Here I will comment on thin films.
Lets answer this question first:
1. What is this device?
2. How does it function?
2. What can it do?
1. This device is a thin film composed of triple thin film membrane with two layers of conducting material and one insulating layer in between. The device also has holes.
2. The two conducting layers are put in contact with a potential difference. It follows that inside the holes and also trough the insulating layer, an electrical gradient is created. Ions are force trough the holes in one direction. As a result a pressure difference is created between the two sides of the membrane. One must assume that the ions are charged with the same electric charge and this happens at higher temperature when some percentage of the gas molecules lose electrons trough ionization.
3. The membrane is active in an electric potential. It can create high performance vacuum if enough membranes are applied in series. So all vacuum technologies are envisage. Also even if not obvious, it can create high pressure. So also all high pressure technologies are aimed.
Other application enters the field of purification, were a lot of semi-permeable membrane are already in use.
Further some possible application example are mentioned below:
I. Vacuum technologies: 1. Vacuum chamber walls for thin film grow by
sputtering, ion beam lithography, plasma etc...
2. Vacuum chamber walls for magnetic resonance devices ( MSM ) devices high Q
resonance micro devices, that can be used in
communication.
3.Vacuum chamber walls for fast speed virtually frictionless transport systems like evacuated chamber train.
4.Particle accelerators wall.
II. High pressure application as the membrane creates a pressure gradient so it can be used in two ways create vacuum or pressure.
1. Aerospace, space-station walls that gather ions from outer space and create atmospheric pressure inside.
2.High pressure crystal growth (diamonds etc....).
3.High pressure material studies like pressure induced crystallographic transformations.
III. Commune application already existing for semi-permeable membranes as filtering for example desalination, or gas heavy ions filtering metals and polluting gasses like SO_3.
IV. Exotic application: 1. neuronal computer design. Actually the concept of this active membrane is taken from the biology, as the same principle applies for the ion pumps on the neuron lipid bilayer membrane.
2. Other exotic application is energy harvesting and saving. For example energy can be collected in an estuary where fresh water goes into salt water, salt ions move in the holes and create a potential difference. This energy can be collected in another place by a reverse system, that moves the ions from one place to another with the help of a electric gradient.
3. It can be used as an active building material where the elastic constants on the thin film are enhance by the attractive pressure crated by the applied potential induced charges.
The application are many and do not reduce to the one already mentioned. It is important to keep in mind the benefits of such a material this are:
Benefits:
1. It has no mobile parts, a normal vacuum pomp has mobile parts.
2. It works with increase efficiency in high vacuum regime.
3. It is easier to produce then a complex design.
4. Reduced material used in production, overall decreased cost for materials.
5. It can add extra strength to a structure (see application IV. 3 for explanation)
