Phys.org March 29, 2022 Researchers in Germany have developed shape-stabilized phase change material which can absorb large amounts of heat by changing its physical state from solid to liquid. The stored heat is then re-released when the material hardens. They describe the steps involved in creating the structure of the material and how the different chemicals influence each other. Large panels of the material could be integrated into walls. These would then absorb heat during the sunny hours of the day and release it again later when the temperature goes down. Under the right conditions it could store up to […]
Tag Archives: Energy
Team achieves 30-fold enhancement of thermoelectric performance in polycrystalline tin selenide
Phys.org March 28, 2022 Tin selenide (SnSe) is known to exhibit a record high energy conversion (ZT) in its single crystal form. However, the performance deteriorates in practical polycrystals because of a low electronic conductivity (σ) and a high thermal conductivity (κ). Researchers in Japan enhanced the ZT of polycrystalline SnSe by demonstrating a high σ and a low κ simultaneously by introducing tellurium (Te) ion into the structure of SnSe. The large-size Te ion in Sn(Se1−xTex) forms weak Sn-Te bonds, leading to the high-density formation of hole-donating Sn vacancies and the reduced phonon frequency and enhanced phonon scattering. This […]
‘Killer Lake’ in Africa Looks Like Paradise, But It’s Hiding a Deadly Secret
Science Alert January 27, 2022 Lake Kivu one of Africa’s great Rift lakes lies between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thousands of years of volcanic activity has caused a massive accumulation of methane and carbon dioxide to dissolve in the depths of Kivu. If triggered, a so-called limnic eruption would cause “a huge explosion of gas from deep waters to the surface” resulting in large waves and a poisonous gas cloud that would put the lives of millions at risk. A company called KivuWatty pumps water saturated with carbon dioxide and methane from around 350 meters (1,150 feet) […]
Sunlight could be used to power lasers
Phys.org January 25, 2022 Turning the incoherent energy supply provided by the Sun into a coherent laser beam would overcome several of the practical limitations inherent in using sunlight as a source of clean energy. An international team of researchers (France, USA – University of Notre Dame, Italy, Mexico) proposed and designed a bio-inspired blueprint for a novel type of laser with the aim of upgrading unconcentrated natural sunlight into a coherent laser beam. They proposed a laser medium comprised of molecular aggregates inspired by the architecture of natural photosynthetic complexes which exhibit a very large internal efficiency in harvesting […]
How sugar-loving microbes could help power future cars
Phys.org November 22, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (UC Berkeley, University of Minnesota) has harnessed biology and chemistry to turn glucose into olefins. They genetically engineered E. coli to produce a suite of four enzymes that convert glucose into compounds called 3-hydroxy fatty acids. As the bacteria consumed the glucose, they also started to make the fatty acids. To complete the transformation, they used niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) a catalyst to chop off unwanted parts of the fatty acids in a chemical process, generating the final product: the olefins. According to the team more research is needed to […]
‘Anti-aging’ chemistry taken from nature overcomes next-gen lithium battery decay
Phys.org November 15, 2021 Degradation occurs pretty much everywhere in nature since oxygen is one of the elements most capable of attracting electrons from other atoms and molecules. Organisms often produce different types of enzymes that work to scavenge active oxygen and free radicals to alleviate the issue. Inspired by the anti-oxygen coping mechanisms in nature researchers in China developed a photostabilizer—a simple, anti-aging binder additive to the electrolyte that can scavenge the singlet oxygen atoms and free radicals as they occur. Through experimental investigation and theoretical calculation, they found that the scavenging mechanism in layered transition metal oxides-based lithium […]
Chemists discover new way to harness energy from ammonia
Phys.org November 11, 2021 Researchers at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to convert ammonia to nitrogen gas using a metal catalyst containing ruthenium without added energy. The process can be harnessed to produce electricity, with protons and nitrogen gas as byproducts. In addition, the metal complex can be recycled through exposure to oxygen and used repeatedly, a much cleaner process than using carbon-based fuels. The new reaction avoids toxic byproducts. If the reaction were housed in a fuel cell where ammonia and ruthenium react at an electrode surface, it could cleanly produce electricity without the need for a […]
New technique improves conversion of carbon dioxide into liquid fuels
Nanowerk November 17, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) has improved the electrochemical reduction process for turning CO2 emissions into a fuel feedstock by developing a new approach to modify the surface of the copper catalysts used to assist the reaction. They applied a thin layer of Nafion and Sustainion, as well as a bilayer of both ionomers, to copper films supported by a polymer material, forming membranes that they could insert near one end of an electrochemical cell. For the two-layer case, they found that carbon-rich products accounted for 80% of […]
Storing energy in plants with electronic roots
Science Daily November 8, 2021 By watering bean plants with a solution that contains conjugated oligomers an international team of researchers (Sweden, France, Spain, Greece) has shown that the roots of the plant become electrically conducting and can store energy. To circumvent biological barriers encountered in previous attempts, and access the internal tissue, the researchers leveraged the biocatalytic machinery of the plant cell wall to seamlessly integrate conductors with mixed ionic–electronic conductivity along the root system of the plants. They used a trimer, ETE-S, which is polymerized by a natural process in the plant. The roots remained electrically conducting for […]
Energetic ferroelectrics
Nanowerk October 14, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (SUNY Buffalo, University of Maryland, US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground) tested if two dissimilar materials – molecular energetic materials and ferroelectrics – can be combined to obtain a chemically driven electrical energy source with high-power density. They designed energetic molecular ferroelectrics consisting of imidazolium cations (energetic ion) and perchlorate anions (oxidizer) and described its thermal wave energy conversion with a specific power of 1.8 kW kg−1. They showed that chemically driven energy generator is a result of the coupling between energetic thermal and shock waves and a pyroelectric effect in molecular […]