In this work, we present a facile, low-cost, and effective approach to fabricate the UV photodetector with a CuI/ZnO double-shell nanostructure which was grown on common copper microwire. The enhanced performances of Cu/CuI/ZnO core/double-shell microwire photodetector resulted from the formation of heterojunction. Benefiting from the piezo-phototronic effect, the presentation of piezocharges c...

This experiment attempted to detect the sound wave produced by bubbles in boiling water and liquid nitrogen as an application for LUX, large underground xenon, which is expected to detect weakly interacting massive particles, WIMPs. Currently, there are still several steps needed to be done in order to detect the bubble waveform. Before proceeding any further, it is necessary to change the curr...

An inkjet nozzle with double piezo transducers has been designed, which is different from conventional inkjet nozzles. The body of the nozzle which is fabricated by precision machining techniques is made from transparent acrylic material to visualize the flow inside the nozzle. The piezoelectric actuators are activated by a voltage amplifier which generates high-voltage bipolar waveforms. The k...

Nanowire solar cells are promising candidates for powering nanosystems and flexible electronics. The strain in the nanowires, introduced during growth, device fabrication and/or application, is an important issue for piezoelectric semiconductor (like CdS, ZnO, and CdTe) based photovoltaic. In this work, we demonstrate the first largely enhanced performance of n-CdS/p-Cu(2)S coaxial nanowire pho...

Elastic waves, especially guided waves, generated by a piezoelectric actuator/sensor network, have shown great potential for on-line health monitoring of advanced aerospace, nuclear, and automotive structures in recent decades. Piezoelectric materials can function as both actuators and sensors in these applications due to wide bandwidth, quick response and low costs. One of the most fundamental...

A lightweight and low power oscillating microbalance for in situ sampling of atmospheric ice and volcanic ash is described for airborne platforms. Using a freely exposed collecting wire fixed at only one end to a piezo transducer, the instrument collects airborne materials. Accumulated mass is determined from the change in natural frequency of the wire. The piezo transducer is used in a dual mo...

The development of a method for integrating highly efficient energy conversion materials onto stretchable, biocompatible rubbers could yield breakthroughs in implantable or wearable energy harvesting systems. Being electromechanically coupled, piezoelectric crystals represent a particularly interesting subset of smart materials that function as sensors/actuators, bioMEMS devices, and energy con...

In this paper piezo actuated micromanipulators are considered with serial-parallel structure including elastic joints. Such structure allows a preliminary tension of the mechanical system in order to eliminate backlashes and to improve the performance of the piezo-actuators. A kinematics model of a serial-parallel structure for local micro manipulators is build here. A pseudo rigid body approac...

In sensory neurons, mechanotransduction is sensitive, fast and requires mechanosensitive ion channels. Here we develop a new method to directly monitor mechanotransduction at defined regions of the cell-substrate interface. We show that molecular-scale (~13 nm) displacements are sufficient to gate mechanosensitive currents in mouse touch receptors. Using neurons from knockout mice, we show that...