ATR NewsWire

Flexible circuits are a bright spot when it comes to growth for printed circuit boards, but the overall market is still small compared to rigd boards. Printed electronics may change those volumes significantly by bringing dramatically lower costs that could open up extremely high volume markets.

The coolest new nanomaterial of the 21^st century could boost the efficiency of the next generation of solar panels, a team of Michigan Technological University materials scientists has discovered. Graphene, a two-dimensional honeycomb of carbon atoms, is a rising star in the materials community for its radical properties. One of those properties is electrical conductivity, which could make it a key ingredient in the next generation of photovoltaic cell.

Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, differ from regular capacitors that you would find in your TV or computer in that they store substantially higher amounts of charges. They have garnered attention as energy storage devices as they charge and discharge faster than batteries, yet they are still limited by low energy densities, only a fraction of the energy density of batteries. Now researchers at UCLA have used a standard LightScribe DVD optical drive to produce such electrodes. The electrodes are composed of an expanded network of graphene - a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon  - that shows excellent mechanical and electrical properties as well as exceptionally high surface area.

Two new studies performed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have revealed a new pathway for materials scientists to use previously unexplored properties of nanocrystalline-diamond thin films. While the properties of diamond thin films are relatively well-understood, the new discovery could dramatically improve the performance of certain types of integrated circuits by reducing their "thermal budget."

A team of MIT researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials — which can operate at temperatures up to 1200 degrees Celsius — could find a wide variety of applications powering portable electronic devices, spacecraft to probe deep space, and new infrared light emitters that could be used as chemical detectors and sensors.

Delta Electronics Inc., AcBel Polytech Inc., Phihong Technology Co., and Leader Electronics Inc., Taiwan's major power-supply makers branching out into LED lighting manufacturing, estimate sales of their LED lamps to grow at am exponential rate this year.

Production value of Taiwan's flat panel display (FPD) industry (including FPD panels and parts/components) dropped 15.5% from the previous year to about NT$1.4 trillion (US$46.77 billion) in 2011, from the peak of NT$1.66 trillion (US$55.33 billion) in 2010, according to the Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK)-ITIS (Industry & Technology Intelligence Services) in Taiwan, which forecasts that the FPD industry till grow by about 8.6% to about NT$1.5 trillion (US$50 billion) in 2012.

Nanowires — microscopic fibers that can be “grown” in the lab — are a hot research topic today, with a variety of potential applications including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and sensors. Now, a team of MIT researchers has found a way of precisely controlling the width and composition of these tiny strands as they grow, making it possible to grow complex structures that are optimally designed for particular applications.

The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has just released its list of "Important Technologies" that will change the world in the years ahead. The list highlights technology trends most likely to impact on the state of the world in the near future and was developed by a cross section of experts from science, businesses, and public policy. The technologies are expected to have major social, economic, and environmental impacts.

Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic®, a lightweight, flexible organic solar film that converts light to electricity, announced that Konarka’s next generation organic solar cells are the world’s first organic photovoltaic (OPV) to be certified in compliance with IEC 61646. The certification work was done by TÜV Rheinland, an international test center based in Cologne, Germany. TÜV Rheinland’s Solar Energy Assessment Center performed the testing. These recent advances are based upon Konarka’s inverted cell architecture, the company’s proprietary intellectual property protected under issued patents.