Layered 2D materials: Maximizing the potential of MXenes

New research shows how to customize the properties of materials called MXenes, which have displayed exceptional abilities to conduct electricity and block electromagnetic radiation.

Hybrid electricity system would reduce rates, improve service

A new distribution system would reduce electricity prices by more than five per cent while also improving service reliability.

Computational algorithm to reduce electromagnetic noise in electronic circuits developed

Two researchers have developed an algorithm for numerical calculation of EM noise (interference) in electric circuits. This algorithm is for computer simulation of electric circuits in which transmission lines are connected with lumped element models.

Waterproof graphene electronic circuits

Water molecules distort the electrical resistance of graphene, but a team of researchers has discovered that when this two-dimensional material is integrated with the metal of a circuit, contact resistance is not impaired by humidity. This finding will help to develop new sensors -- the interface between circuits and the real world -- with a significant cost reduction.

Electrical conductivity in doped organic semiconductors

Researchers have identified the key parameters that influence electrical conductivity in doped organic conductors.

Graphene: Large, stable pieces of graphene produced with unique edge pattern

Graphene is a promising material for use in nanoelectronics. Its electronic properties depend greatly, however, on how the edges of the carbon layer are formed. Zigzag patterns are particularly interesting in this respect, but until now it has been virtually impossible to create edges with a pattern like this. Chemists and physicists have now succeeded in producing stable nanographene with a zigzag edge. Not only that, the method they used was even comparatively simple.

The water analogy didn’t do it for me

New quantum system could help design better spintronics

Researchers have created a new testing ground for quantum systems in which they can literally turn certain particle interactions on and off, potentially paving the way for advances in spintronics.

Better batteries: The energy implications of organic radical polymers

Researchers are one step closer to realizing their goal of creating a battery made entirely of polymers, which has the potential to charge and discharge much faster than traditional batteries.

Converting Wi-Fi signals to electricity with new 2D materials

Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity that could power electronics.

Innovative technique could pave way for new generation of flexible electronic components

Researchers have developed an innovative technique that could help create the next generation of everyday flexible electronics.

Unlocking graphene's superconducting powers with a twist and a squeeze

Graphene has been heralded as a wonder material. Scientists have discovered a new method to manipulate the electrical conductivity of this game-changing material, the strongest known, with applications ranging from nano-electronic devices to clean energy.

'GO dough' makes graphene easy to shape and mold

A team has turned graphene oxide into a soft, moldable and kneadable play dough that can be shaped and reshaped into free-standing, three-dimensional structures.

Static electricity could charge our electronics

Static electricity is one of the most common, yet poorly understand, forms of power generation. A new study suggests the cause of this hair-raising phenomenon is tiny structural changes that occur at the surface of materials when they come into contact with each other. The finding could someday help technology companies create more sustainable and longer-lasting power sources for small electronic devices.

Engineers develop novel strategy for designing tiny semiconductor particles for wide-ranging applications

NUS Engineers have developed a cost-effective and scalable strategy for designing tiny semiconductor particles known as transition metal dichalcogenide quantum dots (TMD QDs) which can potentially generate cancer-killing properties. The team is also looking to optimise TMD QDs for applications such as the next generation TV and electronic device screens, advanced electronics components and even solar cells.

New 3D nanoprinting strategy opens door to revolution in medicine, robotics

Engineers have created the first 3D-printed fluid circuit element so tiny that 10 could rest on the width of a human hair. The diode ensures fluids move in only a single direction -- a critical feature for products like implantable devices that release therapies directly into the body.

Materials chemists tap body heat to power 'smart garments'

Many wearable biosensors, data transmitters and similar tech advances for personalized health monitoring have now been 'creatively miniaturized,' says a materials chemist, but they require a lot of energy, and power sources can be bulky and heavy. Now researchers report that they have developed a fabric that can harvest body heat to power small wearable microelectronics such as activity trackers.

Promising steps towards large scale production of graphene nanoribbons for electronics

Two-dimensional sheets of graphene in the form of ribbons a few tens of nanometers across have unique properties that are highly interesting for use in future electronics. Researchers have now for the first time fully characterized nanoribbons grown in both the two possible configurations on the same wafer with a clear route towards upscaling the production.

Mechanical engineers develop process to 3-D print piezoelectric materials

New printing technique and materials could be used to develop intelligent materials and self-adaptive infrastructures and transducers.

Smart microrobots that can adapt to their surroundings

Scientists have developed tiny elastic robots that can change shape depending on their surroundings. Modeled after bacteria and fully biocompatible, these robots optimize their movements so as to get to hard-to-reach areas of the human body. They stand to revolutionize targeted drug delivery.

What goes in, must come out

New light shed on intensely studied material

The organic polymer PEDOT is probably one of the world's most intensely studied materials. Despite this, researchers have now demonstrated that the material functions in a completely different manner than previously believed. The result has huge significance in many fields of application.

When I tried to “see the delay”

The hill of three crosses

Breakthrough in organic electronics

Researchers have discovered a simple new tweak that could double the efficiency of organic electronics. OLED-displays, plastic-based solar cells and bioelectronics are just some of the technologies that could benefit from their new discovery, which deals with 'double-doped' polymers.

Scientists develop promising new type of polymers

Organic polymers can nowadays be found in solar cells, sensors, LEDs and in many other technical applications. One specific type of polymers - known as S-PPVs - were previously regarded as promising in theory but were almost impossible to produce from a technical perspective. After many years of work, a team has now managed to identify a new chemical synthesis process for the production of S-PPVs.

5000 times faster than a computer

The absorption of light in semiconductor crystals without inversion symmetry can generate electric currents. Researchers have now generated directed currents at terahertz (THz) frequencies, much higher than the clock rates of current electronics. They show that electronic charge transfer between neighboring atoms in the crystal lattice represents the underlying mechanism.

Next generation photonic memory devices are light-written, ultrafast and energy efficient

Researchers have developed a 'hybrid technology' which shows the advantages of both light and magnetic hard drives. Ultra-short (femtosecond) light pulses allows data to be directly written in a magnetic memory in a fast and highly energy-efficient way. This research promises to revolutionize the process of data storage in future photonic integrated circuits.

What happens when you force 3V onto a 2V LED?

What’s a voltage drop?

Spintronics 'miracle material' put to the test

Researchers present two devices built using perovskite to demonstrate the material's potential in spintronic systems. Its properties, they say, bring the dream of a spintronic transistor one step closer to reality.

Saving energy by taking a close look inside transistors

Transistors are needed wherever current flows, and they are an indispensable component of virtually all electronic switches. In the field of power electronics, transistors are used to switch large currents. However, one side-effect is that the components heat up and energy is lost as a result. One way of combating this and potentially making considerable savings is to use energy-efficient transistors.

New technique offers rapid assessment of radiation exposure

Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to assess radiation exposure in about an hour using an insulator material found in most modern electronics. The technique can be used to triage medical cases in the event of a radiological disaster.

Nanophysicists developed a high-performance organic phototransistor

Converting light into electrical signals is essential for a number of future applications including imaging, optical communication and biomedical sensing. Researchers have now developed a new molecular device enabling to detect light and translate it with high efficiency to detectable electronical current.

Excitons pave the way to more efficient electronics

After developing a method to control exciton flows at room temperature, scientists have discovered new properties of these quasiparticles that can lead to more energy-efficient electronic devices.

Interfacing Soil Moisture Sensor with Arduino

In this project, I will talk about Soil Moisture Sensor and how can we save water in our home gardens by Interfacing Soil Moisture Sensor with Arduino and controlling the water supply to plants.

Introduction

If you have a home garden or a backyard with turf, then you might probably know how much we need to take with watering the plants and turf.

Garden Sprinklers are one of the frequently used options for watering the lawn and for plants, well, the only option and the best one is manual watering.

But if you are planning to make an Automatic Plant Watering system, where the water supply either through sprinklers or drip irrigation system, then you have to consider the amount of Soil Moisture.

By measuring the Soil Moisture in the garden, you can precisely control the amount of water to be supplied with the help of a simple mechanism involving a Water Pump and a Microcontroller.

In this project, I will show you how to monitor the soil moisture of a small pot by Interfacing Soil Moisture with Arduino

A Brief Note on Soil Moisture Sensor

The main component of the project (apart from the Arduino UNO) is the Soil Moisture Sensor. It consists of two parts: The main Sensor and the Control Board.

Sensor part of the Soil Moisture Sensor consists of a couple of conductive probes that can be used to measure the volumetric content of water in soil.

Coming to the control board, it is made up of LM393 IC, which is a voltage comparator. The board also consists of all the necessary components like connectors, LEDs, resistors etc. to measure the Soil Moisture.

Additionally, there is an option to adjust the sensitivity of the module with the help of a Potentiometer.

Working of Soil Moisture Sensor

The working of the Soil Moisture Sensor is very simple. It works on the principle of voltage comparison. The following circuit will be helpful in understanding the working of a typical soil moisture sensor.

As you can see, one input of the comparator is connected to a 10KΩ Potentiometer while the other input is connected to a voltage divider network formed by a 10KΩ Resistor and the Soil Moisture Probe.

Based on the amount of water in the soil, the conductivity in the probe varies. If the water content is less, the conductivity through the probe is also less and hence the input to the comparator will be high. This means that the output of the comparator is HIGH and as a result, the LED will be OFF.

Similarly, when there is adequate water, the conductivity of the probe increases and the output of the comparator becomes LOW. The LED then starts glowing.

Interfacing Soil Moisture Sensor with Arduino

Now that we have seen how a typical soil moisture sensor works, let me take you through the steps of Interfacing Soil Moisture with Arduino. The main advantage of this soil moisture module is that you can get the analog output from it. By using this analog signal and giving it to the Analog IN of Arduino, you can precisely calculate the percentage of moisture in the soil.

Coming to the setup for testing the project, I have used to plastic cups filled with soil from my garden. The amount of water in each cup is more than the previous one.  

Circuit Diagram

Components Required

• Arduino UNO
• Soil Moisture Sensor Module
• 16×2 LCD Display
• 10KΩ Potentiometer (for LCD)
• Breadboard
• Connecting wires
• Power Supply
• Test setup with 3 cups of soil

Circuit Design

The design of the circuit is very simple. Connect the probe to the board and provide power supply to the board. Take the analog out pin from the board and connect it to Analog IN pinA0 of the Arduino.

To view the results, I have used a 16×2 LCD Display, where I have connected its data pins D4 – D7 to Arduino Pins 5 – 2. All the additional connections are mentioned in the circuit diagram.

Code

How to Measure Soil Moisture with Arduino?

• Make the connections asper the circuit diagram and upload the code to Arduino.
• Place the soil moisture probe in a “dry” pot and check for readings. In my case, it was around 13%.
• Similarly, place the probe in other pots (after properly cleaning the probe) and check for readings.
• You can adjust the sensitivity of the sensor with the help of the potentiometer on the board of the sensor.

Applications

You can use soil moisture sensor in

• Home Gardens
• Lawns
• Interior Plants
• Office and low light plant setup       

 

The post Interfacing Soil Moisture Sensor with Arduino appeared first on Electronics Hub.

Arduino Car Speed Detector

In this project, I will show you how to design and build a simple Car Speed Detector circuit using Arduino UNO and IR Sensors. This Arduino Car Speed Detector project can be used to detect speed of a moving car.

Introduction

There are definite rules laid out by authorities about driving cars on roads. The most common rule in any country is speed limit in certain roads i.e. you will be in violation of the law if your car speed exceeds this limit.

In order to detect the speed of a moving car, the patrolling officers usually depend on a handheld gun that works on Radar Technology or Lidar Technology. This is a tedious process as the officer has to manually check for over speeding for each vehicle.

What if the Car Speed Detection is made automatic? A simple automatic detection of speed of a vehicle is designed in Arduino Car Speed Detector project, where you can place the system in one place and view the results instantly without any human intervention.

Principle of the Project

IR Sensors are the main part of the project that detect the speed of a car. Practically, you can implement the setup of IR Sensors in many ways but in this project, I have used two reflective type IR Sensors and placed them 10cm apart.

When a car travelling reaches the first sensor, the IR Sensor gets activated. From this moment onward, a timer is initiated and will continue to keep time until the car reaches the second IR Sensor.

By simulating the distance between the two sensors to be 5 meters, you can calculate the speed at which the car travelled from IR Sensor 1 to IR Sensor 2 as you already know the time of travel.

All the calculations and data gathering are done by Arduino and the final result is displayed on a 16X2 LCD Module.

Circuit Diagram of Arduino Car Speed Detector

The following image shows the circuit diagram of the Arduino car speed detector project.

Components Required

• Arduino UNO
• IR Sensors x 2
• 16X2 LCD Display Module
• Breadboard
• Connecting Wires
• Power Supply

A Brief Note on IR Sensor

First of all, I have used two digital IR Sensors, which consists of an IR Transmitter (IR LED), an IR Receiver (Photo Diode), a Comparator IC and a few supporting components. The IR Transmitter and Receiver Pair are placed side-by-side so that they form a Reflective Type IR Sensor.

In this type, the IR Transmitter continuously emits Infrared radiations and if there is no object in front of the sensor, none of the Infrared radiation gets reflected back to the IR Receiver.

But if there is an object in front of the sensor, some of the infrared radiation hits the object and gets reflected back. This reflected radiation falls on the IR Receiver, which means that the sensor has detected the object.

Some IR Sensors has the option to produce both Analog and Digital Outputs but the module I have used has only Digital Output i.e. the output is HIGH when an object is detected and LOW when there is no object.

Circuit Design

The Digital OUT of the first IR Sensor is connected to Pin 11 of Arduino and the Digital OUT of the second IR Sensor is connected to Pin 12 of Arduino. Both the IR Sensors are provided with necessary power supply connections.

In order to view the car speed details, I have used a 16×2 LCD. Its data pins i.e. D4 – D7 are connected to Digital I/O pins 5 – 2. The RS and E pins of LCD are connected to pins 7 and 6 of Arduino. Rest of the connections are mentioned in the circuit diagram.

Code

How to operate Arduino Car Speed Detector Project?

• Make all the necessary connections with respect to the circuit diagram and upload the code to Arduino.
• Place the two IR Sensors on the edge of the breadboard so that the distance between them is approximately 10 centimeters.
• Simulate a car movement in front of the sensors either by using your hands or a toy car.
• Arduino calculates the speed and displays the result on the 16×2 LCD.

Working

The working of the Arduino based car speed detector project is very simple. Arduino continuously reads the inputs from the IR Sensors. When a car moving in front of the setup reaches the first sensor, Arduino becomes alert and capture a time stamp the moment the car leaves the first IR Sensor.

Another time stamp is recorded when the car reaches the second IR Sensor. Millis() function of Arduino used for capturing the time stamps.

Arduino then calculates the velocity by assuming the distance as 5 meters between the two IR Sensor and displays the result in kilometers per hour on the 16×2 LCD Display

Applications

• Helps in capturing speed of vehicles without any human involvement.
• This project can also be used as traffic logger, traffic counter and few other traffic related applications.  

The post Arduino Car Speed Detector appeared first on Electronics Hub.

Controlling neurons with light -- but without wires or batteries

In optogenetics, scientists use light to turn groups of neurons in the brain on or off. New research demonstrates a new optogenetics method that eliminates the need for bulky optical fibers, gives researchers more precise control of the light's intensity, and allows for stimulating multiple areas of the brain simultaneously.

Physicists record 'lifetime' of graphene qubits

Researchers have recorded, for the first time, quantum coherence of a graphene-based superconducting qubit, meaning how long it stays in superposition to compute with two logical states simultaneously. The work is a key step forward for practical quantum computing.