Plant cellulose prevents short circuits in batteries

(Phys.org)—In order to prevent short circuits in batteries, porous separator membranes are often placed between a battery's electrodes. There is typically a tradeoff involved, since these separators must simultaneously ...

Squeezing transistors really hard generates energy savings

Transistors, the workhorses of the electronics world, are plagued by leakage current. This results in unnecessary energy losses, which is why smartphones and laptops, for example, have to be recharged so often. Tom van Hemert ...

Researchers identify cause of LED 'efficiency droop'

(Phys.org) —Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have identified the mechanism behind a plague of LED light bulbs: a flaw called "efficiency droop" that causes LEDs to lose up to 20 percent of their efficiency as ...

Ageing wooden power poles increase risk of fires

Research at RMIT University has proven conclusively that wooden poles used for electricity distribution deteriorate with age and that their electrical performance worsens over time.

Imec achieves breakthroughs in enabling future DRAM and RRAM

In the frame of its research on future memory architectures, imec has made breakthroughs for both DRAM and RRAM memories. For DRAM, MIMcap (metal-insulator-metal capacitor) was established as a clear candidate for 1X DRAM ...

No-sweat pressure sensors

Microelectronic chips used to take pressure readings are very delicate. A new technology has been developed that makes pressure sensors more robust, enabling them to continue operating normally at temperatures up to 250 degrees ...