Industry News

    March 2018
    Strings of Electron-Carrying Proteins May Hold The Secret to 'Electric Bacteria'

    Scientist Moh El-Naggar studies bacteria that construct membrane wires to 'breathe' rock. This three-dimensional construct depicts a wire composed of spherical vesicles containing electron-transporting proteins (red and green).

    Could a unique bacterium be nature's microscopic power plant? Scientist Moh El-Naggar and his team think it's possible. They work with the Shewanella oneidensis species of bacteria, one of a group of microbes that essentially "breathe" rocks. As part of their metabolism, the bacteria have developed a w
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    Date:
    03/30/2018
    Illinois Researchers Receive $1 Million to Study Bioenergy Crops
    URBANA, Ill. - The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture has announced a grant for $1 million to support research led by a University of Illinois scientist. The research will address the need for better-adapted and higher-yielding biomass cultivars ready to plug into the biofuel supply chain in the Un
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    Date:
    03/30/2018
    Once we Can Capture CO2 Emissions, Here's What we Could do With it

    This figure shows the proposed timeline of CO2 utilization methods.

    The thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from power plants each year doesn't have to go into the atmosphere. Researchers are optimistic that within the next decade we will be able to affordably capture CO2 waste and convert it into useful molecules for feedstock, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, or
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    Date:
    03/29/2018
    Scientists Publish New Book on Key Policies For a Sustainable Energy Future

    Dr. Roger James Kuhns and Dr. George H. Shaw recently published a book through Springer (2018) entitled "Navigating the Energy Maze: The Transition to a Sustainable Future". Here, Kuhns and Shaw are shown together attending the 2018 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northeast Regional Conference.

    Mystic, CT - Dr. Roger James Kuhns and Dr. George H. Shaw recently published a book through Springer (2018) entitled "Navigating the Energy Maze: The Transition to a Sustainable Future". In this book, Kuhns and Shaw present a plan for the development of a comprehensive sustainable energy policy fo
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    Date:
    03/29/2018
    Knitting Electronics With Yarn Batteries

    Pieces of flexible, rechargeable yarn batteries can be connected in series to power electroluminescent panel displays.

    When someone thinks about knitting, they usually don't conjure up an image of sweaters and scarves made of yarn that can power watches and lights. But that's just what one group is reporting in ACS Nano. They have developed a rechargeable yarn battery that is waterproof and flexible. It also can be cut into pieces
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    Date:
    03/28/2018
    TUALATIN, Ore. — CUI announced that it has signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Master Electronics, the 13th largest global distributor of electronic components. As a part of the agreement, Master Electronics will distribute and market CUI’s extensive product portfolio of power, interconnect, motion, au
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    Date:
    03/27/2018
    Exploring the Thermoelectric Properties of Tin Selenide Nanostructures

    Electric charges in a nanostructured tin selenide (SnSe) thin film flow from the hot end to the cold end of the material and generate a voltage.

    WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Single crystal tin selenide (SnSe) is a semiconductor and an ideal thermoelectric material; it can directly convert waste heat to electrical energy or be used for cooling. When a group of researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, saw the graphenelike layered crystal st
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    Date:
    03/27/2018
    'Green' Thruster Technology Flight-Tested in Space
    WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., March 27, 2018 -- After long delays caused by storms and rough seas, NASA on Sunday launched a rocket into space carrying an experiment built by students at Utah State University. Quick Read A USU student-built experiment rocketed into space from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility
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    Date:
    03/27/2018
    Improving Human-Data Interaction to Speed Nanomaterials Innovation
    Data is only as good as humans' ability to analyze and make use of it. In materials research, the ability to analyze massive amounts of data--often generated at the nanoscale--in order to compare materials' properties is key to discovery and to achieving industrial use. Jeffrey M. Rickman, a professor of materials science and physics at Lehigh Uni
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    Date:
    03/26/2018
    Light for the Technology of the Future

    The first beam of light leaves the test beamline at its end.

    Increasing miniaturization in the microelectronic sector has created inevitable facts: In the future, structures on microchips and on other components will have to be manufactured by means of lithography in the EUV range, which means using extremely short wavelengths of just 13.5 nm. For test measurements, the Ph
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    Date:
    03/26/2018
    Luxembourg Researchers Refute 20-Year-Old Assumptions in Solar Cell Production

    This is a microscopic image of the solar cell absorber made of one grain (black and white) and corresponding chemical analysis showing the concentration of gallium (orange) and indium (purple).

    Research led by the University of Luxembourg investigated the manufacturing process of solar cells. The researchers proved that assumptions on chemical processes that were commonplace among researchers and producers for the past 20 years are, in fact, inaccurate. The physicists published their findings in the re
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    Date:
    03/23/2018
    Gas Hydrate Research: Advanced Knowledge and new Technologies
    Until the end of the 20th century, gas hydrates were considered a rare curiosity. The ice-like compounds of water molecules, including methane and other gases, unintentionally appeared, for example, in gas pipelines. It was not until the 1990s that German and international scientists revealed that the continental sl
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    Date:
    03/23/2018
    Increasing Temperatures in Cooling Systems
    For the very first time, scientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the University of Leicester and the University of Vigo have proven that the kinetic energy from particles in granular gases such as dust clouds can rise temporarily even though energy is constantly being drawn ou
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    Date:
    03/23/2018
    Electric Textile Lights a Lamp When Stretched
    Working up a sweat from carrying a heavy load? That is when the textile works at its best. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a fabric that converts kinetic energy into electric power, in cooperation with the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås and the research institute Swerea IV
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    Date:
    03/22/2018
    New Valve Technology Promises Cheaper, Greener Engines

    This is a photo of new valve technology that promises cheaper, greener engines, Amir Khajepour, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at Waterloo, in his lab working with his students.

    Technology developed at the University of Waterloo reliably and affordably increases the efficiency of internal combustion engines by more than 10 per cent. The product of a decade of research, this patented system for opening and closing valves could significantly reduce fuel consumption in everything from ocea
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    Date:
    03/21/2018
    Filling Lithium-Ion Cells Faster
    Developers from Bosch and scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are using neutrons to analyze the filling of lithium ion batteries for hybrid cars with electrolytes. Their experiments show that electrodes are wetted twice as fast in a vacuum as under normal pressure. One of the most critical
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    Date:
    03/21/2018
    Physicists Reveal Material for High-Speed Quantum Internet

    Electrical excitation causes a point defect in the crystal lattice of silicon carbide to emit single photons, which are of use to quantum cryptography.

    The race for quantum computing is on: Industry giants, such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft, and leading international research centers and universities are involved in the global effort to build a quantum computer. It is not known yet when this new technology can become a reality, but the world is getting ready. Th
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    Date:
    03/21/2018
    Creating a Sustainable Energy Roadmap for Pittsburgh

    Greg Reed (left) and Mayor Peduto (right) witness Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose sign the new energy partnership memorandum.

    PITTSBURGH ... The City of Pittsburgh enjoyed three "renaissance" periods in the 20th century that transformed its environment, architecture, and quality of life. Following that legacy of innovation, a new working group announced today seeks to create an energy renaissance for Pittsburgh in the 21st ce
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    Date:
    03/21/2018
    Physicists Made Crystal Lattice From Polaritons

    This is an electronic microphotograph of the obtained polariton lattice.

    An international research team produced an analog of a solid-body crystal lattice from hybrid photon-electron quasiparticles - polaritons. In the resulting polariton lattice, certain particles' energy does not depend on their speed. At the same time, the lattice's geometry, particle concentration and polarization prop
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    Date:
    03/20/2018
    Power Industry Leaders Create Alliance for 48V Direct-Conversion Applications
    San Jose, Calif. – At the Open Compute U.S. Summit 2018, four leading suppliers of power solutions announced a new alliance, the Power Stamp Alliance, to create collaborative solutions for 48V-to-low-voltage on-board DC-DC power converters. These 48V direct conversion DC-DC modules - or ‘power stamps’ -
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    Date:
    03/20/2018
    Plasmons Triggered in Nanotube Quantum Wells

    A wafer of highly aligned carbon nanotubes, seen in gray on a piece of glass, facilitated a novel quantum effect in experiments at Rice University.

    A novel quantum effect observed in a carbon nanotube film could lead to the development of unique lasers and other optoelectronic devices, according to scientists at Rice University and Tokyo Metropolitan University. The Rice-Tokyo team reported an advance in the ability to manipulate light at the quantum s
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    Date:
    03/16/2018
    Two Better Than One: USU Chemists Advance Sustainable Battery Technology

    Utah State University chemists, from left, Tianbiao Liu, Bo Hu, Camden DeBruler and Jian Luo describe the design and synthesis of a pi-conjugation-extended viologen molecule as a novel, two-electron storage anolyte for neutral total organic aqueous redox flow batteries.

    LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- Utah State University chemists' efforts to develop alternative battery technology solutions are advancing and recent findings are highlighted in a renowned, international chemistry journal. Tianbiao Liu, assistant professor in USU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his team re
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    Date:
    03/16/2018
    Monocrystalline Silicon Thin Film for Cost-Cutting Solar Cells With 10-Times Faster Growth Rate Fabricated

    This is the monocrystalline Si thin film peeled off using adhesive tape.

    A research team from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Waseda University have successfully produced high-quality thin film monocrystalline silicon with a reduced crystal defect density down to the silicon wafer level at a growth rate that is more than 10 times higher than before. In principle, this me
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    Date:
    03/16/2018
    Land Under Water: Estimating Hydropower's Land Use Impacts

    Norway is one of the top-ten hydropower electricity producers worldwide, with more than 95 percent of domestic power production from hydropower. A new tool developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) enables policymakers and industry to understand the tradeoffs between hydropower and loss of land and biodiversity from when lands are drowned under reservoirs.

    Hydropower is the world's top provider of renewable energy, producing a whopping 16 per cent of the global energy supply. That's a good thing when it comes to the climate, especially compared to energy from fossil fuels. But hydropower is not without its environmental costs, particularly when it comes to the land
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    Date:
    03/15/2018
    Infineon Technologies and SAIC Motor establish power module joint venture SIAPM in China to power the largest market for electric vehicles in the world
    SAIC Motor Corporation Limited and Infineon Technologies AG today announced the establishment of a joint venture to manufacture power modules for the dynamically developing electric vehicle market in China. SAIC Motor holds a stake of 51 percent of the JV and Infineon 49 percent, respectively. The partners have rece
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    Date:
    03/07/2018
    EpiGaN GaN/Si RF Material Technology at the Core of EU 5G Project SERENA
    EpiGaN has a key position in the new EU research project SERENA ("gan-on-Silicon Efficient mm-wave euRopean systEm iNtegration platform"). SERENA sets out to develop a beamforming system platform for mm-wave multi-antenna arrays and to enable the functional performance of a hybrid analog/digital signal pro
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    Date:
    03/07/2018
    Cree acquires Infineon RF Power Business
    Durham, N. C., Munich, Germany and Morgan Hill, Calif. – Cree, Inc. has acquired assets of Infineon Technologies AG Radio Frequency (RF) Power Business for approximately €345 million. The transaction expands the Cree Wolfspeed business unit’s wireless market opportunity. Infineon continues to drive key gr
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    Date:
    03/06/2018
    Converting CO2 Into Usable Energy

    Brookhaven scientists are pictured at NSLS-II beamline 8-ID, where they used ultra-bright x-ray light to 'see' the chemical complexity of a new catalytic material. Pictured from left to right are Klaus Attenkofer, Dong Su, Sooyeon Hwang, and Eli Stavitski.

    UPTON, NY - Imagine if carbon dioxide (CO2) could easily be converted into usable energy. Every time you breathe or drive a motor vehicle, you would produce a key ingredient for generating fuels. Like photosynthesis in plants, we could turn CO2 into molecules that are essential for day-to-day life. Now, scientists ar
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    Date:
    03/02/2018
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    Power Systems Design

    Power Systems Design is a leading global media platform serving the power electronics design engineering community. It delivers in-depth technical content, industry news, and product insights to engineers and decision-makers developing advanced power systems and technologies.

    Published 12× per year across North America and Europe, Power Systems Design is distributed through online and fully digital editions, complemented by eNewsletters, webinars, and multimedia content. The platform covers key areas including power conversion, semiconductors, renewable energy, automotive electrification, AI power systems, and industrial applications—supporting innovation across the global electronics industry.