Phys.org August 14, 2018 Researchers in the UK have developed a ‘hybrid-electric-hydrogen’ flow battery, based upon the design of a nanoscale battery that can store energy, releasing the power on demand as electric power or hydrogen gas that can be used as fuel. When a concentrated liquid containing the nano-molecules is made, the amount of energy it can store increases by almost 10 times. Electric cars could be charged in seconds, as the material is a pumpable liquid. This could mean that the battery of an electric car could be “recharged” in roughly the same length of time as petrol […]
Category Archives: Alternate energy
Promising new material has the right properties to capture solar energy, split water into hydrogen and oxygen
Phys.org June 18, 2018 Using supercomputers to calculate the quantum energy states of four halide double perovskites, an international team of researchers (UK, USA – Cornell University) found that the double perovskites Cs2BiAgCl6 and Cs2BiAgBr6 are potentially promising materials for photo-catalytic water splitting. They would require controlling their surface termination to obtain energy levels appropriate for water splitting. The energy of the halogen P orbitals is found to control the conduction band level; therefore, the team proposes that mixed halides could be used to fine-tune the electronic affinity…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Energy conversion: Optical ‘overtones’ for solar cells
Science Daily April 19, 2018 In solar cells the spectral position of the window of light that can be efficiently converted is strongly related to its band-gap. Researchers in Germany measured the charge carrier density created by the absorption of multiple photons in perovskite nanocrystals. The efficiency of this process becomes drastically enhanced when the frequency of the primary light oscillation and frequency of the exciton at the band-gap become equal. The observation of this novel resonance phenomenon for optical excitations in excitonic semiconductors could pave the way for solar cells to more efficiently convert long-wavelength light into usable electric […]