Kyle Smith has improved current flow channel designs by integrating the flow channel inside of the electrode. This enables his design to improve current electrode...
Kyle Smith has improved current flow channel designs by integrating the flow channel inside of the electrode. This enables his design to improve current electrode performance by a factor of 1000. Furthermore, Dr. Smith has improved the shape and arrangement of his flow channels by arranging them in a hierarchical fashion and creating a cube-root shape. This results in an optimized and improved flow channel that makes the electrodes much more permeable than current designs. Effectively, these electrodes can now have a flow with very low amounts of pressure required.
Dr. Kyle Smith and his research group have developed a battery-based alkaline electrochemical cycle that can capture CO2 under concentrated and atmospheric conditions and...
Dr. Kyle Smith and his research group have developed a battery-based alkaline electrochemical cycle that can capture CO2 under concentrated and atmospheric conditions and mineralizing it. This invention has a CO2 capturing efficiency of rates up to 1000 times greater than other similar electrochemical cycling methods. Indeed, a prior test found that using the new approach developed by Dr. Smith, up to 2 mol- CO2 /L were absorbed, while under the traditional approach only 2 μmol- CO2 /L were absorbed. This invention can be applied toward the capture and storage of CO2 from flue gas and also applied towards the capture of CO2 under atmospheric conditions.
An energy harvester and displacement transfer system that converts mechanical energy from vehicles passing over system to electrical energy, using a rack-and-pinion...
An energy harvester and displacement transfer system that converts mechanical energy from vehicles passing over system to electrical energy, using a rack-and-pinion mechanism and displacement plate. The system harnesses energy at highway speeds. The size of the system is relatively small to ensure its embedment within 4 inches (two asphalt lifts). Hence, it can be integrated in a pavement with minimal modifications.
Benefits
Allows energy harvesting from high-speed driving
Minimizes the necessary construction and modification to the existing pavement
Market Application
Energy production to power roadside infrastructure
Hydrophobic coatings are water-resistant and can be used to condense steam for efficient heat-transfer. Certain applications require ultra-thin coating, which the current...
Hydrophobic coatings are water-resistant and can be used to condense steam for efficient heat-transfer. Certain applications require ultra-thin coating, which the current coats are prone to delamination upon surface damage.
In a collaborative effort between the Evans and Miljkovic lab, a new ultra-thin hydrophobic coating has been developed. This coating can be easily applied to existing materials to protect surfaces against water damage. Unlike previous coatings, this invention is capable of self-heal, thus enhancing its durability and lifetime.
Pictured below: top row is previous coatings, bottom row is this invention.
Wireless charging at a distance can be time consuming and inefficient in real-world applications, including for embedded devices such as electronic medical implants....
Wireless charging at a distance can be time consuming and inefficient in real-world applications, including for embedded devices such as electronic medical implants. University of Illinois researchers have developed a metasurface that can redirect magnetic fields to efficiently charge devices that are far from and/or misaligned with a power source. The metasurface is flexible and performs well even when distorted, making it an excellent candidate for mounting on skin or other curved or nonuniform surfaces. This technology can be configured to charge multiple devices and offers an approximately 10x faster charge as compared to state-of-the-art solutions for difficult-to-charge devices.
Can Bayram has designed a process to overcome the limitations of the h-GaN counterpart such as its inability to maintain an acceptable efficiency of light output without...
Can Bayram has designed a process to overcome the limitations of the h-GaN counterpart such as its inability to maintain an acceptable efficiency of light output without increasing costs. Dr. Bayram’s invention takes the form of an industry approved process that yields a large area uniform structure c-GaN array resulting in a GaN semiconductor that would be able to produce photons even under high power density operation. This allows this technology to emit light in the green part of the visible spectrum more efficiently than its h-GaN counterpart that achieves a higher efficiency than even the Department of Energy’s goal efficiency.
Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed improvements to their innovative photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, which features three-dimensional...
Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed improvements to their innovative photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, which features three-dimensional subsurface networks of optical components (UIUC ref. no. 2017-212). The paradigm, called "volumetric photonic integrated circuits" (VPIC), addresses the bottleneck of large surface area requirements faced by conventional PICs by embedding the networks vertically within a semiconductor (e.g., porous silicon) material.
The present improvements include a variety of new subsurface components which exhibit low loss and high total efficiency competitive with silicon photonics. Components include high Q microrings; lenses and waveguides for efficient coupling; Mach Zehnder interferometers; loop mirrors; and distributed Bragg reflectors.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers Songbin Gong, Ruochen Lu, Yansong Yang, and Steffen Link have fabricated an acoustic filter that functions with high...
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers Songbin Gong, Ruochen Lu, Yansong Yang, and Steffen Link have fabricated an acoustic filter that functions with high fractional bandwidth and low signal loss at gigahertz frequencies necessary for emerging 5G new radio technologies.
The acoustic filter is suitable for 5G mobile devices (e.g. smart phones), which will employ wavebands of higher frequencies than 4G technology. The device maintains small proportions without the fabrication challenges seen from scaling existing acoustic filter components present in 4G devices.
The filter employs a double layer of thin-film lithium niobate, a piezoelectric material, which serves to convert mechanical energy (radio waves) to electronic signals in 5G devices with better performance in the 3-6 GHz range than existing technologies.
