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Transistor of one molecule and several atoms

29.07.2015

An international team of researchers, including representatives from Germany, Japan and the United States, has created a transistor from one molecule and several atoms using a scanning tunneling microscope.

The resulting sample consists of one organic phthalocyanine molecule, which is surrounded by a ring of 12 positively charged light metal (indium) ions. The entire structure was placed on a crystal of a semiconductor chemical compound (indium arsenide). The molecule is weakly bound to the substrate crystal. When the tip of a microscope probe is brought very close to it and a charge is applied, the electrons move between the tip and the substrate. Indium ions act as regulators of this process, ensuring the successive migration of single electrons and thereby guaranteeing the uninterrupted operation of the transistor.

Ensuring such stability was one of the difficulties that previous experimenters had encountered when trying to create a miniature sample.

Each ion is approximately 167 picometers in diameter, 15 times smaller than the thickness of a DNA strand and 600 times thinner than a human hair. The transistor operates at room temperature, and not at ultra-low, like early options.

During the experiments, scientists encountered an unusual effect: depending on the degree of charge, the phthalocyanine molecule rotated, which had a strong effect on the electron flow. The researchers plan to devote further experiments to the study of this phenomenon and to identify the relationship between the orientation of the molecule and conductivity. Their discovery could be an important step in the creation of nanodevices.

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Apple hydrogen battery 17.03.2015

Apple has been granted US Patent #8980491 for a "portable hydrogen fuel cell system" that can run iPhones and iPads for "days and even weeks" on a single charge.

According to the patent, Apple's fuel cell is an external device designed to power portable electronics. It contains a fuel cartridge that "converts fuel to electrical energy", a control unit, an interface for transmitting energy to a mobile device, and a bi-directional communication line for exchanging technical information with the device. The external design of the device is explained by its dimensions.

Apple suggests using liquid hydrogen or its compounds as a fuel: a combination of sodium borohydride, sodium silicate, lithium hydrate, magnesium hydride, lithium borohydride or lithium aluminum hydride with water.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts raw materials (fuel) into electric current. The peculiarity of the element is that the fuel on which it operates can be loaded from the outside in portions, as it is consumed. In a hydrogen cell, current is generated during a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen from the air.

"Recently, electronics manufacturers have begun to pay more attention to the development of renewable energy sources, including portable fuel cells. Hydrogen-based fuel cells have a number of advantages. They allow you to get a high energy density per unit volume, which allows portable electronics to operate for days and even weeks without recharging the element," the inventors explained.

At the same time, developers have recognized that developing a fuel cell that is compact enough to be placed directly in the portable electronic device itself is a rather difficult task today. Another challenge is to make such a fuel cell inexpensive.

A similar technology has long been used in the aerospace industry to power spacecraft. In the consumer electronics market, fuel cells have received increased attention due to the growth in power consumption of devices.

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