334 research outputs found
Flexible MXene films for batteries and beyond
MXenes add dozens of metallic conductors to the family of two-dimensional (2D) materials. A top-down synthesis approach removing A-layer atoms (e.g., Al, Si, and Ga) in MAX phases to produce 2D flakes attaches various surface terminations to MXenes. With these terminations, MXenes show tunable properties, promising a range of applications from energy storage devices to electronics, including sensors, transistors, and antennas. MXenes are also excellent building blocks to create flexible films used for flexible and wearable devices. This article summarizes the synthesis of MXene flakes and highlights aspects that need attention for flexible devices. Rather than listing the development of energy storage devices in detail, we focus on the main challenges of and solutions for constructing high-performance devices. Moreover, we show the applications of MXene films in electronics to call on designs to construct a complete system based on MXene with good flexibility, which consists of a power source, sensors, transistors, and wireless communications
Engineering mass transport properties in oxide ionic and mixed ionic electronic thin film ceramic conductors for energy applications
New emerging disciplines such as Nanoionics and Iontronics are dealing with
the exploitation of mesoscopic size effects in materials, which become visible
(if not predominant) when downsizing the system to the nanoscale. Driven by the
worldwide standardisation of thin film deposition techniques, the access to
radically different properties than those found in the bulk macroscopic systems
can be accomplished. This opens up promising approaches for the development of
advanced microdevices, by taking advantage of the nanostructural deviations
found in nanometre sized, interface dominated materials compared to the ideal
relaxed structure of the bulk. A completely new set of functionalities can be
explored, with implications in many different fields such as energy conversion
and storage, or information technologies. This manuscript reviews the
strategies, employed and foreseen, for engineering mass transport properties in
thin film ceramics, with the focus in oxide ionic and mixed ionic electronic
conductors and their application in micro power sources
Nanotechnology in a Globalized World: Strategic Assessments of an Emerging Technology
PASCC Report Number 2014-006Nanotechnologies are enabling, dual-use technologies with the potential to alter the modern world
significantly, from fields as wide-ranging as warfare to industrial design to medicine to social and
human engineering. Seizing the technological lead in nanotech is often viewed as an imperative for
both 21st century defense and global competitiveness. Only revolutionary technologies are believed
to allow a country to take advantage of its relative backwardness—in the sense of its lack of
commitment to existing, incremental technologies—and leap ahead of existing technological leaders
in developing and deploying a revolutionary new technology. New technologies, however, are only
likely truly to revolutionize an economy and society if there is a broader national base that allows a
new technology to spread and transform from its initial niche application, whether civilian or
military, and if society is willing to adopt the technology in question. Globally, there is significant
belief in the revolutionary potential of nanotechnology, not only to transform warfare, economy and
society, but also the international geopolitical hierarchy. Between 2001 and 2014, over sixty countries
followed the United States and established nanotechnology initiatives. These countries range from
advanced industrial countries in Europe to Japan to the emerging markets of Russia, China, Brazil,
and India to developing countries such as Nepal and Pakistan.U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Center on Contemporary Conflict (CCC),
Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD (PASCC
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