China Science & Technology Forum

[JSCh]

Friday, August 12, 2016, 10:18
China creates high-tech insulation for space
By Zhao Lei

The Long March 5 is shown in this undated picture being tested at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan province. (Photo by Sun Hao / China Daily)​

China has developed a cutting-edge ultralight material for thermal insulation on its rockets and spacecraft, according to engineers.

Zou Junfeng, a senior engineer at the Aerospace Institute of Advanced Materials and Processing Technology in Beijing, said the material, called aerogel, has been widely used in space missions by the United States, Russia and Europe.

"We have also developed our own aerogel products and some of them are at the highest technological level in the world," he said. "A lot of our spacecraft, satellites and rockets are now using our products to resist heat or maintain internal temperatures."

The heavy-duty Long March 5 rocket, which will be China's most sophisticated and strongest launch vehicle, is scheduled to conduct its maiden flight before the end of this year.

It will use aerogel developed by Zou's institute to maintain the required temperature for its engine's pipes, he said.

"Our aerogel products are capable of not only insulating heat but also withstanding strong vibration, so they will ensure the smooth operation of the rocket," he said.

Moreover, the nation's future Mars rover will use aerogel to maintain warmth when it lands on the Red Planet.

"Our cargo spacecraft that will be launched next year will also be equipped with a refrigerator that uses our aerogel materials, significantly reducing the refrigerator's weight," Zou said.

NASA also used aerogel for thermal insulation of its Mars Rover and space suits.

Zou's institute, part of the Third Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, specializes in materials used on spacecraft and missiles. It has developed a series of aerogel products that can work in a wide range of temperatures, from minus 100 C to 2,500 C. They are used in the Chinese military's latest weapons, said Cao Hui, director of the institute.

He said aerogel is the lightest solid material ever developed by humans, calling it a "magic material that will change the world".

Cao said the institute's aerogel products are also used on China's large ships and high-speed trains, adding that engineers will promote the advanced material to more civilian sectors.

China's first Long March 7 launches from Wenchang on June 25, 2016. (Photo by Su Dong, China Daily)​

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

This means that the "Tianggong-2 Space Lab" will launched on schedule in September 2016.

 

[JSCh]

Public Release: 12-Aug-2016
Seeing the invisible: Visible light superlens made from nanobeads
New solid 3-D superlenses extends magnification x5 to reveal new detail

Bangor University

Fig.1 (a) Conceptual drawing of nanoparticle-based metamaterial solid immersion lens (mSIL) (b) Lab made mSIL using titanium dioxide nanoparticles (c) SEM image of 60 nm sized imaging sample (d) corresponding superlens imaging of the 60 nm samples by the developed mSIL. ©Bangor University Fudan University

Nanobeads are all around us- and are, some might argue, used too frequently in everything from sun-screen to white paint, but a new ground-breaking application is revealing hidden worlds.

A paper in Science Advances (12 August) provides proof of a new concept, using new solid 3D superlenses to break through the scale of things previously visible through a microscope.

Illustrating the strength of the new superlens, the scientists describe seeing for the first time, the actual information on the surface of a Blue Ray DVD. That shiny surface is not as smooth as we think. Current microscopes cannot see the grooves containing the data- but now even the data itself is revealed.

Led by Dr Zengbo Wang at Bangor University, UK and Prof Limin Wu at Fudan University, China, the team created minute droplet-like lens structures on the surface to be examined. These act as an additional lens to magnify the surface features previously invisible to a normal lens.

Made of millions of nanobeads, the spheres break up the light beam. Each bead refracts the light, acting as individual torch-like minute beam. It is the very small size of each beam of light which illuminate the surface, extending the resolving ability of the microscope to record-breaking levels. The new superlens adds 5x magnification on top of existing microscopes.

Extending the limit of the classical microscope's resolution has been the 'El Dorado' or 'Holy Grail' of microscopy for over a century. Physical laws of light make it impossible to view objects smaller than 200 nm - the smallest size of bacteria, using a normal microscope alone. However, superlenses have been the new goal since the turn of the millennium, with various labs and teams researching different models and materials.

"We've used high-index titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as the building element of the lens. These nanoparticles are able to bend light to a higher degree than water. To explain, when putting a spoon into a cup of this material, if it were possible, you'd see a larger bend where you spoon enters the material than you would looking at the same spoon in a glass of water," Dr Wang says.

"Each sphere bends the light to a high magnitude and splits the light beam, creating millions of individual beams of light. It is these tiny light beams which enable us to view previously unseen detail."

Wang believes that the results will be easily replicable and that other labs will soon be adopting the technology and using it for themselves.

The advantages of the technology is that the material, titanium dioxide, is cheap and readily available, and rather than buying a new microscope, the lenses are applied to the material to be viewed, rather than to the microscope.

"We have already viewed details to a far greater level than was previously possible. The next challenge is to adapt the technology for use in biology and medicine. This would not require the current use of a combination of dyes and stains and laser light- which change the samples being viewed. The new lens will be used to see germs and viruses not previously visible."

Seeing the invisible: Visible light superlens made from nanobeads | EurekAlert! Science News


Three-dimensional all-dielectric metamaterial solid immersion lens for subwavelength imaging at visible frequencies, Science Advances 12 Aug 2016. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600901

 

[Dungeness]

Now China is capable of making plasma etching equipment for 14nm process, the KEY tech for semiconductor industries:

 

[JSCh]

China's new submersible mother ship completes maiden voyage
Source: Xinhua | 2016-08-12 18:31:20 | Editor: huaxia

China's deep-sea submersible mother ship, Tansuo-1, returns to Sanya in south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 12, 2016. Tansuo-1 returned to Sanya on Friday after completing its successful maiden voyage to the Mariana Trench. The mother ship carried 60 researchers and crew as well as a 10,000-meter autonomous remote-controlled submersible, a 9,000-meter ocean-bottom seismometer and other domestically made devices. It left Sanya on June 22 for the Mariana Trench expedition. (Xinhua/Sha Xiaofeng)

SANYA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's deep-sea submersible mother ship, Tansuo-1, returned to Sanya in south China's Hainan Province on Friday after completing its successful maiden voyage to the Mariana Trench.

The mother ship carried 60 researchers and crew as well as a 10,000-meter autonomous remote-controlled submersible, a 9,000-meter ocean-bottom seismometer and other domestically made devices. It left Sanya on June 22 for the Mariana Trench expedition.

During the expedition, researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted 84 research tasks and collected a large amount of samples and data at different depths. The results will be announced later.

The 94.45-meter-long Tansuo-1 has a range of 10,000 nautical miles. It is equipped with 10 permanent research labs and two removable labs.

The ship serves as the mother ship for a new manned submersible that can reach a depth of 4,500 meters.

China's current manned submersible, Jiaolong, reached a depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012.

 

[ahojunk]

China's technology innovation plan to support GM crops research
2016-08-12 08:48 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

China will allocate more resources to GM crop R&D, according to a five-year plan for science and technology progress published Monday by the State Council.

The plan lists science and technology targets for the 2016-2020 period, as well as the government action needed to achieve the proposed results.

China has identified GM as an important area on many occasions, ordering research and supervision to be improved, the development of a GM food evaluation system and the industrialization of certain GM food crops.

A GM research project, approved by the State Council in 2008, explored the creation of new GM varieties alongside their application value and proprietary intellectual property rights. The project was part of a wider push to ensure the sustainable development of China's agriculture.

"Since 2008, China has built a GM technology system," according to an official with the Ministry of Agriculture. "The system covers gene cloning, genetic transformation, new variety breeding and safety evaluation."

The new plan, with its emphasis on innovation, advantages of hybrids and breeding by molecular design, will help elevate GM research to the next level.

"Innovation is extremely important in the industry," said Zhang Shihuang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Agricultural experts had predicted, for example, that the industrialization of genetically modified corn would be realized in the next five years, but a suitable breed has yet to be identified. Zhang attributes this to a lack of innovation.

SAFETY SHOULD BE PRIORITY

GM remains shrouded in controversy due to safety concerns. The new plan reveals that China is taking a prudent attitude toward the research and application of GM crops. Safety, however, has always been, and will always be, put first.

China has a sound safety evaluation system for genetically modified crops, according to Guo Anping, a member of the country's GM crop bio-safety committee and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

"China's safety evaluation system on genetically modified crops is the world's strictest in terms of technical standards and procedures," said Wu Kongming, from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and also a member of China's GM crop bio-safety committee.

Compared to China's regulation on GM crops over the past five years, which places emphasis on improving the GM organism cultivation and safety evaluation systems, the new plan proposes that a standardized bio-safety evaluation technical system should be established over the following five years to ensure the safety of GM products.

The safety management of GM organisms must be improved to avoid any risks to people, micro-organisms, animals and plants as well as the environment, Guo said.

From field experiments to application, every procedure concerning GM organisms requires a rigid evaluation and approval process, he continued.

Experts said China should focus on GM research of fields that can solve agriculture problems, such as insect resistance, water scarcity as well as high yield and high quality.

For GM crops, China currently only allows insect-resistant cotton and antiviral papaya for commercial purposes to be planted.

For instance, China has cultivated 147 species of GM insect-resistant cotton, which has helped reduce pesticide consumption by 400,000 tonnes, saving 45 billion yuan (6.78 billion U.S. dollars).

China has released a GM crop roadmap, giving priority to the development of non-edible cash crops, according to official Liao Xiyuan, with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), in April.

Next in line comes indirectly edible and then edible crops, reflecting China's prudent attitude to GM crops, said Liao.

CALL FOR SUPPORT, SUPERVISION

Although China has made discoveries, especially with regards to GM technology, it still has a way to go in the industrialization of GM products.

A total of 28 countries around the world have planted GM crops. China was the sixth largest GM crop grower in 2015, following the United States, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada, according to a study by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

GM researchers say the new plan is inspiring but it lacks a general framework, and detailed policies and actions are needed to ensure implementation.

Agriculture officials say they hope the plan will improve GM crop safety. Severe punishment will be given for any unauthorized GM crop sales, planting and field trials, according to Liao.

 

[bobsm]

China’s quantum satellite leap into space leads the world

Groundbreaking project could result in breakthroughs in cryptography and teleportation

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 16 August, 2016, 9:17am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 16 August, 2016, 9:31am

Stephen Chen

China launched the world’s first quantum science satellite into space early on Tuesday morning, with the project carrying the hopes of scientists around the world.

At 1.40am, the small satellite, recently named Micius after an ancient Chinese philosopher and engineer, began a journey into the big unknown on top of a Long March 2D rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Inner Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

Eight years ago, quantum physicist Pan Jianwei and space engineer Wang Jianyu teamed up to build the world’s first quantum satellite in the hope of finding the portal to a whole new universe.

“Pan has some big ideas, my job is to squeeze them in a satellite,” Professor Wang, commander in chief of China’s quantum science satellite (QSS) project, told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview.

China has been trailing the footsteps of others for more than a century. QSS will be our first step ahead of others
WANG JIANYU, CAS
The satellite was initially called QUESS (quantum experiments at space scale) and then QSS. Pan, the project’s chief scientist, said they had been scratching their heads for a long time to find a proper name for it.

Micius was chosen not only because it fit the pioneering nature of the experiments, but also as a nod to Chinese culture, Pan told state media on Monday. More than 2,400 years ago, Micius proposed that light always travelled in a straight line and that the physical world was made up by particles. He also built the world’s first pinhole camera.

The QSS project began at the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in 2008.

The satellite, weighing less than a Smart car, will be looking for a universe different from Einstein’s. One where a cat can be alive and dead at the same time, where bits of information can be “teleported” from one galaxy to another faster than the speed of light, where the internet cannot be hacked, and where a calculator can run faster than all the world’s super computers combined.

“The QSS missions are something never attempted by other nations,” Wang said. “China has been trailing the footsteps of others for more than a century. QSS will be our first step ahead of others [in space].

“It is a tiny step, but it is a step for the human race.”

In ancient times, China was the land of innovation, inventing black powder, paper, printing and the compass. Now, after decades of rapid economic development, it has built up the world’s largest army of scientists and engineers, some armed with cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art hardware, and is ready to reclaim the glory of the past with ambitious projects.

Wang said the quantum satellite had three successively more challenging missions.

The first was to establish a hacker-proof communication line between China and Europe.

A message would encrypted by a unique cryptographic key chain in Beijing and sent to Vienna through the conventional telecommunications network. At the same time, the key chain would be beamed to the quantum satellite by Beijing in the form of photons with various quantum properties such as clockwise or counterclockwise spins, and then the satellite would relay the cryptographic keys to the receiver in Vienna to decipher the message.

Quantum properties – the states of a particle – cannot be measured or cloned without destroying the particle’s original quantum states, so the cryptographic keys, in theory, could not be stolen.

The technology had obvious military value and Micius would have ended up as a secret military satellite if not for a rare fight led by Professor Pan and other Chinese scientists against the generals of the People’s Liberation Army.

“Originally, the army wanted to take over the responsibility [to bring quantum technology to space],” Pan told Naturemagazine in January. “We at the CAS really worked hard to convince our government that it is important that we have a way to launch science satellites … it was finally agreed that CAS is the right organisation.”

The Chinese scientists’ efforts won respect and applause from colleagues and competitors in Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan who had proposed similar plans to take quantum technology into space to their governments only to face delays or postponements for a range of reasons, including budget cuts.

Professor Anton Zeilinger, who was Pan’s mentor when he was a PhD student in Vienna and now leads a quantum satellite project in Europe, said the launch of Micius launch would benefit everyone.

“The quantum satellite will for the first time prove that quantum communication on a worldwide scale is possible,” he said. “This is a crucial step to the future quantum internet.”

But it is the satellite’s second and third missions that reveal the scale of the Chinese scientists’ ambitions and have physicists around the world holding their breath.

One of the most intriguing elements of quantum theory is the entanglement of particles. If two particles are entangled, the change of quantum state on one particle would immediately trigger a counter-change on the other. In theory, the entanglement would occur regardless of the distance between the particles, but the greatest distance of entanglement on the ground, achieved by a team led by Pan and Wang, was only 100km.

Micius will seek to improve on that by an order of magnitude, beaming one entangled photon to a ground station in Delingha, Tibet, and the other to a station in Lijiang in Yunnan or Nanshan in Xinjiang, so see if the entanglement can be maintained between two ground stations more than 1,000km apart.

If the results of the second mission are positive, the satellite’s third mission will take quantum theory to its most exciting application: quantum teleportation in space.

Researchers will generate a pair of entangled photons at a ground station. One photon will be beamed to the satellite, the other kept on the ground. Then, the scientists will alter the quantum state of the particle on the ground, such as giving it a clockwise spin. A detector on the satellite will tell if a counterclockwise spin occurs simultaneously on the particle in space.

Quantum teleportation technology would be able to eliminate the 20-minute time delay in communication between earth and Mars and would allow tiny spacecraft to send back images and videos of planets many light years away without the need to carry a huge antenna. It could even give us a glimpse of what’s inside a black hole.

Many problems remain to be solved, such as maintaining the entangled state of quantum particles, which is fragile and can be lost in long-distance space flight, but Wang said the first glimpse of hope was on the horizon.

“Before the appearance of television, sending images from one place to another was considered magic,” he said. “Quantum teleportation is magic, but it may become as simple and common as television in the future.”

Wang still has many practical issues to worry about. Though all the technology and equipment has been tested on the ground, there’s no guarantee it will all work in space. In a ground experiment, the equipment can be fine-turned or fixed; once in space, the hardware on the satellite cannot be modified.

But Wang said their biggest challenge was distance. To beam a single photon from the satellite to a one-metre-wide telescope on the ground, or to catch a single photon from the ground with a satellite moving at 7,000km/h to 8,000km/h, with rain, clouds and air turbulence in between, would be “the most difficult sniper shot ever”, he said.

Development of the quantum satellite had taken China’s space technology to new heights in many areas, he said, including ultra-precise tracking, timing and spacecraft control.

But what if the experiments do not find what they are looking for, for instance the particles fail to entangle beyond a certain distance. Wang said it was something he had discussed with Pan.

“If the QSS shows some fundamental laws of quantum physics do not work in the universe, we will be equally thrilled,” he said. “It will open another door to the unknown.”


http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1999061/chinas-quantum-satellite-leap-space-leads-world

 

[JSCh]

World’s first 3.4-megawatt modular tidal current power generator put into use
(People's Daily Online) 13:38, August 16, 2016

The hoisting work of a module of the generator.(Photo/zjol.com.cn)​

After being independently developed by China, the world's first 3.4-megawatt modular tidal current power generator has successfully generated electricity in the sea near Xiushan Island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province on Aug. 15.

Ocean tidal current power is a widely recognized source of clean energy. Half of China's current tidal power resources are in Zhejiang province, and 96 percent of Zhejiang's tidal current power resources are in Zhoushan.

Currently, the world's biggest tidal current power station is a 1.2-megawatt project in the U.K., which began to operate in 2008. China's biggest tidal current power unit has a capacity of 0.3 megawatts.

On July 27, China's first 3.4-megawatt modular tidal current generator unit was successfully installed in the sea. So far, two of the seven modules of the generator have been put into use. The generator will be connected to the grid at the end of August. Its designed annual energy output is between 5 and 6 million kilowatt hours, which is capable of meeting the electricity demand of 2,000 to 3,000 households.

According to the design, the new generator can withstand up to a 16-grade typhoon and a 4-meter-high surge.

(Photo/wzsee.com)​

 

[JSCh]

Posted: Aug 16, 2016
Novel nanotechnology processing capable of producing nanomaterials on an industrial scale

(Nanowerk News) Researchers at Illinois Tech recently unveiled a major breakthrough in nanotechnology processing that reduces the time, and increases the amount of product that can be manufactured on an industrial scale. The new technique makes nanotechnology economically viable for numerous applications, including pollution control for vehicles, reduction in waste heat from vehicles and electronics, and removal of toxic waste from water.

“This novel approach is capable of producing nanostructured material on an industrial scale and on an economically viable time-scale thus overcoming two major hurdles in nanotechnology; inability to scale up to industrial production quantities and economically unacceptable synthesis times,” says Philip Nash, Charles and Lee Finkl Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

Nash, working with graduate students Yang Zhou and Tian Liu of Armour College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering, detailed his findings in a paper he co-authored with colleagues from Tianjin University, China on the large-scale synthesis of nanostructured plates.

The paper, published in Scientific Reports ("The Large Scale Synthesis of Aligned Plate Nanostructures"), describes a paradigm-shifting synthesis technique that can be applied to many alloy systems to produce functional material for applications in energy technology, catalysis, and waste-water treatment. The technique involves developing nanoscale two-phase microstructures through discontinuous precipitation followed by selective etching to remove one of the phases. The method may be applied to any alloy system in which the discontinuous precipitation transformation goes to completion.

The Ni-Co-Al alloy discussed in the paper epitomizes the concept. The material is ductile before heat treatment so that it can be fabricated into complex shapes, including tubes and wire. The alloy can then be treated to produce the nanostructure either on the inside, outside, or both sides of the tube. The tube will retain its structural integrity and has the added functionality of the nanoscale surface.

Source: Illinois Tech

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44237.php

 

[JSCh]

The fabrication of a blue–violet semiconductor laser on a silicon substrate enhances the integration of optoelectronics with electronics.

Nature Photonics. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.158
Published online 15 August 2016

Authors: Yi Sun, Kun Zhou, Qian Sun, Jianping Liu, Meixin Feng, Zengcheng Li, Yu Zhou, Liqun Zhang, Deyao Li, Shuming Zhang, Masao Ikeda, Sheng Liu & Hui Yang

Silicon photonics would greatly benefit from efficient, visible on-chip light sources that are electrically driven at room temperature. To fully utilize the benefits of large-scale, low-cost manufacturing foundries, it is highly desirable to grow direct bandgap III-V semiconductor lasers directly on Si. Here, we report the demonstration of a blue–violet (413 nm) InGaN-based laser diode grown directly on Si that operates under continuous-wave current injection at room temperature, with a threshold current density of 4.7 kA cm–2. The heteroepitaxial growth of GaN on Si is confronted with a large mismatch in both the lattice constant and the coefficient of thermal expansion, often resulting in a high density of defects and even microcrack networks. By inserting an Al-composition step-graded AlN/AlGaN multilayer buffer between the Si and GaN, we have not only successfully eliminated crack formation, but also effectively reduced the dislocation density. The result is the realization of a blue–violet InGaN-based laser on Si.

 

[JSCh]

Using nature's recipe to create mother of pearl
Date: August 18, 2016
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Optical images of the natural nacre. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Aug. 19, 2016, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by L.-B. Mao at University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China, and colleagues was titled, 'Synthetic nacre by predesigned matrix-directed mineralization.'
Li-Bo Mao, Huai-Ling Gao, Yu-Feng Meng, Ning Yang and Si-Ming Chen, University of Science and Technology of China

Researchers have created a synthetic nacre remarkably similar to the natural material, which is also known as mother of pearl, though their synthetic version forms in weeks instead of months or years. Nacre is the shiny material found coating pearls and inside some mollusk shells.

Its substantial strength and toughness make it an appealing material to synthesize, for various applications, yet its multifaceted and complex structure have made this process difficult. Current synthesis methods involve intricate layering and steps, as well as high degrees of heat, which limit the types of materials that can be used.

In nature, nacre is produced using an organic matrix that acts as scaffolding. On the matrix, aragonite plates grow into one another through a mineralization process, in a brick-and-mortar fashion.

Here, Li-Bo Mao and colleagues designed a similar matrix, and subjected it to a system that steadily pumps minerals and additives into the matrix. In this system, calcium carbonate is precipitated gradually across the matrix from a pool of calcium bicarbonate. The slow precipitation of the mineral offers a more uniform -- and natural -- formation of nacre than exists in current synthesis processes.

Analysis of the final synthetic product reveals that is it slightly less dense than true nacre.

As well, the aragonite platelets are slightly oversized, which means they can partially pop out of place, making the synthetic nacre slightly less crack-resistant. Regardless, the synthetic material maintains mechanical properties similar to its natural counterpart.

The authors anticipate that this artificial mineralization method could be extended to produce other bio-inspired materials with unique or desirable properties.

#####
​

Synthetic nacre by predesigned matrix-directed mineralization

Abstract
Although biomimetic designs are expected to play a key role in exploring future structural materials, facile fabrication of bulk biomimetic materials under ambient conditions remains a major challenge. Here, we describe a mesoscale “assembly-and-mineralization” approach inspired by the natural process in mollusks to fabricate bulk synthetic nacre that highly resembles both the chemical composition and the hierarchical structure of natural nacre. The millimeter-thick synthetic nacre consists of alternating organic layers and aragonite platelet layers (91 weight %) and exhibits good ultimate strength and fracture toughness. This predesigned matrix-directed mineralization method represents a rational strategy for the preparation of robust composite materials with hierarchically ordered structures, where various constituents are adaptable, including brittle and heat-labile materials.​

References : L-B Mao et al, Science, 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8991

 

[JSCh]

Friday, August 19, 2016, 10:19
Advanced solar cells ready for production
By Zhou Wenting

Third-generation design abandons silicon, mimics photosynthesis for high performance.

A third-generation solar cell that produces zero pollution in manufacture, requires less light intensity and works with lower angles of sunlight, was handed off from its Chinese creator on Thursday to a commercial manufacturer in Shenzhen.

The transfer indicates that the cells are approaching the point of practical application in intelligent buildings, transportation and the so-called internet of things.

Shenzhen Precision Light & Automatic Equipment Co purchased the technology for the dye-sensitized solar cells - whose performance is said to surpass competitors worldwide - for 100 million yuan (US$15 million) from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In developing the cells over a 10-year period, researchers amassed more than 50 patents, all of which transfer to the Shenzhen company. The institute's existing production line is also included in the deal.

The cell, which differs from those of the previous two generations in light acquisition and principle of power-generation, will serve in a wide variety of applications in modern cities - for example, in household electrical appliances, wearable devices, traffic lights and outdoor big screens - said Liu Yan, the institute's Party chief.

"The first two generations of solar cells require strong and direct sunlight, but the third generation is able to work even indoors or on cloudy days or when the sunshine slants through. So it can be applied to more situations, such as an outdoor display screen that's shaded by trees," Liu said.

Shen Hujiang, a leading researcher of the project, added: "It can also be used for portable chargers, which will work despite environmental constraints. Portable chargers made with solar cells of the first or second generation can fail to work for tourists in jungles. But with the latest technology, a charger will continue to work."

Crystalline silicon is the main ingredient in the first two generations of solar cells. Its semiconductor properties have been used to produce and transport electrical signals, Shen said.

In the third generation, however, researchers simulated the process of photosynthesis. Light received by the cells is converted into electrons and stored in a special material, and when the electrons gather and reach a certain amount, they will produce voltage and electrical current.

"The chemical materials used during manufacture are widely used in food products and cosmetics, so they are safe and environmentally friendly," Shen said.

The cells were used in display screens at bus stops in Shanghai's Pudong New Area as part of a pilot project.

"Shanghai is building its intelligent public transportation system, one element of which is screens to show when the next bus will arrive," Liu said. "All the buses have been equipped with GPS. Screens with solar cells will be more energy-conserving and sustainable," Liu said.

Chu Junhao, a specialist in solar energy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said he believes the cells will help people use energy more efficiently and achieve a rich and colorful life while building smart cities.

 

[JSCh]

College students develop device to wash hands with air, save water
(People's Daily Online) 13:34, August 19, 2016

The "air hand-washing device" developed by students from Zhejiang University. ​

A group of senior students from Zhejiang University have successfully developed an "air hand-washing device." The device utilizes an infrared ray induction system, which detects the presence of hands. A tap then sprays a light water mist along with a strong gust of air, which the students have proven to be nearly as effective as traditional hand-washing. However, the device uses only 10 percent of the water that regular hand-washing does.

Li Qizhang, a member of the team that developed the device, told a reporter from thepaper.cn that a model of their device has already been installed in a classroom building at the university, and that the results have been satisfactory. The students have set up a company to further promote their product.

In 2014, a student named Chen Puyang first came up with the idea while washing his hands in the school cafeteria. Washing one's hands uses a lot of water, Chen thought. Would it be possible to replace the water with air?

Others may not have given the question a second thought. However, for Chen and Li, who were studying fluid mechanics, this constituted a brilliant idea.

Soon, Chen, Li and several classmates embarked on the project. The design of the device required knowledge from a variety of different majors, so the R&D team eventually came to be composed of seven students from various majors.

"We put different kinds of dirt on our hands and washed them with water. It turned out that 95 percent of water is used to flush away the dirt; only 5 percent is used to dissolve it. If we washed with only air, then the dirt on our hands would not dissolve. So we decided to use a fine water spray to complement the air. That way, the dirt is carried away by air and dissolved by water," explained Li.

After a year of research and experimentation, the team came up with a gravity-driven hand-washing device whose reliance on water was minimal. The user stands on a platform in front of the device, which sinks because of the weight of the user. The gravity exerted by the user pulls the piston through a pulley block, and a gust of air is generated through air extrusion. The tap then releases a water mist coupled with the gust.

The team tested the device by conducting chromogenic reaction and residual bacteria experiments, which proved that the results of hand-washing with air can be similar to those of washing with water.

In September 2015, the team took its invention to the Global Grand Challenges Summit. They took home the top award, beating teams from 14 universities including MIT and Cambridge.

Now they have launched a second generation of their product, which is powered by electricity and equipped with an infrared ray induction system.

The R&D team show their "air hand-washing device" at the 44th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions in April 2016. ​

 

[ahojunk]

Chinese scientists discover molecules to repair organs
2016-08-20 14:24:26 Xinhua Web Editor: Zhang Xu

Chinese scientists have discovered a small molecule that can regenerate tissue, which in the future could make tissue regeneration much easier for many. [Photo: Agencies]

Chinese scientists have discovered a small molecule that can regenerate tissue, which in the future could make tissue regeneration much easier for many.

The research was led by professor Zhou Dawang and Deng Xianming of the School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, and professor Yun Caihong of Peking University.

The findings were published in the latest edition of Science Translational Medicine, on August 17.

Zhou said they have discovered a drug, XMU-MP-1, which can promote repair and regeneration in the liver, intestines and skin.

In the future, the pills may do away the need for organ transplant or complex biomaterial and cell therapies, he said.

Zhou and his colleagues specifically targeted a critical signaling molecule in the Hippo pathway, which controls organ size.

The XMU-MP-1 has proven to inhibit the activity of MST1/2, the central component of this pathway and promote cell growth in four different mouse models of acute and chronic injuries, including acetaminophen-induced injury, which is a common cause of liver failure worldwide.

Zhou said they have applied for a patent and are cooperating with pharmaceutical companies to produce the medicine.

 

[TaiShang]

CUHK wins gold in world's first engineering medical innovation competition

HONG KONG, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) became champion in the Engineering Medical Innovation Global Competition, the world's first medical innovation challenge, with an award presentation ceremony held here Saturday.

Launched by CUHK, the competition aimed to promote the research and development of medical engineering and draw more talents to the field. University students from around the world were invited to design and develop clinically-driven and patient-centered technology innovations for the future of medicine and healthcare.

Out of the 40 submissions, 27 finalist teams from Canada, Britain, the United States, Switzerland, the Chinese Mainland, Singapore, South Korea, China's Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and China's Hong Kong were shortlisted and gathered at CUHK for the final contest from Aug. 18 to 19.

Prof. Joseph Sung, vice-chancellor and president of CUHK, said that the application of innovation technology in medical services has become a global trend. The launching of the competition helped to gather young talents from around the world and inspires innovative ideas on medical technologies for the sake of patients.

Participants of the competition must compete as part of a team and interdisciplinary teams with members from various engineering, science and other disciplines are encouraged. The scope of competition includes health screening and diagnostic devices, medical monitoring devices, non-implantable therapeutic devices and implantable therapeutic devices.

Submissions are screened by an international judging panel and there are six evaluation criteria, including clinical need, novelty, technical merit, demonstration of technical feasibility, clinical feasibility and translational readiness, and IP potential and business model.

The Gold Award went to a team formed by students from CUHK Mechanical and Automated Engineering and Surgery for their project on "Surgical Robotic System for Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection".

National University of Singapore's "EsoGlove: A Soft and Wearable Robotic Glove for Assistance and Rehabilitation of Hand-Impaired Patients" and ETH Zurich's "Assistive System for Intravitreal Therapy" won Silver Awards.