Engineering

Latest Innovations
High Efficiency Electrodialysis System for Water Purification Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a unique geometry of an electrodialysis system for enhanced efficiency of water purification. Electrodialysis... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a unique geometry of an electrodialysis system for enhanced efficiency of water purification. Electrodialysis can be inefficient due to concentration polarization of the ion depleted zone. The unique geometry of this technology increases the flux of purified water by removing current limiting regime in electrodialysis system.
UV Distribution System for Disinfection Researchers at the University have created a system of UV disinfection using visible light lasers. The COVID-19 pandemic has vastly increased the need and urgency for... Read More Researchers at the University have created a system of UV disinfection using visible light lasers. The COVID-19 pandemic has vastly increased the need and urgency for effective and safe sanitation of large spaces including hospitals, public transportation, and meeting spaces. This fiber optic system tracks existing internal wiring and emits light via diodes that distribute ultraviolet light throughout a space to maximize disinfection. The UV light is emitted at a wavelength of less than 222 nm, making it safe for human contact. There are no lamps or filters required.
Electrochemical Systems for the Remediation of Organic Pollutants Professor Xiao Su and researchers at the University of Illinois have developed an electrochemical/electrocatalytic system capable of separating PFAS from solution and... Read More Professor Xiao Su and researchers at the University of Illinois have developed an electrochemical/electrocatalytic system capable of separating PFAS from solution and degrading it in-situ. This electrochemical system is comprised of a redox-polymer working electrode, that that is responsible for electrochemically separating the PFAS (charged or uncharged) from solution, and a counter electrode that is responsible for electrochemically degrading the PFAS. When incorporated into an electrochemical device the redox copolymers presents an exceptionally high adsorption capacity for PFAS (>1500 mg PFOA/g adsorbent) and separation factors (500 vs. chloride), and demonstrates exceptional removal efficiencies in diverse per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and halogenated aromatic compounds. This technique represents the state of the art in PFAS remediation, and is more versatile than activated carbon, less expensive than ion exchange systems, and capable of handling large loads than high pressure membranes.
Optical phantom for multimodal optical instruments using fluorescent nanodiamonds Dr. Boppart has created a new manner of calibrating multimodal optical instruments. Unlike prior solutions, such as fluorescent beads, this invention does not bleach and... Read More Dr. Boppart has created a new manner of calibrating multimodal optical instruments. Unlike prior solutions, such as fluorescent beads, this invention does not bleach and can be used calibrate instruments across multiple frames longitudinally. This solution can also be used to normalize imaging data and is able to calibrate instruments for 2D and 3D multimodal instruments so that standardized imaging under realistic, tissue-sample-like settings can be achieved.
Ultra-scalable and Resilient Etched Metal Enhancements for Enhanced Refrigerant-Side Heat Transfer in HVAC Equipment Dr. Miljkovic has developed microstructured aluminum (Al) tubes with increased heat transfer rates of 240% during refrigerant flow boiling. Highly conformal are generated... Read More Dr. Miljkovic has developed microstructured aluminum (Al) tubes with increased heat transfer rates of 240% during refrigerant flow boiling. Highly conformal are generated by a scalable etching technique. The cost-effective techniques used to create etched-Al microstructures stand to significantly reduce manufacturing cost and time required for current enhancement approaches such as extrusion, drawing, and welding. At the same time increased performance is ensured on the thermal side. In addition, the fabricated etched structures are highly durable due to structure formation based on the base metal, and therefore do not suffer from thermal expansion coefficient mismatch issues, as is the case with other enhancements.
Strategy for Rotary Wing Design for Blade-Vortex Interaction Noise Reduction Researchers have developed a novel design strategy that mitigates the formation of vortices across the rotor near-wake region. The unique design aims to reduce thrust... Read More Researchers have developed a novel design strategy that mitigates the formation of vortices across the rotor near-wake region. The unique design aims to reduce thrust distribution across the tip region in order to mitigate the formation of energetic, coherent vortices at the blade tip. The invention features a unique geometrical rotary wing design that creates zero vortices at the wingtip allowing noise reduction generated by blade-vortex interactions. This invention could be used for lifting rotors or propellers on standard helicopter flight vehicles, other vertical lift aircraft, and turbines with minimal effect in total rotor efficiency.
Electrochemical Recycling of Homogeneous Catalysts Professor Xiao Su and colleagues have developed an electrochemical system for the separation and reutilization of homogenous catalysts including Pt and Pd-cross coupling... Read More Professor Xiao Su and colleagues have developed an electrochemical system for the separation and reutilization of homogenous catalysts including Pt and Pd-cross coupling catalysts and many other noble metal homogenous catalysts. This catalyst recycling system allows for the direct capture of a homogenous catalysts from a reaction mixture, the captured catalyst can then be desorbed into a new reaction mixture. Notably, this catalyst capture and release system operates without chemically altering the catalyst species thus this system maintains the original catalyst activity. This electrochemical system utilizes redox polymer electrodes allowing for the >99% catalyst adsorption within a 5-minute period. The adsorption properties of this system can be easily adjusted by modifying the applied current and electrode dimensions. Furthermore, >99% of the catalyst adsorbed can be released from the redox electrodes resulting in a highly efficient catalyst recycling system.
Property-driven Automatic Generation of Reduced-ISA Hardware Dr. Rakesh Kumar and his team have developed a new system and tool to analyze logic circuits and find opportunity to automatically optimize them. This technology... Read More Dr. Rakesh Kumar and his team have developed a new system and tool to analyze logic circuits and find opportunity to automatically optimize them. This technology automatically identifies unused instructions from microprocessors that an application is guaranteed not to exercise, eliminates these components and optimizes the design to reduce their cost, area and power requirement. This system uses a combination of techniques that differ from prior methods and leads to improved results. Instead of adding instructions to a specific design, it automatically removed unused ones and generates enhanced hardware from arbitrary designs.
Ultra-flexible 2D Heterostructures for MEMS and Optoelectronic Applications Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed ultra-flexible heterostructures made from 2D layers of van der Waals bonded materials. The heterostructures retain... Read More Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed ultra-flexible heterostructures made from 2D layers of van der Waals bonded materials. The heterostructures retain the optoelectronic properties of their constituent layers, but offer tunable mechanical properties which can include flexibility rivaling that of lipid bilayers. Applications for this technology include MEMS devices and flexible, stretchable, and conformal circuitry, including reconfigurable 2D devices and folded/curved/crumpled nanostructures.
Stretchable and Flexible Optoelectronics from Crumpled Two-Dimensional Material Heterostructures Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a platform for stretchable + flexible optoelectronics that offer consistent performance in stretched vs. non-... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a platform for stretchable + flexible optoelectronics that offer consistent performance in stretched vs. non-stretched mode. The platform, which features stacked layers of two-dimensional materials that are crumpled or wrinkled, can enable new designs and manufacturing methodologies for devices that offer both toughness and malleability at scales as small as nanometers.