Fundamental understanding of millipede morphology and locomotion dynamics.

A detailed model for the locomotory mechanics used by millipedes is provided here through systematic experimentation on the animal and validation of observations through a biomimetic robotic platform. Millipedes possess a powerful gait that is necessary for generating large thrust force required for proficient burrowing. Millipedes implement a metachronal gait through movement of many legs that generates a traveling wave.

Understanding Oxidation Resistance of Half-Heusler Alloys for in-Air High Temperature Sustainable Thermoelectric Generators.

High temperature waste heat recovery has gained tremendous interest to generate useful electricity while reducing the harmful impact on the environment. Thermoelectric (TE) solid-state materials enable direct conversion of heat into electricity with high efficiency, thereby offering a practical solution for waste heat recovery. Half-Heusler (hH) alloys are the leading TE materials for medium to high temperature applications, as they exhibit a high figure of merit and mechanical strength at temperatures as high as 973 K.

Filiform Metal Silver Nanoinclusions To Enhance Thermoelectric Performance of P-type CaCoO Oxide.

Cd doping and metallic Ag additives in CaCoO polycrystalline materials are shown to result in improved thermoelectric (TE) transport properties. Carrier concentration and mobility were optimized through the combination of doping and compositional modulation approaches. The formation of filiform Ag nanoinclusions between the interlayers and grain boundaries enhances the anisotropic carrier transport, leading to higher carrier mobility.

Nanoscale Texturing and Interfaces in Compositionally Modified CaCoO with Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance.

Oxide thermoelectric materials are nontoxic, chemically and thermally stable in oxidizing environments, cost-effective, and comparatively simpler to synthesize. However, thermoelectric oxides exhibit comparatively lower figure of merit () than that of metallic alloy counterparts. In this study, nanoscale texturing and interface engineering were utilized for enhancing the thermoelectric performance of oxide polycrystalline CaCoO materials, which were synthesized using conventional sintering and spark plasma sintering (SPS) techniques.

Quasi-Two-Dimensional Halide Perovskite Single Crystal Photodetector.

The robust material stability of the quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) metal halide perovskites has opened the possibility for their usage instead of three-dimensional (3D) perovskites. Further, devices based on large area single crystal membranes have shown increasing promise for photoelectronic applications. However, growing inch-scale quasi-2D perovskite single crystal membranes (quasi-2D PSCMs) has been fundamentally challenging.

Magnetic Field Sensing by Exploiting Giant Nonstrain-Mediated Magnetodielectric Response in Epitaxial Composites.

Heteroepitaxial magnetoelectric (ME) composites are promising for the development of a new generation of multifunctional devices, such as sensors, tunable electronics, and energy harvesters. However, challenge remains in realizing practical epitaxial composite materials, mainly due to the interfacial lattice misfit strain between magnetostrictive and piezoelectric phases and strong substrate clamping that reduces the strain-mediated ME coupling. Here, we demonstrate a nonstrain-mediated ME coupling in PbZrTiO (PZT)/LaSrMnO (LSMO) heteroepitaxial composites that resolves these challenges, thereby, providing a giant magnetodielectric (MD) response of ∼27% at 310 K.

Laser Irradiation of Metal Oxide Films and Nanostructures: Applications and Advances.

Recent technological advances in developing a diverse range of lasers have opened new avenues in material processing. Laser processing of materials involves their exposure to rapid and localized energy, which creates conditions of electronic and thermodynamic nonequilibrium. The laser-induced heat can be localized in space and time, enabling excellent control over the manipulation of materials.

Enhanced Self-Biased Magnetoelectric Coupling in Laser-Annealed Pb(Zr,Ti)O Thick Film Deposited on Ni Foil.

Enhanced and self-biased magnetoelectric (ME) coupling is demonstrated in a laminate heterostructure comprising 4 μm-thick Pb(Zr,Ti)O (PZT) film deposited on 50 μm-thick flexible nickel (Ni) foil. A unique fabrication approach, combining room temperature deposition of PZT film by granule spray in vacuum (GSV) process and localized thermal treatment of the film by laser radiation, is utilized. This approach addresses the challenges in integrating ceramic films on metal substrates, which is often limited by the interfacial chemical reactions occurring at high processing temperatures.

Optimization of segmented thermoelectric generator using Taguchi and ANOVA techniques.

Recent studies have demonstrated that segmented thermoelectric generators (TEGs) can operate over large thermal gradient and thus provide better performance (reported efficiency up to 11%) as compared to traditional TEGs, comprising of single thermoelectric (TE) material. However, segmented TEGs are still in early stages of development due to the inherent complexity in their design optimization and manufacturability. In this study, we demonstrate physics based numerical techniques along with Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Taguchi optimization method for optimizing the performance of segmented TEGs.

Enhanced torsional actuation and stress coupling in Mn-modified 0.93(NaBiTiO)-0.07BaTiO lead-free piezoceramic system.

This paper is concerned with the development of a piezoelectric shear-induced torsion actuator made of a lead-free piezoceramic material exhibiting giant piezoelectric shear stress coefficient () and piezoelectric transverse shear actuation force comparable to that of lead-based shear-mode piezoceramics. The Mn-modified 0.93(NaBiTiO)-0.

Unleashing the Full Potential of Magnetoelectric Coupling in Film Heterostructures.

A record-high, near-theoretical intrinsic magnetoelectric (ME) coupling of 7 V cm Oe is achieved in a heterostructure of piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O (PZT) film deposited on magnetostrictive Metglas (FeBSi). The anchor-like, nanostructured interface between PZT and Metglas, improved crystallinity of PZT by laser annealing, and optimum volume of crystalline PZT are found to be the key factors in realizing such a giant strain-mediated ME coupling.

Giant piezoelectric voltage coefficient in grain-oriented modified PbTiO material.

A rapid surge in the research on piezoelectric sensors is occurring with the arrival of the Internet of Things. Single-phase oxide piezoelectric materials with giant piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g, induced voltage under applied stress) and high Curie temperature (T) are crucial towards providing desired performance for sensing, especially under harsh environmental conditions. Here, we report a grain-oriented (with 95% <001> texture) modified PbTiO ceramic that has a high T (364 °C) and an extremely large g (115 × 10 Vm N) in comparison with other known single-phase oxide materials.

Synthesis and Behavior of Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide Stabilized Zn1+xSnO3+x (0 ≤ x ≤1) Nano-Crystallites.

We report synthesis of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) stabilized Zn1+xSnO3+x (0 ≤ x ≤1) nano-crystallites by facile cost-effective wet chemistry route. The X-ray diffraction patterns of as-synthesized powders at the Zn/Sn ratio of 1 exhibited formation of ZnSn(OH)6. Increasing the Zn/Sn ratio further resulted in the precipitation of an additional phase corresponding to Zn(OH)2.

A new method for achieving enhanced dielectric response over a wide temperature range.

We report a novel approach for achieving high dielectric response over a wide temperature range. In this approach, multilayer ceramic heterostructures with constituent compositions having strategically tuned Curie points (T(C)) were designed and integrated with varying electrical connectivity. Interestingly, these multilayer structures exhibited different dielectric behavior in series and parallel configuration due to variations in electrical boundary conditions resulting in the differences in the strength of the electrostatic coupling.

Functionally Graded Interfaces: Role and Origin of Internal Electric Field and Modulated Electrical Response.

We report the tunable electrical response in functionally graded interfaces in lead-free ferroelectric thin films. Multilayer thin film graded heterostructures were synthesized on platinized silicon substrate with oxide layers of varying thickness. Interestingly, the graded heterostructure thin films exhibited shift of the hysteresis loops on electric field and polarization axes depending upon the direction of an applied bias.

Lead-free epitaxial ferroelectric material integration on semiconducting (100) Nb-doped SrTiO3 for low-power non-volatile memory and efficient ultraviolet ray detection.

We report lead-free ferroelectric based resistive switching non-volatile memory (NVM) devices with epitaxial (1-x)BaTiO3-xBiFeO3 (x = 0.725) (BT-BFO) film integrated on semiconducting (100) Nb (0.7%) doped SrTiO3 (Nb:STO) substrates.

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-2L C3F8 Bubble Chamber.

New data are reported from the operation of a 2 liter C3F8 bubble chamber in the SNOLAB underground laboratory, with a total exposure of 211.5 kg days at four different energy thresholds below 10 keV. These data show that C3F8 provides excellent electron-recoil and alpha rejection capabilities at very low thresholds.

Giant strain with ultra-low hysteresis and high temperature stability in grain oriented lead-free K0.5Bi0.5TiO3-BaTiO3-Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 piezoelectric materials.

We synthesized grain-oriented lead-free piezoelectric materials in (K0.5Bi0.5TiO3-BaTiO3-xNa0.

Integration of lead-free ferroelectric on HfO2/Si (100) for high performance non-volatile memory applications.

We introduce a novel lead-free ferroelectric thin film (1-x)BaTiO3-xBa(Cu1/3Nb2/3)O3 (x = 0.025) (BT-BCN) integrated on to HfO2 buffered Si for non-volatile memory (NVM) applications. Piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM), x-ray diffraction, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy were employed to establish the ferroelectricity in BT-BCN thin films.

Cyanea capillata bell kinematics analysis through corrected in situ imaging and modeling using strategic discretization techniques.

Obtaining accurate kinematic data of animals is essential for many biological studies and bio-inspired engineering. Many animals, however, are either too large or too delicate to transport to controlled environments where accurate kinematic data can be easily obtained. Often, in situ recordings are the only means available but are often subject to multi-axis motion and relative magnification changes with time leading to large discrepancies in the animal kinematics.

Flexible margin kinematics and vortex formation of Aurelia aurita and Robojelly.

The development of a rowing jellyfish biomimetic robot termed as "Robojelly", has led to the discovery of a passive flexible flap located between the flexion point and bell margin on the Aurelia aurita. A comparative analysis of biomimetic robots showed that the presence of a passive flexible flap results in a significant increase in the swimming performance. In this work we further investigate this concept by developing varying flap geometries and comparing their kinematics with A.

Tensile-strained nanoscale Ge/In0.16Ga0.84As heterostructure for tunnel field-effect transistor.

Tensile strained Ge/In0.16Ga0.84As heterostructure was grown in situ by molecular beam epitaxy using two separated growth chambers for Ge and III-V materials.

Biomimetic autonomous robot inspired by the Cyanea capillata (Cyro).

A biomimetic robot inspired by Cyanea capillata, termed as 'Cyro', was developed to meet the functional demands of underwater surveillance in defense and civilian applications. The vehicle was designed to mimic the morphology and swimming mechanism of the natural counterpart. The body of the vehicle consists of a rigid support structure with linear DC motors which actuate eight mechanical arms.

BaTiO3 integration with nanostructured epitaxial (100), (110), and (111) germanium for multifunctional devices.

Ferroelectric-germanium heterostructures have a strong potential for multifunctional devices. Germanium (Ge) is attractive due to its higher electron and hole mobilities while ferroelectric BaTiO3 is promising due to its high relative permittivity, which can make next-generation low-voltage and low-leakage metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors. Here, we investigate the growth, structural, chemical, and band alignment properties of pulsed laser deposited BaTiO3 on epitaxial (100)Ge, (110)Ge, and (111)Ge layers.

Highly ordered Pb(Zr₀.₅₂ Ti₀.₄₈)O₃ piezoelectric nanorod arrays.

One-dimensional (1D) piezoelectric nanostructures have attracted significant attention for a broad range of applications including optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, electrochemical and electromechanical converters. We demonstrate the synthesis of 1D nanostructures based upon Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.