Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://www.ornl.gov/news/high-power-wireless-vehicle-charging-technology-licensed-hevo "license covers ORNL’s unique polyphase electromagnetic coil that delivers the highest surface power density available, 1.5 megawatts (1,500 kilowatts) per square meter — eight to 10 times higher than currently available technology. This surface power density supports higher power levels in a thinner, lighter coil, resolving the issue of adding range-sapping weight to electric vehicles... could one day enable electric vehicles to be charged as they are driven at highway speeds" Related: New technology makes wireless charging of electric vehicles and ferries attractive https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-technology-wireless-electric-vehicles-ferries.html

https://news.psu.edu/story/667275/2021/08/31/research/ferroelectrics-everywhere "The new materials are made with magnesium-substituted zinc oxide thin films. The film was grown via sputter deposition... deposited at much lower temperatures than other ferroelectric materials... next step... making them into capacitators that are approximately 10 nanometers thick and 20 to 30 nanometers in lateral dimensions, which is a difficult engineering challenge... [potentially] cell phones with chips that use much less energy, allowing sustained operation for a week or more" Related: Magnetic 'hedgehogs' could store big data in a small space https://phys.org/news/2021-12-magnetic-hedgehogs-big-small-space.html

https://www.army.mil/article/249779/turning_thermal_energy_into_electricity_could_help_soldiers "achieved a record ~5 kW/m2 power output, which is an order of magnitude larger than systems previously reported" Related: Researchers develop new selective emitter based on iridium for thermophotovoltaics https://phys.org/news/2023-09-emitter-based-iridium-thermophotovoltaics.html

https://discovery.kaust.edu.sa/en/article/1156/electric-gains-in-battery-performance "zinc-ion battery will enable station energy storage that promises to be cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly than lithium-ion batteries... almost no capacity decay over 2,000 charge cycles... In addition to the novel electrolyte, the team developed a new nanofiber-based cathode material... ensures faster charge and discharge rates" Related: Battery design breakthrough could make electric cars safer, cheaper and more environmentally sustainable https://finance.yahoo.com/news/battery-design-breakthrough-could-electric-160153135.html Progress in alternative battery technology https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2023/04/progress-in-alternative-battery-technology.html

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/charging-stations-can-combine-hydrogen-production-/ "scientists took a conventional redox flow battery and enhanced it by adding two catalytic reactors... once the battery is fully charged, it can discharge fluid into the external reactors. They in turn generate hydrogen that can be stored and used later, freeing up storage space in the battery itself"

https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/nrel-options-a-modular-cost-effective-build-anywhere-particle-thermal-energy-storage-technology.html "late stages of prototype testing a game-changing new thermal energy storage technology that uses inexpensive silica sand as a storage medium... Particles are fed through an array of electric resistive heating elements to heat them to 1,200°C... then gravity-fed into insulated concrete silos... storage of up to a staggering 26,000 MWh of thermal energy. With modular design, storage capacity can be scaled up or down with relative ease" Related: Storing Renewable Energy in Sand , Solving the issue of renewable energy stability https://gamechangerscience.com/storing-renewable-energy-in-sand-solving-the-issue-of-renewable-energy-stability/ A new way of storing renewable energy is providing clean heat through the long Nordic nights. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221102-how-a-sand-battery-could-transform-clean-energy How A Brick & Ro...

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08-vision-based-robotic-3d-ultrasound-imaging.html "can monitor an object's motion and automatically update the sweep trajectory to provide 3D compounded images of the target anatomy seamlessly... could allow physicians and healthcare providers to gather more reliable anatomical data using ultrasound technology... non-invasive, low-cost and radiation-free"

https://www.osaka-cu.ac.jp/en/news/2021/scientists-develop-an-energy-harvesting-technology-based-on-ferromagnetic-resonance   (open access) "by controlling the thermal conditions of the thin film to be within FMR [ferromagnetic resonance] excitation range, energy can be stored by all the electromagnetic waves that surround us – including Wi-Fi" Related:  In Breakthrough for Clean Power Generation, Mainspring Announces World's First Generator to Run Both Hydrogen and Ammonia Fuels https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/in-breakthrough-for-clean-power-generation-mainspring-announces-worlds-first-generator-to-run-both-hydrogen-and-ammonia-fuels-301572750.html Mainspring Announces Linear Generator Pilot Project with Leading Utility AEP https://newatlas.com/outdoors/arc-turbine-microgenerator/ Mainspring’s linear generator can run on almost any fuel https://spectrum.ieee.org/mainspring-energy Research demonstrates new type of ferromagnetism with completely different alignmen...

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-creation-graphene.html "pioneering breakthrough... Such remarkably uniform performance is possible because the fold-free graphene film is a single crystal with essentially no imperfections... foils can be used repeatedly... can be transferred to other substrates in less than one minute... scalable manufacturing Related: Graphene grows—physicists find a way to visualize it https://phys.org/news/2023-03-graphene-growsphysicists-visualize.html Novel method to construct all-graphene macrostructures https://phys.org/news/2023-08-method-all-graphene-macrostructures.html NanoXplore unveils a large-scale dry process for manufacturing of graphene: an improvement for cost competitiveness and scalability https://www.thegraphenecouncil.org/blogpost/1501180/495811/NANOXPLORE-UNVEILS-A-LARGE-SCALE-DRY-PROCESS-FOR-MANUFACTURING-OF-GRAPHENE-AN-IMPROVEMENT-FOR-COST-COMPETITIVENESS-AND-SCALABILITY

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-platform-photonics.html "ultralow loss 4H-SiCOI platform with a record-high-Q factor... a milestone... will bring a huge momentum for SiC integrated photonics in the next few years"

https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/researches/view/216 "Using perovskite consisting of cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3)... data can be electrically written, erased, and read in one of the perovskite devices acting as an RRAM. Simultaneously, the second perovskite device can optically transmit whether data is being written or erased through light emission by working as a light-emitting electrochemical cell with a high transmission speed." Related: Shedding light on unique conduction mechanisms in a new type of perovskite oxide https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unique-mechanisms-perovskite-oxide.html

https://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2021/new_technology_lays_groundwork_for_large-scale_hig/ "natural-looking 3D images that don’t require special 3D glasses for viewing... combining two existing methods to achieving an ultrahigh-definition volumetric light-field display with almost diffraction-limited resolution... also found a way to effectively resolve the difficulty of enlarging a volumetric scene and overcame problems with information loss that tend to affect integral imaging.”

https://www.ru.nl/science/@1322154/discovery-fastest-ever-magnetic-wave-propagation/ "two-dimensional magnets... the smallest magnetic waves can travel up to 40% faster than the maximum propagation speed. Thanks to the machine learning simulations... we now understand why these supermagnonic magnetic waves can exist... looking for a way to make data transfer faster, more energy-efficient and smaller" Related: Researchers Managed to Transfer Twice the Global Internet Traffic in a Single Second https://gizmodo.com/internet-speed-faster-twice-global-speed-fiber-optic-1849875228

https://news.stanford.edu/2021/08/25/researchers-make-alkali-metal-chlorine-batteries-rechargeable/ "alkali metal-chlorine batteries... back-and-forth chemical conversion of sodium chloride (Na/Cl2) or lithium chloride (Li/Cl2) to chlorine... one step closer toward achieving two top stated goals... creating a high-performance rechargeable battery that could enable cellphones to be charged only once a week instead of daily and electric vehicles that can travel six times farther without a recharge"

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/08/26/led-material-shines-under-strain/ "an approach for achieving near 100% light-emission efficiency at all brightness levels... It’s always easier to emit heat than emit light, particularly at high brightness levels. In our work we have been able to reduce the loss process by one hundredfold"

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-cd-free-quantum-dot-synthesis-technology.html "80% quantum efficiency... eco-friendly... expected to be used in various photoelectric devices, including next-generation displays"

https://newatlas.com/science/lithium-metal-ev-battery-benchmark-density-stability/ "energy density of 560 Wh/kg... well beyond the significant 500-Wh/kg bench mark... initial storage capacity of 214 mAh/g in the cathode material and retaining 88 percent of that across 1,000 cycles." Related: Next-gen range-boosting EV battery cathodes test mettle in race car https://newatlas.com/automotive/johnson-matthey-elno-battery-cathode-race-car/ "Johnson Matthey describes its eLNO (lithium-nickel-oxide) cathode technology as a layered, nickel-rich oxide structure that increases energy density by roughly 20 percent when compared with current-generation cathode formulas, such as NMC 622 (60 percent nickel/20 percent manganese/20 percent cobalt). JM relies on a proprietary stabilizer and surface modification to prevent the instability that plagues other nickel-rich, low-cobalt cathode formulations, ensure a long lifecycle" See also: Scientists discover new approach to stabilize...

https://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/ims/news/Pages/Janus-graphene-opens-doors-to-sustainable-sodium-ion-batteries.aspx "Ten times the energy capacity of standard graphite "Typically, the capacity of sodium intercalation in standard graphite is about 35 milliampere hours per gram (mA h g-1). This is less than one tenth of the capacity for lithium-ion intercalation in graphite. With the novel graphene the specific capacity for sodium ions is 332 milliampere hours per gram – approaching the value for lithium in graphite. The results also showed full reversibility and high cycling stability." Via email: Huge development in sodium-ion battery research. When new sodium-ion batteries with Janus graphene are mass produced, it's over for the combustion engine in cars! Related: Scientists develop technology for sustainable next-generation batteries https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/228494/scientists-develop-technology-sustainable-nextgeneration-batteries/ Newly developed comp...

https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/this-technology-could-bring-the-fastest-version-of-5g-to-your-home-and-workplace "split the one laser-like millimeter wave beam into multiple laser-like beams, and have each beam take a different path... a high throughput connection (up to 800 Mbps) with 100% reliability, which means that the signal didn't drop or lose strength as the user moved around obstacles" Related: Chinese lab says it made a breakthrough in 6G mobile technology as global standards-setting race heats up https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3162411/chinese-lab-says-it-made-breakthrough-6g-mobile-technology-global

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-irreversible-energy-loss-batteries.html "mileage of electric vehicles (EVs) and usage time of smartphones can be drastically increased... safe and suitable for mass production, and therefore is likely to be commercialized."

https://news.tulane.edu/pr/tulane-scientist-leads-study-faster-charging-energy-storage "potential to reduce charging times from hours to a matter of minutes... we introduced wedges or pillars between the layers to open them up, allowing the ionic liquid ions to get stored between the MXene layers, thus achieving very high energy and power densities... bridges the gap between batteries and capacitors"

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/24/2285796/0/en/HPQ-Launches-Revolutionary-and-Breakthrough-Green-Hydrogen-Extraction-Technology-Venture.html "...successfully tested prototype model has a clean energy production capacity starting at 1 Megawatt of power that can be produced over 7 days from 2 litres of water; sufficient energy to power a typical three (3) bedroom suburban house." Update: HPQ Receives TSX Venture Approval to Proceed With EBH2 Green Hydrogen Extraction Technology Venture https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/29/2305668/0/en/HPQ-Receives-TSX-Venture-Approval-to-Proceed-With-EBH2-Green-Hydrogen-Extraction-Technology-Venture.html

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-home-grown-semiconductors-faster-smaller-electronics.html "Growing electronic components directly onto a semiconductor block avoids messy, noisy oxidation scattering that slows and impedes electronic operation."

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/08/the-case-for-onboard-carbon-dioxide-capture-on-long-range-vehicles/ "...shrinking the fuel chamber as the fuel is used, making space for CO2 in the other chamber." Related: Elon Musk has big plans for turning this greenhouse gas into rocket fuel https://web.archive.org/web/20211220222247/https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a38569598/elon-musk-carbon-dioxide-rocket-fuel/

March 7, 2022: Misunderstandings in some fundamental laws of Physics (10th January 2022) First draught (additions to 16 Jan 2022 give links to useful sites) The TL:DR précis of this essay: If you have a wave with energy, and a functional diode that will rectify it, you've got usable (unidirectional) energy. The diode is the thing that breaks the symmetry. It really boils down to breaking the right symmetry, and then you can break the conservation law that is associated with that symmetry (see Noether’s Theorem). That's really the core of it. For CoM (Conservation of Momentum), it's the limited speed of light and using a varying field that breaks the symmetry so the action and reaction are no longer equal and opposite. If they are not equal and opposite, then momentum is not conserved. This first section mainly covers the history of why I went down this heretical path. I'd suggest you skip to the section on CoM or 2LoT, whichever most interests you, and come back to read...