Show Notes 19 July 2024
Story 1: Self-healing solar cells pave the way to a reliable solar future
Source: Anthropocene Magazine Story by the publication’s team
See also: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07705-5
- Silicon-based solar cells dominate the solar power market today. But a new type of solar power technology based on a material called perovskites promises solar panels that are more efficient, cheaper, easier to make, lightweight and perhaps even flexible.
- Side note – Developers of solar panels are highly interested in perovskite materials for several compelling reasons:
- High Efficiency: Perovskite solar cells have shown remarkable efficiency improvements in a relatively short period. They can convert sunlight into electricity with efficiencies comparable to traditional silicon-based solar cells.
- Lower Production Costs: The materials and processes used to manufacture perovskite solar cells are generally less expensive than those for silicon cells. This could lead to cheaper solar panels and make solar energy more accessible.
- Flexibility and Lightweight: Perovskite solar cells can be made flexible and lightweight, which opens up new applications, such as integration into building materials, wearable devices, and portable solar chargers.
- Tandem Cells: Perovskites can be combined with other materials, like silicon, to create tandem solar cells. These tandem cells can capture a broader spectrum of sunlight, further increasing overall efficiency.
- Rapid Development: The research and development cycle for perovskite solar cells has been very rapid, with significant advancements in stability and performance being made continuously.
- These advantages make perovskite a promising material for the future of solar energy. Are you interested in any specific applications of perovskite solar cells?
- However, there is a downside to perovskite photovoltaics: they degrade under humidity and heat. This has kept the technology from scaling up and being adopted widely.
- But now, researchers from Monash University in Australia have developed perovskite solar cells that can heal themselves to maintain performance. This self-healing ability could be an important step toward advancing the adoption of next-generation perovskite solar panels. The researchers reported their new strategy in a recently published paper in the journal Nature.
- Here’s the challenge they faced – Heat and water can create tiny defects in the perovskite layer that absorbs sunlight and converts it into electricity in a solar cell. So, the researchers turned to a technique called defect passivation, which involves using special chemicals that react with or attach to those flaws and minimize them.
- The Monash University researchers developed a special healing agent that has chemical bonds that break and recover under heat and moisture. They integrated this material into the perovskite layer so that when it is exposed to stress inducing heat and water, it recovers and maintains its performance.
- The resulting solar cells had over 25% power conversion efficiency and stayed stable through 1,000 hours of accelerated ageing tests at 85°C [185 degrees Fahrenheit] and simulated solar illumination.
- Udo Bach, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Monash in a press release noted, “This breakthrough could pave the way for more reliable and efficient perovskite solar cells contributing to the global transition towards sustainable energy solutions.”
Story 2: Green leather: Innovative plant-based substitute developed from pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber
Source: Phys.org Story by Science X staff
Link: https://phys.org/news/2024-06-green-leather-based-substitute-pineapple.html
See also: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15400
My comment, in a past show we talked about the development of a “fake” leather based on mushrooms – more on that later – but here’s the news:
- In a significant breakthrough in sustainable materials science, researchers at the Mahidol University in Thailand have developed a plant-based leather alternative using pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber. This eco-friendly material promises to revolutionize the [artificial] leather industry with its impressive strength and sustainability. The results are published in Sustainability.
- Here’s how the pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber leather alternative is created:
- The process begins with the extraction of pineapple leaf fiber from waste pineapple leaves through a mechanical method, showcasing a clever use of agricultural waste.
- The extracted fibers are then divided into two categories: untreated pineapple leaf fiber and sodium hydroxide-treated pineapple leaf fiber to widen the leather properties.
- These fibers are then formed into non-woven sheets using a paper-making process, which are then coated with compounded natural rubber latex in various natural rubber and pineapple leaf fiber ratios.
- To enhance the material’s properties, the researchers noted that an adhesion promoter could be added.
- The resulting leather-like materials were rigorously tested for tensile properties, tear strength, and hardness, with their internal structures examined using a scanning electron microscope.
- Comparative analysis revealed that this newly developed pineapple leaf fiber leather not only matches but often surpasses other alternative leathers reported in the literature. Notably, it exhibits much greater strength than leather alternatives made from mushrooms.
- Side note, for more about mushroom-based “leather” [which we’ve reported on in past shows] see: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/14/business/leather-fake-mycelium-mushrooms-fashion.html
- This innovative leather substitute is bio-based, plastic-free and boasts a lower carbon footprint, making it an attractive option for industries seeking sustainable materials. With its combination of strength, flexibility, and eco-friendliness, the pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber-based leather could pave the way for a greener future in the fashion and upholstery sectors.
Story 3: Scientists make cameras work more like human eyes and this could be good news for future smartphones
Source: TechRadar Story by Lance Ulanoff
See also: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adj8124
- A little-known quirk of the human eye might pave the way for better self-driving car cameras and even more effective smartphone photography.
- As you’re reading this, your eyes are in most cases slowly scanning from left to right but even when not reading or looking at a fixed object your eyes are constantly on the move and this, it turns out, is the key to the quality of human vision and how robots, self-driving cars, and maybe even smartphones could see more clearly.
- A team of University of Maryland researchers created a camera that mimics human eye movements. Called the Artificial Microsaccade-Enhanced Event Camera, it uses a rotating round wedge prism (the article notes that the round wedge prism is basically round, but one face of the prism is sharply angled).
- The round wedge prism rotates in front of the aperture an event camera, in this case, an Intel RealSense D435 camera, to move the images around.
- Side note reminder – Aperture in photography refers to the adjustable lens opening that controls the amount of light allowed into the camera. Think of it as the “pupil” of your camera system.
- Even though the movements are small, they’re meant to mimic the saccades of the human eye. Saccades describe three different levels of movement the eye makes – Rapid, small tremors, slower eye drift, and microsaccades, which happen multiple times per second and are small enough to be imperceptible to the human eye.
- This last movement [microsaccades] may help us see more clearly, especially moving objects where our eye shifts to put the image against the best part of our retina, replacing blurs with shape and color.
- With the understanding of how these micro-movements help human perception, the team equipped its camera with a rotating prism.
- According to the paper’s abstract, “Inspired by microsaccades, we designed an event-based perception system capable of simultaneously maintaining low reaction time and stable texture. In this design, a rotating wedge prism was mounted in front of the aperture of an event camera to redirect light and trigger events.”
Story 4: Microrobots made of algae carry chemotherapy directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatment
Source: MedicalXpress Story by Zhengxing Li
Link: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-06-microrobots-algae-chemo-lung-tumors.html#google_vignette
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuOr6Dj1Wsw
My comment – a key medical tech trend to watch, and one we’ve talked about so much in the last year or so, is the development of microrobots to deliver drugs/treatments!
- Tumors that travel to the lungs, or lung metastases, pose a formidable challenge in the realm of cancer treatment. Conventional chemotherapy often falls short because it’s inefficient. It doesn’t directly target the lungs or accumulate in a high enough concentration to kill tumors.
- Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have spent the past five years developing biohybrid microrobots, tiny objects made of both natural and synthetic materials, that can be used in medicine.
- As outlined in a recent research paper, the team made a green microalgae-based biohybrid microrobot that can deliver chemotherapy directly to the lung and treat lung metastases.
- Time out – the article is talking about “biohybrid” microrobots – how is that different than microrobots developed to date for medical purposes?
- Synthetic medical microrobots are typically made of rigid metallic or polymeric structures that are difficult to manufacture. They’re unable to access certain organs and tissues, and they can be toxic to humans.
- Microalgae overcome these concerns. For one, microalgae can move autonomously by using a hair-like appendage called flagella to propel themselves through organs such as the lungs. They are less toxic than other microorganisms. They are also cheaper and easier to produce.
- The UC San Diego biohybrid microrobot combines microscopic, live green microalgae commonly used in pharmaceuticals, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, with nanoparticles coated with red blood cell membranes.
- The cell membranes act as a natural “camouflage” to enhance the microrobot’s biocompatibility and prevent it from being attacked by the patient’s immune system.
- Within the nanoparticles is a common type of chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin.
- The researchers tested the algae-based microrobots in mice with lung metastases. By administering these algae-based microrobots through the trachea, they were able to transport the drug directly into the lungs and minimize side effects on other organs.
- Once in the lungs, the algae-based microrobot could swim and distribute the drug across lung tissue. It could also evade destruction by immune cells in the lungs, allowing the drug to be gradually released from the nanoparticles.
- Compared with free drug and static drug-loaded nanoparticles that cannot move on their own, the biohybrid microrobots accumulated in greater concentrations and were retained longer in the lungs.
- By more effectively delivering chemotherapy to diseased lung tissues, the new biohybrid microrobots significantly improved therapeutic outcomes by shrinking lung tumors and extending the survival of the treated mice.
- Mice treated with the algae-based microrobots experienced a 40% increase in median survival time, extending survival from 27 to 37 days.
- Immune cells eventually break down the “biohybrid” microrobots into nontoxic components and completely remove them from the body.
Honorable Mentions:
Story: Researchers grow sub-nanometer size transistors
Source: Tom’s Hardware Story by Mark Tyson
Korean researchers have developed a method to grow sub-nanometer semiconductor logic circuits. The team from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) claims that they grew 1D metallic materials with a width of less than 1nm and developed them into 2D circuits. In effect, the 1D metals acted as a gate electrode of an ultra-miniaturized 2D transistor.
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Story: Swiss companies are pioneering revolutionary batteries that can charge in one minute
Source: The Cool Down Story by Rick Kazmer
- ETH Zurich is celebrating big news from two battery companies that are spin-offs of university research. They are leveraging Swiss industry expertise that involves novel layered production techniques.
- BTRY is the maker of an ultra-thin solid-state battery that “charges in minutes [and] stores for years,” per the designers. 8inks offers a battery manufacturing process that experts claim allows power packs “to reach their full potential.”
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Story: An Unexpected Function Discovered Inside The ‘Little Brain’ at The Back of Your Head – mostly concerned with coordinating motor functions like balance and movement research indicates it also plays a key role in learning.
Source: Science Alert Story by David Nield
- With a name that means ‘little brain’ in Latin, the cerebellum comprises just 10 percent of the entire brain’s mass. Don’t let that small size fool you, though; with more than three-quarters of the brain’s neurons packed within that small space, there’s a lot going on inside.
- Traditionally it’s thought this part of the nervous system located at the base of the skull is mostly concerned with coordinating motor functions like balance and movement. Now new research backs up a hypothesis that’s gathering momentum: it also plays a key role in learning.
- In this new study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University wanted to build on previous research identifying the cerebellum’s posterior-lateral region as playing a role connecting what we see to the movements we make.
- “A long-standing assumption about cerebellar function has been that it only controls how we move,” says neurobiologist Andreea Bostan from the University of Pittsburgh.
- “However, we now know that there are parts of the cerebellum that are connected and appear to have evolved along with areas of the cerebrum that control how we think.”
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Story: This Solar Charger Promises to Let You Charge Your EV Anywhere
Source: CNET Story by Gael Cooper
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWMkb-enEV4
GoSun says the charger delivers 1,200 watts of solar power, weighs 70 pounds and installs on a vehicle’s roof rack. A video from the company shows a driver unfolding the charger’s panels across the car and plugging the panels in to the vehicle’s own charge port. It comes with a lock to deter theft.