. 24/7 Space News .
CHIP TECH
Making electronics out of coal
by Staff Writers
Boston MA (SPX) Apr 26, 2016


"When you look at coal as a material, and not just as something to burn, the chemistry is extremely rich," says Jeffrey Grossman. In this photo, a sample of pulverized coal (right) is shown with several test devices made from coal by the MIT researchers. Image courtesy of the researchers.

Jeffrey Grossman thinks we've been looking at coal all wrong. Instead of just setting it afire, thus ignoring the molecular complexity of this highly varied material, he says, we should be harnessing the real value of that diversity and complex chemistry. Coal could become the basis for solar panels, batteries, or electronic devices, he and his research team say.

As a first demonstration of what they see as a broad range of potential high-tech uses for this traditionally low-tech material, Grossman, doctoral student Brent Keller, and research scientist Nicola Ferralis have succeeded in making a simple electrical heating device that could be used for defrosting car windows or airplane wings, or as part of a biomedical implant.

In developing this initial application, they have also for the first time characterized in detail the chemical, electrical, and optical properties of thin films of four different kinds of coal: anthracite, lignite, and two bituminous types. Their findings have just been reported in the journal Nano Letters.

"When you look at coal as a material, and not just as something to burn, the chemistry is extremely rich," says Grossman, the Morton and Claire Goulder and Family Professor in Environmental Systems in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). The question he wanted to ask is, "Could we leverage the wealth of chemistry in things like coal to make devices that have useful functionality?" The answer, he says, is a resounding yes.

It turns out, for example, that naturally occurring coal varieties, without the purifying or refining that is needed to make electronic devices out of silicon, have a range of electrical conductivities that spans seven orders of magnitude (ten million times). That means that a given variety of coal could inherently provide the electrical properties needed for a particular component.

Designing a process
Part of the challenge was figuring out how to process the material, Grossman says. For that, Keller developed a series of steps to crush the material to a powder, put it in solution, then deposit it in thin uniform films on a substrate - a necessary step in fabricating many electronic devices, from transistors to photovoltaics.

Even though coal has been one of the most widely used substances by human beings for centuries, its bulk electronic and optical properties had never really been studied for the purpose of advanced devices.

"The material has never been approached this way before," says Keller, who carried out much of the work as part of his doctoral thesis in DMSE, "to find out what the properties are, what unique features there might be." To do so, he developed a method for making thin films, which could then be tested in detail and used for device fabrication.

Even this new, detailed characterization they carried out is just the tip of a large iceberg, the team says. The four varieties selected are just a few of the hundreds that exist, all with likely significant differences. And preparing and testing the samples was, from the outset, an unusual process for materials scientists.

"We usually want to make materials from scratch, carefully combining pure materials in precise ratios," says Ferralis, also in DMSE. In this case, though, the process involves "selecting from among this huge library of materials," all with their own different variations.

Using nature's complexity
While coal and other fossil fuels have long been used as feedstocks for the chemical industry, making everything from plastics to dyes and solvents, traditionally the material has been treated like other kinds of raw ore: something to be refined into its basic constituents, atoms, or simple molecules, which are then recombined to make the desired material.

Using the chemistries that nature has provided, just as they are, is an unusual new approach. And the researchers found that by simply adjusting the temperature at which the coal is processed, they could tune many of the material's optical and electrical properties to exactly the desired values.

The simple heating device the team made as a proof of principle provides an end-to-end demonstration of how to use the material, from grinding the coal, to depositing it as a thin film and making it into a functional electronic device. Now, they say, the doors are opened for a wide variety of potential applications through further research.

The big potential advantage of the new material, Grossman says, is its low cost stemming from the inherently cheap base material, combined with simple solution processing that enables low fabrication costs. Much of the expense associated with chip-grade silicon or graphene, for example, is in the purification of the materials.

Silica, the raw material for silicon chips, is cheap and abundant, but the highly refined form needed for electronics (typically 99.999 percent pure or more) is not. Using powdered coal could provide a significant advantage for many kinds of applications, thanks to the tunability of its properties, its high conductivity, and its robustness and thermal stability.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
CHIP TECH
'Odd couple' monolayer semiconductors align to advance optoelectronics
Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Apr 22, 2016
Epitaxy, or growing crystalline film layers that are templated by a crystalline substrate, is a mainstay of manufacturing transistors and semiconductors. If the material in one deposited layer is the same as the material in the next layer, it can be energetically favorable for strong bonds to form between the highly ordered, perfectly matched layers. In contrast, trying to layer dissimilar mater ... read more


CHIP TECH
Supernova iron found on the moon

Russia to shift all Lunar launches to Vostochny Cosmodrome

Lunar lava tubes could help pave way for human colony

The Moon thought to play a major role in maintaining Earth's magnetic field

CHIP TECH
Rover mini-walkabout to find clay mineral continues

Russia, Italy plan first bid to explore beneath mars surface in 2018

First light for ExoMars

First joint EU-Russian ExoMars mission to reach Mars orbit Oct 16

CHIP TECH
A US Department of Space

NASA blasts Orion Service Module with giant horns

Concept's success buoys Commercial Crew's path to flight

New, fast solar wind propulsion system is aim of NASA, UAH study

CHIP TECH
Chinese scientists develop mammal embryos in space for first time

Re-entry capsule of SJ-10 lands in Northern China

China begins testing Tiangong-2 space lab

Lessons learned from Tiangong 1

CHIP TECH
15 years of Europe on the International Space Station

BEAM successfully installed to the International Space Station

NASA to test first expandable habitat on ISS

Dragon and Cygnus To Meet For First Time In Space

CHIP TECH
Europe makes fourth attempt to launch Russian rocket

Sentinel-1B in position for liftoff

Arianespace cooperation with Russia remains smooth amid sanctions

Orbital ATK awarded major sounding rocket contract by NASA

CHIP TECH
Lone planetary-mass object found in family of stars

University of Massachusetts Lowell PICTURE-B Mission Completed

Stars strip away atmospheres of nearby super-Earths

1917 astronomical plate has first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system

CHIP TECH
Electrons slide through the hourglass on surface of bizarre material

Simple 3-D fabrication technique for bio-inspired hierarchical structures

Laser source for biosensors

Indian space scientists produce world's lightest synthetic material









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.