One day, hospital patients might be able to ingest tiny robots that deliver drugs directly to diseased tissue, thanks to research being carried out at EPFL and ETH Zurich. A group of scientists led by Selman Sakar at EPFL and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich drew inspiration from bacteria to design smart, highly flexible biocompatible […]
New Material Cleans and Splits Water
Some of the most useful and versatile materials today are the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are a class of materials demonstrating structural versatility, high porosity, fascinating optical and electronic properties, all of which makes them promising candidates for a variety of applications, including gas capture and separation, sensors, and photocatalysis. Because MOFs are so versatile […]
Foldable Drone Flies Through Narrow Holes in Rescue Missions
Inspecting a damaged building after an earthquake or during a fire is exactly the kind of job that human rescuers would like drones to do for them. A flying robot could look for people trapped inside and guide the rescue team towards them. But the drone would often have to enter the building through a […]
Using Diamonds to Recharge Civilian Drones in Flight
A small lab-grown diamond measuring a few millimeters per side could one day enable civilian drones to be recharged in mid-flight through a laser. Thanks to the diamond, the laser beam can remain strong enough over a long distance to recharge photovoltaic cells on the drones’ surface. This system, which poses no threat to human […]
Microresonators Offer a Simpler Approach to Sensing with Light Pulses
Ultrashort optical pulses are becoming more and more relevant in a number of applications including distance measurement, molecular fingerprinting and ultrafast sampling. Many of these applications rely not only on a single stream of pulses—also known as “optical frequency combs”—but require two or even three of them. Nonetheless, these multi-comb approaches significantly speed up acquisition […]
Optical Fibers Can ‘Feel’ Materials Around Them
In recent years optical fibers have served as sensors to detect changes in temperature, like a thermometer, and pressure, like an artificial nerve. This technique is particularly useful in structures such as bridges and gas pipelines. EPFL researchers have now come up with a new method that enables optical fibers to identify whether they are […]
Optical Fibers That Can ‘Feel’ The Materials Around Them
In recent years optical fibers have served as sensors to detect changes in temperature, like a thermometer, and pressure, like an artificial nerve. This technique is particularly useful in structures such as bridges and gas pipelines. EPFL researchers have now come up with a new method that enables optical fibers to identify whether they are […]
Research Team Uses Excitons To Take Electronics Into The Future
Excitons could revolutionize the way engineers approach electronics. A team of EPFL researchers has created a new type of transistor—one of the components of circuits—using excitons instead of electrons. Notably, their exciton-based transistor functions effectively at room temperature, a hitherto insurmountable obstacle. They achieved this by using two 2-D materials as semiconductors. Their study, which […]
Sound-Waves: Making Opaque Materials Totally Transparent
Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these materials, they bounce around and disperse — and their energy dissipates according to a highly complex interference pattern, diminishing in intensity. That means it’s virtually impossible to […]
A Nanotech Sensor That Turns Molecular Fingerprints Into Bar Codes
Infrared spectroscopy is the benchmark method for detecting and analyzing organic compounds. But it requires complicated procedures and large, expensive instruments, making device miniaturization challenging and hindering its use for some industrial and medical applications and for data collection out in the field, such as for measuring pollutant concentrations. Furthermore, it is fundamentally limited by […]