Nanowerk April 25, 2022 An international team of researchers (North Korea, Australia, India) has demonstrated both energy harvesting and storage devices such as piezoelectric nanogenerator (PNG) and piezo supercapacitor (PSC) by enforcing coconut husk (CH) as a filler into the polymer separator. The CH powder was immobilized into the polyvinyl difluoride (PVDF) matrix to improve its piezoelectric performance. The poled PNG with a 7 wt% of CH powder/ PVDF composition delivered an output of 14 V, 50 nA current, and a power density of 0.35 μW/cm2 at 100 MΩ. The output is enough to charge commercial capacitors and power electronic […]
Tag Archives: Alternate energy
Solar cell also generates electricity from raindrops on rainy days
Nanowerk March 24, 2022 The low efficiency of raindrop energy harvesting is a dominating barrier to the raindrop solar cells in practical applications. An international team of researchers (China, Egypt) has developed a MoO3/top electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator (MT-TENG) with high rain droplet energy conversion efficiency, integrated with a perovskite solar cell through shared electrodes. The interface electrons between the triboelectric layer and electrode were blocked by the MoO3 layer with high permittivity and wide bandgap, and the MoO3-based TENG (M-TENG) increased the surface charge density. The top electrode structure in the solid–liquid interface increased the output charge by 101.1 times […]
Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source
Phys.org November 25, 2020 Normally, algal cells fix carbon dioxide and produce oxygen by photosynthesis. An international team of researchers used sugary droplets packed with living algal cells to generate hydrogen, rather than oxygen, by photosynthesis. They trapped ten thousand or so algal cells in each droplet, which were then crammed together by osmotic compression. By burying the cells deep inside the droplets, oxygen levels fell to a level that switched on special enzymes called hydrogenases that hijacked the normal photosynthetic pathway to produce hydrogen. In this way, around a quarter of a million microbial factories, typically only one-tenth of […]
Turning streetwear into solar power plants
Nanowerk October 22, 2020 Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) absorb diffusive light and increase the cost-effectiveness of solar cells; however, the compatibility with flexible photovoltaics and the energy transfer (ET) efficiency still require improvement. Researchers in Switzerland used amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCNs) as polymer matrices for wearable LSCs owing to their flexibility and wearability. Furthermore, with the assistance of APCNs’ nanophase separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, hydrophobic and hydrophilic luminescent materials were loaded in adjacent nanometer-separated domains. This resulted in high ET rates and broadened the acceptor’s absorption range, rendering a more efficient down conversion emission. The re-emitted photons indicated that […]
Using mountains for long-term energy storage
Science Daily November 11, 2019 To close the gap between existing short- and long-term storage technologies an international team of researchers (Austria, Denmark, Italy) proposes Mountain Gravity Energy Storage (MGES) and hydropower which moves sand or gravel from a lower storage site to an upper elevation. The higher the height difference the greater the amount of stored energy as this technology is constrained to the topography of the location. MGES cost varies from 50 to 100 $/MWh of stored energy and 1–2 M$/MW of installed capacity. It could be a feasible option for micro-grids, for example, small islands and isolated areas, […]
Grand challenges in the science of wind energy
Science Magazine October 25, 2019 Wind energy is already playing a role as a mainstream source of electricity, driven by decades of scientific discovery and technology development. An international team of researchers (USA – NERL, University of Colorado, UMASS Amherst, NOAA, Johns Hopkins University, University of Wyoming, Sandia National Laboratory, industry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Norway) reviews the challenges and opportunities for further expanding wind technology, with an emphasis on the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. They identified three grand challenges in wind energy research that require further progress from the scientific community: (i) improved understanding […]
How a new class of startups are working to solve the grid storage puzzle
MIT Technology Review October 10, 2019 To be as cheap, reliable, and flexible as natural gas, such a battery system would have to cost less than $10 per kilowatt-hour. Today’s best grid batteries, large lithium-ion systems, cost hundreds of dollars per kilowatt-hour (precise estimates vary). A US based company is working to hit that target by what seems to be using a sulfur-based solution as the anolyte. Sulfur is extremely cheap and can store a lot of energy. They are exploring the possibility of bidirectional power plants. Long duration storage is another approach taken by some companies. Thermal methods are […]
Refrigerator works by twisting and untwisting fibres
Physics World October 14, 2019 An international team of researchers (China, USA – UT Dallas, Georgia Southern University, industry, Brazil) studied the cooling effects of twist and stretch changes in twisted, coiled and supercoiled fibres of natural rubber, nickel-titanium and polyethylene fishing line. In each material, they observed a surface cooling as high as 16.4 °C, 20.8 °C, and 5.1 °C respectively. Analysis revealed changes in molecular structures associated with the transition from low to high entropy phases. They built a device from a three-ply nickel-titanium wire cable, which cooled a stream of running water by as much as 7.7 […]
China Stumbles on Path to Solar Thermal Supremacy
IEEE Spectrum February 14, 2019 Solar thermal plants are a potentially crucial power source for global grids as they add more wind and PV. However, the technology is comparatively costly and thus growing slowly relative to PV and wind. China’s program has been viewed as an opportunity to put solar thermal technology back on track, slash the cost of solar thermal power and catapult Chinese firms to the head of the global pack. In the final days of 2018 a 100-megawatt solar thermal generating station capable of running around-the-clock, 365-days-a-year was to be connected to the Northwest China regional power […]
China Is Reportedly Building a Solar Power Station in Space
Science Alert February 2019 China has plans to launch a test facility before 2025, pursuing space-based clean energy showing that China is committed to its ongoing push towards using more renewable energy and asserting its place among global leaders in space. The plan is to have solar arrays in space capture light from the sun and then beam electricity down to a facility on Earth in the form of a microwave or a laser. If the launch goes well and the energy-transmitting beam works like it is supposed to, the Chinese scientists have plans to test and launch bigger and […]