A Calorimetric Study Assisted with First Principle Calculations of Specific Heat for Si-Ge Alloys within a Broad Temperature Range

Calorimetric measurements are performed to determine the specific heat of Si-xat.% Ge(where x = 0, 10, 30,50, 70, 90 and 100) alloys within a broad temperature range from 123 to 823 K. The measured specific heat increases dramatically at low temperatures, and the composition dependence of specific heat is evaluated from the experimental results. Meanwhile, the specific heat at constant volume, the thermal expansion, and the bulk modulus of Si and Ge are investigated by the first principle calculations combined with the quasiharmonic approximation. The negative thermal expansion is observed for both Si and Ge. Furthermore, the isobaric specific heat of Si and Ge is calculated correspondingly from OK to their melting points, which is verified by the measured results and accounts for the temperature dependence in a still boarder range.

Pneumatic and tendon actuation coupled muti-mode actuators for soft robots with broad force and speed range

Broad output force and speed ranges are highly desired for actuators to endow soft robots with high performance,thereby increasing the range of tasks they can accomplish.However,limited by their low structural stiffness and single actuation method,most of the existed soft actuators are still difficult to achieve a broad force and speed range with a relatively compact body structure.Here,we propose a pneumatic and tendon actuation coupled soft actuator(PTCSA)with multiple actuation modes,mainly composing of a multi-joint thermoplastic polyurethanes(TPU)-made skeleton sealed in a film sleeve.The TPU skeleton with certain structural stiffness combined with soft joints allows PTCSA to output small force and respond rapidly under pneumatic actuation,as well as output high force and flexibly regulate response speed under tendon actuation,therefore achieving a broad force and speed range with a compact structure.The multiple modes constructed from the two actuation methods with different force and speed properties can cover diverse application scenarios.To demonstrate its performance,PTCSA is further used to construct a soft robotic arm(with a maximum lifting speed of 198°/s and can easily lift a load of 200 g),an inchworm-inspired wheel-footed soft robot(moves at a high speed of 2.13 cm/s when unload or pulls a load of 300 g forward),and a soft gripper(can grasp diverse objects,from 0.1 g potato chips to an 850 g roll of Sn-0.7 Cu wire,from a high-speed moving tennis ball to an upright pen).This work indicates the potential of combining multiple complementary actuation methods to improve the force and speed range of soft actuators,and may provide inspiration for related research.

Body-area sensor network featuring micropyramids for sports healthcare

Monitoring physiological signals of the human body can provide extremely important information for sports healthcare,preventing injuries and providing efficient guidance for individual sports.However,the signals related to human healthcare involve both subtle and vigorous signals,making it difficult for a sensor to satisfy the full-scale monitoring at the same time.Here,a novel conductive elastomer featuring homogeneously micropyramid-structured PDMS/CNT composite is used to fabricate highperformance piezoresistive sensors by a drop-casting method.Benefiting from the significant increase in the contact area of microstructure during deformation,the flexible sensor presents a broad detection range(up to 185.5 kPa),fast response/recovery time(44/13 ms),ultrahigh sensitivity(242.4 kPa–1)and excellent durability over 8,000 cycles.As a proof of concept,the as-fabricated pressure sensor can be used for body-area sports healthcare,and enable the detection of full-scale pressure distribution.Considering the fabulous sensing performance,the sensor may potentially become promising in personal sports healthcare and telemedicine monitoring.

Phase-controlled photon blockade in optomechanical systems

The manipulation of photons is a key technology for obtaining optical quantum information.In this study,we present a phase-modulated optomechanical system comprising two coupled cavity resonators and illustrate the phase-controlled photon blockade in the system.The coupling phase of the cavities reveals the interference of photons and introduces an unconventional photon-blockade effect.We also study the influence of the energy level fineness on the photon blockade and resonant frequency of the mechanical mode.Numerical simulations demonstrate that photon blockade can occur over a wide range of system parameters.These results have several implications for understanding the role of the state phase in quantum cavity optomechanics and provide a promising method for the realization of optomechanical quantum devices using photon blockade.