Mechanical stress was applied to the specimen by four points bending tests while measuring electromotive force (EMF) between the two electrodes. EMF proportional to the applied stress was observed. EMF was significantly dependent on the electrode material, but was almost independent of the electrolyte material. These results indicated that lithium chemical potential varied under mechanical stress both in the electrode and electrolyte but the influence of mechanical stress appeared more notably in the electrode than the electrolyte. The lithium chemical potential changes in the electrode and the electrolyte under mechanical stress were discussed based on the idea of local equilibrium.
This paper presents a control method intended to suppress the effects of manufacturing variations on nanomechanical systems. Often, the resonance characteristics of nanoscale devices are inconsistent, due to unavoidable variations in the fabrication process. This is important because resonant vibrations enhance the sensitivities of the devices. As such, the sensitivities of these systems can be degraded if the device characteristics are not identified. To address this fundamental problem, this paper presents a multidisciplinary method based on control theory, nanotechnology, and communication technology. A stochastic optimal feedback controller is employed to enhance an average sensitivity by regarding the variations as stochastic parameters. This method is applied to nanoscale receivers that detect transmitted binary data based on binary phase-shift keying in communication systems. The proposed method controls the vibrations of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that serve as the antennas of the receiver. The proposed method is demonstrated via a numerical simulation using nanoscale receivers with the manufacturing variation. The simulation based on experimental data obtained from CNTs shows that the average performance of the devices is enhanced. INDEX TERMS Nanoelectromechanical systems, optimal control, stochastic systems.
The field-emission phenomenon is exploited in a broad variety of applications and systems. Previous studies have reported that the current induced by field emission strongly and inherently depend on the temperature. This dependence enhances the noise in the current, which results in performance degradation in, for example, signal detection and communications in nanoscale receivers. In this paper, a mathematical model is presented for the suppression of the noise based on its probability density. Our experiment and analysis revealed that the density follows a Gaussian distribution, and the dependence on temperature is observed to be exponential. This result is intriguing because in the field of signal processing and communication, the influence of temperature is often considered with a noise-temperature model, namely, linear dependence. Using our derived model, we theoretically evaluated the communication performance of a nanoscale receiver; owing to the exponential dependence on temperature, severe performance degradation was found with increasing temperature. This means that, as field-emission technology continues to be developed, the temperature should be kept low, for example, at room temperature, to secure the reliability of nanoscale communication devices.INDEX TERMS Bit-error rate, field emission, nanoscale communication, nonlinear temperature dependence.
Modified solid surfaces exhibit unique wetting behavior, such as hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. Such behavior can passively control the fluid flow. In this study, we experimentally demonstrated a wettability-designable cell array consisting of unetched and physically etched surfaces by reactive ion etching on a silicon substrate. The etching process induced a significant surface roughness on the silicon surface. Thus, the unetched and etched surfaces have different wettabilities. By adjusting the ratio between the unetched and etched surface areas, we designed one- and two-dimensional wettability gradients for the fluid channel. Consequently, fine-tuned channels passively realized unidirectional and curved fluid motions. The design of a wettability gradient is crucial for practical and portable systems with integrated fluid channels.
The evolution of carbon nanomaterials can provide tremendous advantages in sensing, computation, and functional materials. A carbon nanotube (CNT) has outstanding thermal and electrical conductivity features and is one of the most promising nanoscale carbon materials. It has a hardness of up to 1 TPa. Exploiting these features, nanomechanical systems with CNTs have been reported to achieve ultrasensitive sensors for mass, force, and electromagnetic waves owing to their outstanding elastic and electric properties. Some research groups have attempted to achieve digital data transfer in potential nanoscale wireless terminals with carbon nanomaterials. Although conceptual demonstrations have been reported, the fundamental capability of the transfer, particularly in the presence of noise, is yet to be explained. Here, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time that an ultrasmall digital receiver with a nanomechanical nanoantenna can transfer a vast amount of digital data, up to 1 Mbit, even in the presence of noise. We successfully transfer a digital image data with 393 216 bits. This demonstration proves that the data-transfer capability is close to the theoretical limit established in information theory and channel capacity. This small but robust nanomechanical receiver will contribute to the forthcoming data-oriented age of Internet of things (IoT)-and artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems.
This work studies the enhancement factor associated with a current emitted from a multi-wall carbon nanotube to an extremely small counter electrode. The experimental data show that the field enhancement factor increases by 1.15 times when the width of the counter electrode increases from 50 to 200 nm. To better understand this enhancement effect, field intensities at the emitter surface are numerically simulated. The experimental work and simulations demonstrate that the observed field enhancement results from increases in the capacitance between the emitter and counter electrode. In addition, corrugated counter electrodes are found to greatly affect both the capacitance and enhancement factor. This is because the corrugation of the anode surface raises the capacitance and thus provides a higher current. We experimentally show that an effective surface area enlargement of 1.67 times due to the corrugation provides a 1.06-fold increase of the enhancement factor. These results should assist in the future development of field emission devices based on semiconductor fabrication processes.
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