Recent developments of zinc oxide based photocatalyst in water treatment technology: A review

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

In the new era of the Internet-of-Things, athletic big data collection and analysis based on widely distributed sensing networks are particularly important in the development of intelligent sports. Conventional sensors usually require an external power supply, with limitations such as limited lifetime and high maintenance cost. As a newly developed mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing technology, the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) shows great potential to overcome these limitations. Most importantly, TENGs can be fabricated using wood, paper, fibers, and polymers, which are the most frequently used materials for sports. Recent progress on the development of TENGs for the field of intelligent sports is summarized. First, the working mechanism of TENG and its association with athletic big data are introduced. Subsequently, the development of TENG-based sports sensing systems, including smart sports facilities and wearable equipment is highlighted. At last, the remaining challenges and open opportunities are also discussed.

The Triboelectric Nanogenerator as an Innovative Technology toward Intelligent Sports.

Piezoelectric Actuators and Motors: Materials, Designs, and Applications

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL), a molding process, can replicate features <10 nm over large areas with long-range order. We describe the early development and fundamental principles underlying the two most commonly used types of NIL, thermal and UV, and contrast them with conventional photolithography methods used in the semiconductor industry. We then describe current advances toward full commercial industrialization of UV-curable NIL (UV-NIL) technology for integrated circuit production. We conclude with brief overviews of some emerging areas of research, from photonics to biotechnology, in which the ability of NIL to fabricate structures of arbitrary geometry is providing new paths for development. As with previous innovations, the increasing availability of tools and techniques from the semiconductor industry is poised to provide a path to bring these innovations from the lab to everyday life.

Advances in Nanoimprint Lithography

Navigation technology is an essential ability for the survival and development of animal and human. Navigation sensor plays a key role in exploration, emergency, precision-guided weapons, ship and aircraft navigation and satellites positioning system. The desert ant Cataglyphis is able to explore its desert habitat for hundreds of meters while foraging and return back to its nest precisely and on a straight line. For deriving direction information, this animal uses the pattern of polarized light in the sky that arises due to scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere. The polarization sensitivity mechanisms of the ant's compound eye are analyzed. The work principle of the sensor is discussed. A novel bionic navigation sensor is constructed. And the optic electric structure and the circuits are given. A performance test platform is designed and set up. The character of the dark field and uniform light field are investigated, the static performance about sensitivity, precision are tested in detail. And the non-linearity error is less than 0.0853% FSO (full-scale output), and the repeatability error with 0.0233% FSO is achieved. The outdoor experiment is performed under different skylight condition. And the worst angle output error within ± 0.2° is achieved. The results indicate the novel navigation sensor is with high precision and robustness.

Construction and performance test of a novel polarization sensor for navigation

A novel electrothermal SU-8 microgripper with a large gripping scope and multipurpose jaws is designed and ANSYS software was used to check its performances. Then, the microgripper is fabricated by a simple UV-LIGA process followed by two performance tests. The static test results show that with only 195 mV, 111.1 mW and 53.7 °C temperature increase at the actuator, a 71.5 μm jaws gap change is obtained. The dynamic response test result shows that driven by different step-type voltages, the response time is about 0.23 s during both closing and opening jaws process. Finally, two micro-manipulation sequences are carried. The experimental results show that due to the large gripping scope and the multipurpose jaws, the microgripper can be used as a multipurpose manipulator for biological micro-manipulations including the manipulation of micro blood vessel and the operation of small size cell, such as cyanobacteria cell.

A multipurpose electrothermal microgripper for biological micro-manipulation

Navigation technology is an essential ability for the survival and development of animal and human. Desert ants Cataglyphis are able to explore their desert habitat for hundreds of meters while foraging and return back to their nest precisely and in a straight line. For deriving direction information, these animals use the pattern of polarized light in the sky, which arises due to scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere. The polarization sensitivity mechanisms of the ants' compound eye are analyzed. A novel bionic navigation sensor is constructed. The work principle of the sensor is discussed. A novel algorithm of the direction angle calculation is presented. The merits of the new algorithm are discussed in detail. The angle output experiment of the navigation sensor is performed under different light conditions. The normalization output curve is obtained, and the angle output error is given with our algorithm. The experiment result indicates that the new angle algorithm is feasible and effective.

A Novel Angle Algorithm of Polarization Sensor for Navigation

This paper aims to develop a novel attitude determination system aided by polarization sensor. An improved heading angle function is derived using the perpendicular relationship between directions of E-vector of linearly polarized light and solar vector in the atmospheric polarization distribution model. The Extended Kalman filter (EKF) with quaternion differential equation as a dynamic model is applied to fuse the data from sensors. The covariance functions of filter process and measurement noises are deduced in detail. The indoor and outdoor tests are conducted to verify the validity and feasibility of proposed attitude determination system. The test results showed that polarization sensor is not affected by magnetic field, thus the proposed system can work properly in environments containing the magnetic interference. The results also showed that proposed system has higher measurement accuracy than common attitude determination system and can provide precise parameters for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight control. The main contribution of this paper is implementation of the EKF for incorporating the self-developed polarization sensor into the conventional attitude determination system. The real-world experiment with the quad-rotor proved that proposed system can work in a magnetic interference environment and provide sufficient accuracy in attitude determination for autonomous navigation of vehicle.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/1/158/pdf

A Novel Attitude Determination System Aided by Polarization Sensor.

Navigation technology is an essential ability for the survival and development of animals and humans. We integrate a bilayer nanowire polarizer with a photodetector using nanoimprint lithography, and apply the integrated polarization dependent photodetector (PDP) as a polarization navigation sensor. The proposed device is designed to have the top sensitivity at the blue band. The integration process can fabricate nanowires with multiorientations simultaneously and eliminate the alignment error. The angle output experiment of the navigation sensor using the integrated device is investigated. The angle output error is within ±0.1°. The results show that the fabricated PDP has good application prospects in the field of polarization navigation.

Jinkui Chu

Papers

Construction and performance test of a novel polarization sensor for navigation

A multipurpose electrothermal microgripper for biological micro-manipulation

A Novel Angle Algorithm of Polarization Sensor for Navigation

A Novel Attitude Determination System Aided by Polarization Sensor.

Integrated Polarization Dependent Photodetector and Its Application for Polarization Navigation