Jean Prounis 9/14/09
HW#3 Stalking
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
Gustav Nystrm, Aamir Razaq, Maria Strømme, Leif Nyholm and Albert Mihranyan, Ultrafast All-Polymer Paper-Based Batteries, NanoLetters, Septermber 9, 2009, http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl901852h
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
To do further research on the group of scientists at the Ångström Laboratory, the journal, NANOLetters, had the primary research article written by Gustav Nystrm, Aamir Razaq, Maria Strømme, Leif Nyholm and Albert Mihranyan about ultrafast all-polymer paper-based batteries. By reading the primary research article it is inevitable that there will be more information on their research than the Science Daily article. The research article thoroughly explains the history of paper-based battery research and how their finding will further advance the research. Research for conducting polymers for battery applications has been subject to numerous investigations for the past two decades. The group has come up with nanostructured high-surface area electrode material for energy storage applications composed of cellulose fibers of algae that is individually coated with a 50nm thin layer of plypyrrole. Their research opens up new possibilities for the making of environmentally friendly energy storage systems.
3. How is this important to society? Need
The research of Gustav Nystrm, Aamir Razaq, Maria Strømme, Leif Nyholm and Albert Mihranyan is extrememly important to our current and future society. As more and more people can afford technologies, this leads to more and more batteries being thrown away. With environmentally friendly energy storage systems, there is less guilt when throwing away a battery because the all-polymer paper-based battery is doing much less damage to the environment.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name of university)?
The group of researchers who conducted this research is from the Ångström Laboratory at Uppsala University in Sweden. The scientists include Gustav Nystrm, Aamir Razaq, Maria Strømme, Leif Nyholm and Albert Mihranyan.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic?
To conduct this experiment, the scientists used two Cellulose/PPy composites, filter paper soaked with electrolyes, and two pieces of Pt foil.
6. Why is this interesting to you?
This research article was interesting to me because it dealt with nanotechnology and helping the environment. Creating alternative energy sources is major in our current society.
Jean Prounis 9/15/09
HW#3 Stalking
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
David L. Chandler, Two Chips in One, MIT News, September 15, 2009, http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/palacios-chip-091509.html
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
In an article posted in MIT News on September 15, 2009, a group of scientists from MIT found a way to combine materials for semiconductor manufacture. Their advance helps tackle the limitations of conventional silicon microprocessors. For the past 10 years, researchers have been trying to put together semiconductor materials in hope to have different and possible corresponding characteristics into a single microchip. Thanks to the MIT team, they have succeeded this struggle and their advance could help overcoming elementary barriers of size and speed facing today’s silicon chips. One issue was the size limitation for silicon chips. The main way engineers have improved the speed of silicon is to keep making them smaller, but it is very difficult to make them smaller. The MIT team’s solution was to combine two different types of materials on a single chip. They embedded a gallium nitride layer into the same type of silicon substrate that was used by the silicon electronics industry.
3. How is this important to society? Need
This is important to society because not only does the combination of the materials produce a faster chip, but one that is high efficient by means of having most of the transistors operate at slower speeds which means the chips do not consume too much energy. With more efficient chips, this will lead to an advance in the electronics industry.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name of university)?
Some of the top scientists in this field include Tomas Palacios, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, Will Chung, graduate student at MIT, and Thomas Kazior, technical director of Advanced Microelectronics Technology at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic?
The scientists used semiconductor materials such as silicon and gallium nitride.
6. Why is this interesting to you?
This is interesting to me because I never really understood the process of making microchips, and I also learned more about semiconductor materials.
Jean Prounis 9/15/09
HW#3 Stalking
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
Marcus Chown, Could We Create Quantum Creatures in the Lab? New Scientist, September 15, 2009, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17792-could-we-create-quantum-creatures-in-the-lab.html
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
In a recent article in New Scientist, Oriol Romero-Isart of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany created a scheme to test if quantum weirdness could soon invade the living world. It is believed that it might be possible for a small life form to achieve this but not for a larger object such as a cat or human because air molecules and photons are always bouncing off it. The scientists chose the flu virus to base their research off of because it can survive in a vacuum, solving the problem of pesky air molecules. Their scheme would use two laser beams to form an optical cavity to hold the virus in place. The virus is forced into a superposition by impinging on it, leading the virus to be doing two different things at once.
3. How is this important to society? Need
This research is important to society because it could answer fundamental questions about the nature of quantum theory.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name of university)?
Some of the top scientists in this field include Oriol Romero-Isart of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany, Peter Knight of Imperial College London, and physicist Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic?
To study this topic, they hope to use a flu virus and lasers to have the virus go into a superposition.
6. Why is this interesting to you?
This topic of study is interesting to me because it is something very new and not even researched yet. I hope to follow Oriol Romero-Isart further on his research towards creating quantum creatures in the lab.