators, required for advanced applications," said Professor Eggleton who supervised the project. The multi-university research team went through the whole manufacturing process: The fabrication of these devices uses silicon wafers from a semiconductor foundry in Belgium, a dedicated facility in ANU's Laser Physics Centre for the glass deposition, lithography in the RMIT University's School of Engineering and are then characterised and tested in the University of Sydney's AINST. To showcase the potential of the new approach, the CUDOS researchers further demonstrated a compact novel laser based on the light-sound interactions, the first time in an integrated optical circuit. "The breakthrough here is this realisation that we can actually interface, we can integrate that glass onto silicon and we can interface from silicon to the glass very efficiently -- we can harness the best of both worlds," Professor Eggleton said. Professor Susan Pond, the Director of AINST, emphasized that this project is one of AINST flagship activities that deals with harnessing interactions between photons and phonon at the nanoscale. This work links fundamental research in light matter interactions at the nanoscale with an end user perspective and strong coupling to industry. Ref.KY32-LMX6502SQKY32-LN2300KY32-LN3251MPW