Newsletter 7 – October 2020

EnABLES Newsletter Issue 7 – October 2020

Contents

Two Free Webinars – Register

Join us for our next 2 webinars
Follow this link to register

1. Printed Electronics for the IoT – Thursday 29th October @ 11:00 CET (UTC+1)

Background:
  • Printed, textile-based and flexible electronics enable a new range of wearable and pervasive IoT applications.
  • Printing electronics is an additive process that eliminates the need for subtractive processes such as sputtering or spin coating.
  • Most of printed electronics research has been involved in finding right materials for individual components of electronic systems and utilised subtractive processes.
Our work:
  • We take printed electronics a step further and fully print transistors and inverters.
  • We print conductive graphene, semiconducting indium oxide and a polymer electrolyte inks.
  • Polymer electrolyte allows the devices to function at very low input voltages, thereby making them compatible with printed batteries, which are also a topic of our research.
  • We study the interfacial physics and chemistry of the fully printed systems in order to construct the electronics on everyday-used recyclable plastics.
During the webinar we will discuss:
  • The scalability and reliability of flexible electronics for a range of applications with emphasis on wireless connectivity and RF electronics.
  • Methods of realising and encapsulating reliable printable electronics for wearable and harsh industrial applications, along with guidelines for Radio-Frequency (RF) printed electronics.

2. Printed Electronics for Energy Harvesting – Thursday 26th November @ 11:00 CET (UTC+1)

Background:
  • Low-cost printed and flexible RF electronics can enable battery-free IoT.
  • Rectifiers are vital electronic circuits for signal and power conversion in various smart sensor applications.
  • The ability to process low input voltage levels, for example from vibrational energy harvesters is a major challenge with existing passive rectifiers in printed electronics, stemming mainly from the built-in potential of the diode’s p-n junction.
Our work:
  • We design, fabricate and characterize an inkjet-printed full-wave rectifier using diode-connected electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs).
  • Using both experimental and simulation approaches, we investigate how the rectifier can benefit from near-zero threshold voltage of transistors, which can be enabled by properly setting the channel geometry in the EGT-technology. This feature makes the proposed design highly suitable for a variety of energy harvesting applications.
During the webinar we will present:
  • Guidelines for designing high efficiency RFEH on low-cost unusual substrates, such as polymers and textiles.
  • The suitability of PE for RFEH based on in-house state-of-art ambient printed ambient RFEH rectennas, as well as 5G millimetre-wave rectennas for wearable applications.
Tip: Limited places available so register soon 😊
Follow this link to register

IoT Winter School – Sign up

We are delighted to announce the NiPS-EnABLES Winter School 2020.

This is a completely free virtual event that replaces the annual Summer School.

The virtual Winter School will take place from Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th December 2020, from 15h to 18h (CET) with a series of lectures from leading researchers on each day. On the final day we will host a virtual poster session to allow the participants to present their own research work & activities.

This is a great opportunity for graduate & PhD students, post-docs, young researchers and, in general, all scientists interested in energy transformation at the microscale for IoT applications, such as energy harvesting, storage, micro-power management and systems integration.

In addition to learning from highly skilled professionals of IoT, it is also an opportunity to build collaborations & share different and complementary competences.

Registration & more details: NiPS Winter School 2020

New equipment available

Micro-thermoelectric device characterisation system

We have expanded the EnABLES offer to include a micro-thermoelectric device characterisation system.

This equipment offers a complete thermoelectric characterisation of the Si based micro-devices as well as commercial thermoelectric devices.

Tyndall developed Micro-TEG characterisation setup
Tyndall developed Micro-TEG characterisation setup
Key Specifications
  • Wide temperature range device characterization (ΔT=1 – 60°C)
  • Precise control over temperature gradients (±0.1°C)
  • Precise control over the load application (Max. 1.5 kN)
  • Device output power evaluation
  • Measurement of thermal resistance for thermal interface materials

Zooming through this year!

EnABLES Team on Zoom call

This year has been difficult for all our colleagues & researchers across the globe & at EnABLES we are well aware of the challenges facing our community.

While we cannot meet the consortium partners physically, we have continued to manage this programme through digital online platforms like Zoom. We have had to pivot our promotion activities as there are no conferences or workshops to attend. For this reason, we have turned out attention to giving free webinars to our research community.

Before the end of this year we will bring you a new online event – the Winter School 2020. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn new aspects of Energy Harvesting along with an opportunity to engage with researchers across Europe & beyond!

… A wonderful free Christmas present!!


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