By Sarah Small
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State-led team of researchers has literally put pencil to paper to create an accessible, affordable, waterproof and wearable sensor to monitor multiple vital signals. The team published the details of the pencil-on-paper sensor in Chemical Engineering Journal.
Silicon has been king for a long time in computer technology. It is the namesake for America’s technology hub, Silicon Valley. However, silicon is nearing its limit as an effective semiconductor material.
In some ways, Mauricio Terrones is a gardener. An Evan Pugh University Professor and The Penn State Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics, Terrones does not grow flowers or vegetables, but instead, one- or few-atom-thick two-dimensional (2D) materials. Specifically, creating materials with specific properties. The first 2D material ever created was graphene, and Terrones was a pioneer in developing 2D materials beyond graphene such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and Tungsten disulfide (WS2). These are layered 2D materials, monolayered, bi-layered, tri-layered or more.
By Sarah Small
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For wearable electronics to live up to their promise for health care monitoring, they need to do at least two things: transform from rigid to soft to accommodate changing structural needs, and heal their own normal wear-and-tear. With the help of liquid metal and specialized polymers, researchers have developed sensors that can do both.
By Ashley WennersHerron
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For mere dollars, a Penn State-led international collaboration has fabricated a self-powered, standalone sensor system capable of monitoring gas molecules in the environment or in human breath. The system combines nanogenerators with micro-supercapacitors to harvest and story energy generated by human movement.
By Jamie Oberdick
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The biggest question an entrepreneur faces is a simple one: Are there enough potential customers to turn my big idea into a business? A trio of Penn State researchers were selected recently for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National I-Corps Program to find an answer for their own big idea.
By Mariah R. Lucas
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and scientists currently rely on seismic hazard maps to predict the likelihood of an earthquake to strike a particular region. Jacques Rivière, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) and of acoustics, received a five-year, $750,000 Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to advance the use of ultrasound sensors to image lab-based earthquakes and better understand the precursory events that lead to them.
By Adrienne Berard
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Waaahhh! While babies have a natural mechanism for alerting their parents that they need a diaper change, a new sensor developed by researchers at Penn State could help workers in daycares, hospitals and other settings provide more immediate care to their charges.
