Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > Personal cooling units on the horizon

The tiny wires of the nanowire array form on a template so they are uniform.
CREDIT: Qing Wang, Penn State
The tiny wires of the nanowire array form on a template so they are uniform.

CREDIT: Qing Wang, Penn State

Abstract:
Firefighters entering burning buildings, athletes competing in the broiling sun and workers in foundries may eventually be able to carry their own, lightweight cooling units with them, thanks to a nanowire array that cools, according to Penn State materials researchers.

Personal cooling units on the horizon

University Park, PA | Posted on April 29th, 2016

"Most electrocaloric ceramic materials contain lead," said Qing Wang, professor of materials science and engineering. "We try not to use lead. Conventional cooling systems use coolants that can be environmentally problematic as well. Our nanowire array can cool without these problems."

Electrocaloric materials are nanostructured materials that show a reversible temperature change under an applied electric field. Previously available electrocaloric materials were single crystals, bulk ceramics or ceramic thin films that could cool, but are limited because they are rigid, fragile and have poor processability. Ferroelectric polymers also can cool, but the electric field needed to induce cooling is above the safety limit for humans.

Wang and his team looked at creating a nanowire material that was flexible, easily manufactured and environmentally friendly and could cool with an electric field safe for human use. Such a material might one day be incorporated into firefighting gear, athletic uniforms or other wearables. They report their results in a recent issue of Advanced Materials.

Their vertically aligned ferroelectric barium strontium titanate nanowire array can cool about 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit using 36 volts, an electric field level safe for humans. A 500 gram battery pack about the size of an IPad could power the material for about two hours.

The researchers grow the material in two stages. First, titanium dioxide nanowires are grown on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass. The researchers use a template so all the nanowires grow perpendicular to the glass' surface and to the same height. Then the researchers infuse barium and strontium ions into the titanium dioxide nanowires.

The researchers apply a nanosheet of silver to the array to serve as an electrode.

They can move this nanowire forest from the glass substrate to any substrate they want -- including clothing fabric -- using a sticky tape.

"This low voltage is good enough for modest exercise and the material is flexible," said Wang. "Now we need to design a system that can cool a person and remove the heat generated in cooling from the immediate area."

This solid state personal cooling system may one day become the norm because it does not require regeneration of coolants with ozone depletion and global warming potentials and could be lightweight and flexible.

###

Also working on this project were Guangzu Zhang, Houbing Huang and Qi Li, postdoctoral fellows in materials science and engineering; Xiaoshan Zhang and Jianjun Wang, graduate students in materials science and engineering and Long-Qing Chen, distinguished professor of materials science and engineering, all at Penn State.

The National Science Foundation supported this work.

####

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
A'ndrea Elyse Messer

814-865-9481

Copyright © Penn State

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Optical switching at record speeds opens door for ultrafast, light-based electronics and computers: March 24th, 2023

Robot caterpillar demonstrates new approach to locomotion for soft robotics March 24th, 2023

Semiconductor lattice marries electrons and magnetic moments March 24th, 2023

Light meets deep learning: computing fast enough for next-gen AI March 24th, 2023

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

New experiment translates quantum information between technologies in an important step for the quantum internet March 24th, 2023

Optical switching at record speeds opens door for ultrafast, light-based electronics and computers: March 24th, 2023

Robot caterpillar demonstrates new approach to locomotion for soft robotics March 24th, 2023

Semiconductor lattice marries electrons and magnetic moments March 24th, 2023

Possible Futures

New experiment translates quantum information between technologies in an important step for the quantum internet March 24th, 2023

Graphene grows – and we can see it March 24th, 2023

HKUMed invents a novel two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound-responsive antibacterial nano-sheets to effectively address bone tissue infection March 24th, 2023

A universal HCl-assistant powder-to-powder strategy for preparing lead-free perovskites March 24th, 2023

Discoveries

New experiment translates quantum information between technologies in an important step for the quantum internet March 24th, 2023

Graphene grows – and we can see it March 24th, 2023

HKUMed invents a novel two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound-responsive antibacterial nano-sheets to effectively address bone tissue infection March 24th, 2023

A universal HCl-assistant powder-to-powder strategy for preparing lead-free perovskites March 24th, 2023

Announcements

Robot caterpillar demonstrates new approach to locomotion for soft robotics March 24th, 2023

Semiconductor lattice marries electrons and magnetic moments March 24th, 2023

Light meets deep learning: computing fast enough for next-gen AI March 24th, 2023

Bilayer PET/PVDF substrate-reinforced solid polymer electrolyte improves solid-state lithium metal battery performance March 24th, 2023

Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters

HKUMed invents a novel two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound-responsive antibacterial nano-sheets to effectively address bone tissue infection March 24th, 2023

A universal HCl-assistant powder-to-powder strategy for preparing lead-free perovskites March 24th, 2023

Optical switching at record speeds opens door for ultrafast, light-based electronics and computers: March 24th, 2023

Robot caterpillar demonstrates new approach to locomotion for soft robotics March 24th, 2023

Research partnerships

Destroying the superconductivity in a kagome metal: Electronic control of quantum transitions in candidate material for future low-energy electronics March 3rd, 2023

Polymer p-doping improves perovskite solar cell stability January 20th, 2023

SLAC/Stanford researchers discover how a nano-chamber in the cell directs protein folding: The results challenge a 70-year-old theory of how proteins fold in our cells and have profound implications for treating diseases linked to protein misfolding December 9th, 2022

New insights into energy loss open doors for one up-and-coming solar tech November 18th, 2022

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project