Engineering and Technology

IBM’s invention of nanosheet technology has demonstrated scaling to the 2 nanometer node, with a world-record gate length just 2 dozen atoms long. This breakthrough enables 45% faster speed or 75% less power as compared to the best available 7 nm transistors, extending the semiconductor roadmap for the coming decade.…

Drawing inspiration from the electrocardiogram, Prof Chen created a conformable electrode as a ‘communication’ device with plants to deliver reliable electrical signals to and from plants. This innovation in plant electronics leads to the first plant-based robot that can perform delicate tasks with superior power efficiency (10,000 times less than…

Despite over 40 years of research there is currently no commercially viable treatment for bio- and mixed plastic waste at scale. Burning them requires expensive exhaust-gas clean-up (e.g. dioxins) and frequent reactor maintenance (toxic slag build-up). Cat-HTR™ changes this completely: it continuously generates and distils stable end-products, yielding from mixed…

A new class of adaptive and biomimetic neuronal platforms has been developed for the first time by direct coupling of biological neuronal cells with a neuromorphic chip. Despite standard neuroelectronic interfaces, the biohybrid synapse formed between the living and artificial neuronal systems is capable of interacting, keeping active memory of…

Microscopes have transformed society, from the first discovery of cells and viruses, to 21st century precision medicine and pharmaceuticals. However, the best microscopes have hit a major barrier: the light they use is so intense that it can destroy the sample being looked at. We used quantum light to break…

Nanotechnology is a promising therapeutic tool, but present implementations suffer from poor efficacy. My team and I are developing ultrasound-based micro/nanorobots with precise navigation capabilities that can overcome major limitations of existing nanodrugs. Ultrasound is safe, noninvasive, penetrates tissue, and is widely used in medicine, thus ultrasound-based propulsion will provide…

We used nanomaterials to demonstrate light-powered levitation of microflyers. For the first time, we devised macroscopic objects that can fly without any moving parts using photophoresis, or light-induced airflow. This new flight mechanism will enable 1) sunlight-powered meter-scale vehicles in the upper atmosphere collecting information about our changing climate and…

Miniaturizing engines and machines to sizes less than a few millimetres remains an unmet challenge because of the complexity of their design and their fundamental physics that does not favor down-sizing. Materials that respond like muscles by changing their shape or size on demand offer an alternative way to power…

Retinal prostheses hold the potential to revert blindness in profoundly blind people. However, devices should provide visual perception at high resolution and, most importantly, over a wide visual angle to be valuable in everyday activities. To solve this technological challenge, we have developed and validated a photovoltaic wide-field retinal implant…

Creating a fibrous and conductive cathode from a mix of copper, phosphorus, and sulfur served as a catalyst, dramatically speeding up oxygen’s reaction with water. This insight produced batteries that could be charged and discharged quickly and had high capacity, 460 watt-hours per kilogram (compared with about 75 Wh/kg for…

The nominating institution Max Planck Institute on the breakthrough: Wireless, soft, miniature mobile robots, inspired by soft-bodied tiny animals, could navigate and function safely inside the human body. They could be programmed for complex and diverse capabilities never before thought possible. This includes medical device functions, like local drug delivery,…

The nominating institution ETH Zurich on the breakthrough: Pulling drug carriers with magnetic fields is difficult to scale up to humans. Schuerle developed a different control strategy using a combination of two fields: one that makes micro-magnets rotate, and a stationary field that limits this effect to the target site.…

SUN-to-LIQUID uses a solar thermochemical cycle to convert sunlight, water and CO2 into renewable kerosene. The key components of the process are a highly concentrating solar field, a receiver-reactor and a gas to liquid unit. By direct conversion of thermal energy into chemical energy the process has a high theoretical…

The nominating institution Stanford University on the breakthrough: Efficient batteries are critical for our green energy strategy by powering electric cars and storing solar and wind electricity for grid integration. We pioneered nanotechnology-based materials design to enable novel breakthrough materials including silicon, lithium, and sulfur, which have ten times higher…

The nominating institution EPFL on the breakthrough: Safe and affordable housing and infrastructure are key to sustainable global development and rely on construction materials such as cement. Cement production is responsible for ~8% of global CO2 emission. Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) allows up to 50% reduction of CO2 emission…

The optimal transport problem consists of finding the cheapest way of transporting a distribution of mass from one location to another. Alessio Figalli has used optimal transport’s techniques to mathematically understand: (1)the rigidity properties of crystals under the influence of external forces; (2)the behavior of large-scale atmospheric flows; (3)the universality…

The nominating institution KIT on the breakthrough: Electronic signal processing suffers from limited bandwidth. This wall can be teared down by combining electronics with photonic circuits and with optical frequency combs as ultra-precise clocks. This approach unlocks a wealth of applications – from ultra-fast data communications to material analysis via…

The nominating institution The Chinese University of Hong Kong on the breakthrough: Li-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics are both flammable and toxic. They pose real safety risks that can harm the development of clean energy. Dr Yi-Chun Lu’s breakthrough explores a safe alternative.   Tags: Engineering,…

The nominating institution IBM Research Europe on the breakthrough: RoboRXN is a pioneering project, integrating AI, Cloud and Automation to change chemistry, from a traditional type of business into a high-tech business. A chemist (from a remote location) draws the molecule of interest and the AI models assist in the…

The nominating institution Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH on the breakthrough: Playing LEGO with molecules promises to be an appealing approach to facile fabrication of unusual nanostructures. Attractive quantum functionalities have been shown, but there is a problem: Molecules defy intuitive handling, their behaviour is hard to predict. To address this challenge,…