Hi-Tech News

Hole-selective self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are ultrathin organic films that play a crucial role in modern optoelectronic devices, particularly in perovskite and silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells. However, their inherent instability often compromises operational performance of the device.... Read more

An international research team led by the University of Bayreuth has developed an innovative method for producing green hydrogen directly from seawater—without the use of additional reagents. The researchers report their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.... Read more

The formula powering aqueous zinc-iodine batteries has been brought under the microscope, with researchers from the University of Adelaide finding a way to enhance their performance.... Read more

Researchers at Aalto University have demonstrated single-shot tensor computing at the speed of light, a remarkable step towards next-generation artificial general intelligence hardware powered by optical computation rather than electronics.... Read more

In the 1980s when micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) were first created, computer engineers were excited by the idea that these new devices that combine electrical and mechanical components at the microscale could be used to build miniature robots.... Read more

Near-infrared (NIR) photon detection and object recognition are crucial technologies for all-weather target identification. Conventional NIR detection systems that rely on photodetectors and von Neumann computing algorithms are energy inefficient. Artificial sensory neurons based on infrared-sensitive volatile memristors offer a promising solution.... Read more

Robots aren't always the most delicate of machines when handling fragile objects. They don't have the lightness of touch of humans. But that could be about to change thanks to a new development in smart materials.... Read more

A new type of "ink" makes it possible to 3D print electrochemically switchable, conducting polymers using a light-based process. Researchers from the universities of Heidelberg and Stuttgart have succeeded in making so-called redox polymers useful for additive manufacturing with digital light processing.... Read more

Waymo is hitting the highway. The company said starting Wednesday its robotaxis—already a common sight on some city streets—are expanding their routes to freeways and interstates around San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. And in the Bay Area, riders can now get dropped off or picked up curbside in driverless... Read more

Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have invented a device that can generate mechanical power at night by linking the natural warmth around us to the cold depths of space. The invention could be used, for example, to ventilate greenhouses or other buildings. The work is described Nov. 12... Read more

Major Western ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Lyft sketched a gradual path toward introducing self-driving cars at this week's Web Summit in Lisbon, with infrastructure, developing regulation and passengers' preference for human contact weighing on the brakes.... Read more

Researcher Cunjiang Yu and his research team, including several of his former students, have announced a significant milestone in materials and electronics engineering: the creation of what they call "rubbery CMOS," which provides the same functionality as conventional CMOS (complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) circuits, but is made from entirely different materials.... Read more

Virtual reality and prosthetics are advancing rapidly thanks to technological innovations, but both are still missing one key element—a sense of touch, also known as haptic feedback.... Read more

Because it's costly and cumbersome to transport large structures such as satellite dishes into space, aerospace Ph.D. student Ivan Wu and his advisor, Jeff Baur, at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, developed a creative and efficient energy-saving method to morph 2D structures into curved 3D structures... Read more

Weather forecasting is notoriously wonky—climate modeling even more so. But their slowly increasing ability to predict what the natural world will throw at us humans is largely thanks to two things—better models and increased computing power.... Read more