The Need: Devices that are faster, stronger and won't burst into flames.
Computers aren't improving, because their circuits use a lot of power and throw a lot of heat. Atom-scale devices could be the solution.
The Challenge: Computers work on internal transistors that constantly switch from binary 0 to binary 1 and each switch creates heat, explains Taleana Huff, '15 MSc, a physics grad research fellow working with Faculty of Science professor Robert Wolkow. More switches equal more power, generating more heat. "Your whole laptop is going to melt if you try to make it better or faster."
Ergo, faster computers need a smaller, energy-efficient on-off switch, which will also help with another big problem. By the year 2040, experts predict the energy our computers need could exceed the amount produced worldwide.
The Breakthrough: Huff uses a specialized scanning probe microscope with the world's sharpest tip. (Wolkow has the Guinness World Record.) The team believes it has reached the ultimate limit for smallness: it's just one atom wide at the business end. The tool allows Huff and the others to make bits that represent binary information out of just two atoms - a fraction of the size that would be required using conventional seven- or 14-nanometre transistors.
"We're using individual atoms where you would normally have a very large transistor. When a transistor does that operation, it's using tons of energy," she says. The atomic switch uses "almost a negligible amount."
Says Huff: "My adviser had been dreaming of testing these circuits for, like, 10 years before we actually managed to do it using this tool. Moving individual atoms is a little bit harder than you would think."
The Need: A better, portable power generation system.
Remember the self-winding watch? Well, consider this: thanks to a lab accident, you could eventually charge your smartphone just by walking around.
The Challenge: Triboelectric nanogenerators are devices that convert external energy into electricity - think of dragging your feet along a carpet - but they produce a low-quality, alternating current that no one could improve. At least until Jun Liu, '18 PhD, working with chemical engineering professor Thomas Thundat, saw something unexpected.
The Breakthrough: One day, Liu was using a specialized atomic microscope that uses a tiny cantilever to "feel" objects to create images. He hadn't yet pushed the button to apply electricity to the sample, so he was puzzled when he saw a current. Turns out, the cantilever's movement was generating electricity that was flowing in a steady, strong direct current: a tiny generator.
Liu and Thundat have since created a prototype device, with a provisional patent, that paves the way for future electronic devices to contain nanoscale generators that will harvest energy from the tiniest movements - the swish of your clothes, engine vibrations, even a heartbeat.
Says Liu: "We've just built a bridge between science in the lab with a real application. We've bridged the gap."
The Need: Better batteries.
From electronics to vehicles to household electricity, batteries are key to unplugging - or, at least, plugging in less often.
The Challenge: Energy is stored inside battery chemicals, then used over a specific cycle - maybe driving a Tesla 600 kilometres or working 20 hours on a MacBook.Hezhen (Andrew) Xie, a PhD student in chemistry professor Jillian Buriak's lab, is seeking to improve a chemical battery's energy density, making it last longer. A separate challenge is to create desperately needed technology that can better store renewable electricity for when the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow.
The Breakthrough: A recent success for Xie involved replacing the graphite inside a lithium battery with silicon nanoparticles and a highly conductive graphene aerogel. The research determined size and shapes that would keep the silicon from breaking down during repeated charging and discharging. Xie is also researching sodium as a cheap, plentiful replacement for lithium, which could be a breakthrough for large-scale "batteries" - or storage systems - for renewably sourced energy.
His breakthrough means energy could be stored in a sodium-ion battery and devices with these improved batteries would last longer and go farther.
Says Xie: "There are so many cars in the world. If we use electrical vehicles based on clean energy, there will be much less emissions and pollution."
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