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Author: Bekka Coakley

UW researchers develop a stretchable, wearable device that lights up an LED using only the warmth of your skin

Headshot of Mo in a blue shirt.

One of the drawbacks of fitness trackers and other wearable devices is that their batteries eventually run out of juice. But what if in the future, wearable technology could use body heat to power itself?

UW researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics, such as batteries, sensors or LEDs. This device is also resilient — it still functions even after being pierced several times and then stretched 2,000 times.

Rui Chen wins 2024 UW NanoES Student Achievement Award for Pioneering Work in Nanophotonics

August 5, 2024

The University of Washington (UW) Institute of Nano-Engineered Systems (NanoES) awarded Electrical & Computer Engineering Ph.D. student Rui Chen its 2024 Student Achievement Award. Chen was recognized at the NanoES Symposium on May 23.

Rui Chen posing outside with fall foliage in the background.

Nominated by NanoES member and Electrical & Computer Engineering professor Arka Majumdar for his “remarkable productivity and innovation,” Chen has authored 18 journal publications or in-press articles. He was the first author of seven publications, and his work has been featured in prestigious journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications and ACS Nano. He has also amassed over 360 citations.

Chen’s primary research area is nanophotonics, which involves exploring photons, or light, at the nanoscale for a range of applications, including optical communications, miniaturized spectroscopy, optical computing, and more. His focus has been on developing a programmable nanophotonic platform, which is essential for many of these applications.

“This platform’s programmability is enabled by a special type of material called phase-change material, which consumes zero static power once programmed,” said Chen. “With this programmable photonic platform, we anticipate a significant transformation in how people develop new ideas and commercialize products in the photonics field.”

Chen said he became fascinated with how small structures and devices can be beneficial, comparable, or superior to their bulky counterparts.

“After entering this field, I realized how strongly it is related to our lives—all smartphones and laptops have billions of nano-electronic devices,” he said. “That’s the key enabler of our current lifestyle. Moreover, it’s just so cool to think about these tiny structures in the nanoscale.”

According to Mujumdar, Chen’s faculty advisor, Chen has an outstanding research aptitude and enjoys challenging problems.

“From day one in my group, Rui has demonstrated his capability to get things done,” said Majumdar. “He is also very inquisitive and self-critical of his work. In addition to his research accomplishments, Rui has shown a profound commitment to mentoring and guiding over five undergraduate and master’s students in our group.”

Nominations for the next student achievement award will be accepted in spring 2025.

Winners announced for the 2024 Nanotechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge

Screenshot of participants (on Zoom) of the Nanotechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge.

The National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NanoEarth) hosted the tenth annual NanoTechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge (NTEC) on April 30th. This year, 15 teams competed from seven separate sites, incorporating 18 students. The Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NNI) supported one team. The NNI Team was led by student Saowaluk Soonthornkit, researching “Durable Double Perovskite SrColrO3 Electrocatalyst for Acidic Media Water Electrolyzer”. Zhenxing Feng, Ph.D, Associate Professor at Oregon State University, served as the team mentor.

UW researchers find electrons uniting into entities with fractions of electric charge without a magnetic field

Xiaodong Xu With Students-coXiaodongXu

Despite 127 years of being studied, electrons are still surprising researchers. A UW-led team including NanoES members Matthew Yankowitz and Xiaodong Xu, found electrons behaving like quasiparticles with a fractional charge in a unique setup, a first without a magnetic field.

NanoES announces 2024 Northwest Nanotechnology Seed Grant awardees

Left to right: Shijie Cao, Ali Sadeghi, Shijing Sun

The UW Institute for Nano-engineered Systems (NanoES) has awarded three seed grants to UW researchers to use nanotechnology tools to develop new, innovative technologies and devices.  Shijie Cao, professor of pharmaceutics, Ali Sadeghi, postdoctoral scholar in neurological surgery, and Shijing Sun, professor of mechanical engineering will receive up to $10,000 to carry out work in the UW’s Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) and Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF).

Ultra-flat optics for broadband thermal imaging

side view of a fabricated wafer containing meta-optics held above a conventional refractive lens.

Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) imaging holds critical significance across many applications, from consumer electronics to defense and national security. It finds applications in night vision, remote sensing, and long-range imaging. However, the conventional refractive lenses employed in these imaging systems are bulky and heavy, which is undesirable for almost all applications. Compounding this issue is the fact that many LWIR refractive lenses are crafted from expensive and limited-supply materials, such as germanium.

UW ECE Assistant Professor Sara Mouradian receives AFOSR YIP award for quantum computing research

UW ECE Assistant Professor Sara Mouradian has been awarded a three-year grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, or AFOSR, through its Young Investigator Program, or YIP. The grant will support work in Mouradian’s Scalable Quantum Research Lab, which aims to build, understand and control trapped ion quantum systems in order to develop useful and practical quantum technologies. Mouradian joins an elite group of investigators as one of only 48 scientists and engineers from across the nation that have been awarded a 2024 AFOSR YIP grant. These individuals have each demonstrated exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research relevant to the U.S. Air Force and national defense.

CEI ANNOUNCES COLLABORATIVE SEED GRANTS

Lilo Pozzo, Matthew Yankowitz and Xiaodong Xu

The University of Washington’s Clean Energy Institute has awarded Collaborative Seed Grants to three teams of UW faculty to enable their pursuit of center-scale funding for transformative clean energy research. Collaborative Seed Grants provide UW scholars with up to $200,000 to explore novel, high-risk/high-reward research topics while seeding new collaborations in research and education that significantly increase the prospects for future extramural support.