Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2022-02-28-gismo-labs-innovative-plan-make-electricity-cheaper-greener-and-more-reliable.aspx "having TESS installed in homes would make switch from fuel-oil or propane-powered appliances to electric appliances more cost efficient... People who install renewable energy devices in their homes stand to benefit even more from TESS’s reduced energy costs and the ability to sell excess energy produced by those renewables. When considering options for helping the planet, it can often feel like consumers must pick between improving their standard of living or doing what's best for the environment" Related: Researchers develop new carbon-capture solution for a cleaner, more energy-dense fuel source https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-carbon-capture-solution-cleaner-energy-dense-fuel.html Research aims to convert greenhouse gas into valuable products with electricity https://phys.org/news/2024-01-aims-greenhouse-gas-valuable-products.html

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-giant-tunneling-electroresistance-ferroelectric-tunnel.html "band of ferroelectric barrier decreases from left to right... valence band distribution in whole barrier is relatively flat and VBM is below Fermi energy, without occurrence of partial metallization... occurrence and disappearance of partial metallization in two polarization states change effective barrier width significantly and lead to low and high resistance states, with giant TER ratio achieved subsequently...  negatively charged polar interface based on interfacial substitution... large TER ratio in FTJs"

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-wide-temperature-range-high-voltage-aqueous-mxene.html "low-cost, environment-friendly and high-concentrated LiCl aqueous electrolyte regulate reaction kinetics MXene (Ti3C2Tx) electrode and electrolyte... symmetric planar aqueous MXene-MSCs... operating voltage 1.6 V, and energy density of 31.7 mWh cm-3 at room temperature... low freezing point (-57 °C) of high-concentrated LiCl-gel electrolyte also enabled MXene-MSCs to operate stably in a wide temperature range (-40°C to 60°C)... easy for them to be integrated into wearable microelectronics"

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-skyrmions-2d-material-advances-low-power.html "cobalt-doped iron germanium telluride (Fe5GeTe2) in form of nanoflakes. Fe5GeTe2 is typical 2D magnetic material owing to its unique layered structure and crystal symmetry, with iron atoms occupying specific points... by replacing exactly half of iron atoms with cobalt atoms—whose different electronic configuration meant atoms naturally occupied slightly different points in crystal—they could spontaneously break the material's natural crystal symmetry, which altered spin structure"

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-04-efficiency-tandem-solar-cells.html "efficiency of 29.2%... combining perovskite cell with a textured silicon cell... yields will likely top out at around 27% in the foreseeable future, owing to fundamental thermodynamic limitations. Modules incorporating these solar cells will have maximum yields of around 23–25%... limitations can be overcome by combining silicon with solar cell that absorbs blue-green part of solar spectrum and more efficiently, forming what's called tandem" Related: Creating ultralight flexible perovskite solar cells https://techxplore.com/news/2022-05-ultralight-flexible-perovskite-solar-cells.html A strategy to attain amorphous silicon solar cells with over 25% efficiency https://techxplore.com/news/2022-06-strategy-amorphous-silicon-solar-cells.html Tunneling recombination layer boosts efficiency of tandem solar cells https://techxplore.com/news/2023-11-tunneling-recombination-layer-boosts-efficiency.htm

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-ultrafast-optical-magnetic-memory-device.html "Magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) technology focuses on manipulating electron spin to deal with such glitch... data are written by switching direction nanomagnets... allows data to be saved in enduring manner when power is off, computers to boot faster, and consume less power... fastest stimuli commercially available to humankind to break nanosecond speed limitation, thousand times more energy efficient... world-record writing speed of 20 picoseconds (ps)"

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-strategy-boost-pseudocapacitive-micro-supercapacitors.html "highly concentrated water-in-salt ambipolar redox electrolyte where one ambipolar mediator (ZnI2) could offer two redox couples (I-/I2 and Zn/Zn2+) natively, with matched charge storage... two electrons to be oxidized at positive electrode and reduced at negative electrode synchronously and individually, thus offering pseudocapacitive contribution for EG-MSCs... high volumetric capacity of 106 mAh/cm3, energy density of 111 mWh/cm3, and long-term cycling stability with 92.1% retention after 5,300 cycles" Related:  Strategies to limit redox electrolyte-enhanced carbon-based supercapacitor self-discharge https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-strategies-limit-redox-electrolyte-enhanced-carbon-based.html

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-04-lithium-ion-battery-minutes-anode.html "affixed anode to standard lithium-ion battery and measured amount of time to charge... able to charge battery to 60% in 5.6 minutes (as opposed to 40% for control battery with no alterations) and to 80% in 11.4 minutes... did not test how long it would take to charge to 100% because doing so is not recommended for such batteries... did not reveal if they developed estimates for how much adding copper to anodes would add to price of batteries" Related: Electric vehicle battery capable of 98% charge in less than ten minutes https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/06/13/electric-vehicle-battery-capable-of-98-charge-in-less-than-ten-minutes/

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-discovery-one-way-superconductor-thought-impossible.html "to be sure superconducting diode effect, tried switching the diode; applied same magnitude current in both forward and reverse directions and measured no resistance (superconductivity) in one direction and real resistance (normal conductivity) in other direction... measured while applying magnetic fields of different magnitudes and showed effect was present at 0 applied field and gets killed by applied field... magnetic fields at nanometer scale difficult to control and limit"

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-04-cubic-halves-efficiency-droop-ingaaln.html "switching from polar h-LEDs to c-LEDs quenches the efficiency droop from 45% to 22% (i.e. a 51% reduction) thanks to polarization elimination and effective mass reduction. It is further found that the quantum efficiency of c-LEDs is much immune to the Auger electron-hole asymmetry, the increase of Auger coefficient, and thus efficiency degradation mechanisms. Hence, cubic-phase InGaAlN green LEDs offer an appropriate solution to quench the efficiency droop"

"could reversibly switch between 3D and 2D crystal structure dimensionalities of (Pb0.5Sn0.5)Se polycrystals by heating and cooling... In heated state, material assumed 3D crystal structure with metallic electronic structure, which resulted in high electronic, lattice thermal conductivity. When cooled, changed to 2D crystal structure with semiconducting electronic structure and reduced κ. At 373 K (100°C), κ for 3D phase observed 3.6 times higher than for 2D phase" Related:  Heat flow shown to be more efficient when temperature is oscillating than when static https://phys.org/news/2022-04-shown-efficient-temperature-oscillating-static.html

https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/sydney-scientists-to-power-tesla-with-printed-solar-panels/ "The printed panels – each 18 metres long – use innovative solar technology known as organic photovoltaics (OPV)... water-based solar paint that can be printed at high speed to fabricate large areas, using roll to roll processing techniques. OPV technology, also known as plastic cells will play major role in future of renewable energy... lightweight, easily installed alternative to conventional, silicon-based solar panels, which are heavy and cumbersome" Related: Tesla 4.0 Solar Cell: The Mind-Blowing $0.22/w Breakthrough! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1o-y7cH7bg

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-04-materials-electric-car-batteries.html "made membranes with varying amounts of a lithium-oxide garnet ceramic filler known as LLZO, in the form of both particles and wires just nanometers... both particles and nanowires were evenly distributed throughout polymer, and didn't form networks that could fast-track lithium ions. The membranes with more of filler were actually worse conductors of ions, bolstering conclusion that filler doesn't take part in transporting ions"

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-04-paper-thin-loudspeaker.html "thin-film loudspeaker by mounting it to wall 30 centimeters from microphone to measure sound pressure level, recorded in decibels. 25 volts of electricity passed through at 1 kilohertz... speaker produced high-quality sound at conversational levels of 66 decibels. At 10 kilohertz sound pressure level increased to 86 decibels... Because the tiny domes are vibrating, rather than the entire film, the loudspeaker has a high enough resonance frequency that it can be used effectively for ultrasound applications"

https://phys.org/news/2022-04-teams-neutral-atoms-quantum-circuits.html "One team entangled atoms that were not adjacent to one another using optical tweezers to move them around and then used them to demonstrate that approach could be used to realize well-established quantum information state... other team entangled qubit pairs using laser beams to create complex of six qubits in Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state... then run two quantum algorithms—one that measured the molecular energy of given atom, the other to work on MaxCut problem"

https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/25-04-2022-how-the-eindhoven-heat-battery-can-quickly-make-millions-of-homes-gas-free/ "In Netherlands we have about 150 PetaJoule (a number with 15 zeros) of residual heat from industry per year... enable you to take almost 3.5 million homes off gas, more than twice the target of Dutch government, namely 1.5 million homes gas-free by 2030... Heat grids use pipes with water, which cools and therefore limits radius of action," Adan explains... heat grids have hefty investment risk and has to be broken open to build them... test trial to use heat battery for reuse of industrial residual heat"  Related:  Pioneering the energy transition with revolutionary heat storage systems https://www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/pioneering-energy-transition-with-revolutionary-heat-storage-systems/28874/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-discovery-mcla-clinical-candidate-screened.html "EGFR activity promotes uncontrolled cell growth, LGR5 marks surface of cancer stem cells... development of MCLA-158/ Petosemtamab; also on characterization of its mechanism of action. MCLA-158/ Petosemtamab degrades EGFR protein in cancer stem cells that have LGR5 marker, thereby blocking growth and survival pathways in cells that initiate and spread cancer" Related: New drug could ‘switch off’ genes that trigger deadly brain tumors https://www.braintomorrow.com/glioblastoma-brain-tumor-drug/ Scientists identify a new drug that halts recurring brain tumor growth https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-scientists-drug-halts-recurring-brain.html Orally administered tumor vaccine shows promise in animal models https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-orally-tumor-vaccine-animal.html Scientists develop 'off the shelf' engineered stem cells to treat aggressive brain cancer https://medicalx...