By Jamie Oberdick
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — One of the more innovative energy-saving tools at Penn State was not implemented by a faculty member, employee, or graduate student. Instead, it was developed by undergraduate students who are part of an innovative and unique research fellowship offered by the Materials Research Institute (MRI).
The neuron, developed by Penn State researchers, processes visual and tactile input together
By Ashley WennersHerron
By Jamie Oberdick
As we move into a world where human-machine interactions are becoming more prominent, pressure sensors that are able to analyze and simulate human touch are likely to grow in demand.
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.
