IEEE Spectrum August 19, 2020 The main problem to overcome in load-bearing batteries is the tradeoff between electrochemical performance and mechanical strength. A team of researchers in the US (University of Michigan, Texas A&M University) used a solid electrolyte and covered the electrodes with a membrane whose nanostructure of fibers is derived from Kevlar. That makes the membrane tough enough to suppress the growth of dendrites. The researchers do not announce how many watt-hours his prototype stores per gram. Drones and other autonomous robots may benefit from the technology as their range is severely chained to their battery capacity…read more. […]
Tag Archives: Energy
Scientists build high-performing hybrid solar energy converter
Science Daily July 15, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (UC San Diego, Tulane University, San Diego State University) has developed a hybrid solar energy converter that generates electricity and steam with high efficiency and low cost. It utilizes an approach that more fully captures the whole spectrum of sunlight. It generates electricity from high efficiency multi-junction solar cells that also redirect infrared rays of sunlight to a thermal receiver, which converts those rays to thermal energy. Energy can be stored until needed. In demonstrations it operated at 85.1 percent efficiency, delivered steam at up to 248°C, and […]
Discovery about the edge of fusion plasma could help realize fusion power
EurekAlert May 21, 2020 A major roadblock to producing safe, clean, and abundant fusion energy on Earth is the lack of detailed understanding of how the hot, charged plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions behaves at the edge of tokamaks. A team of researchers in the US (Princeton University, MIT) has developed a specialized code called “Gkeyll” that makes simulations feasible. It adapts a state-of-the-art algorithm to the gyrokinetic system to develop the “key numerical breakthroughs needed to provide accurate simulations. The mathematical code simulates the orbiting of plasma particles around the magnetic field lines at the edge of a […]
Penn Engineering’s New Scavenger Technology Allows Robots to ‘Eat’ Metal for Energy
University of Pennsylvania, April 6, 2020 The metal-air scavenger developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania works like a battery by providing power by repeatedly breaking and forming a series of chemical bonds and a harvester as the power is supplied by energy in the chemical bonds in metal and air surrounding the metal-air scavenger. They showed that a range of hydrogel electrolyte compositions can be combined with air cathodes to extract 159, 87, and 179 mAh/cm2 capacities from aluminum, zinc, and steel surfaces at up to 130, 81, and 25 mW/cm2 power densities, which exceed the power density […]
An all-organic proton battery energized for sustainable energy storage
EurekAlert April 2, 2020 Researchers in Sweden have developed a battery using quinones, which occurs in photosynthesis, as the active material. It has the ability to absorb or emit hydrogen ions during charging and discharging. An acidic aqueous solution was used as an electrolyte. They demonstrated the battery can be easily charged using a solar cell without the help of advanced electronics and it is unaffected by ambient temperature. The battery retains properties such as capacity down to as low as -24°C… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
After 40 Years of Hunting, Scientists Identify a Key Flaw in Solar Panel Efficiency
Science Alert February 13, 2020 Silicon solar cells containing boron and oxygen suffer from Light Induced Degradation which could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency drop that solar cells can see in the first hours of use. Using deep level transient spectroscopy and photoluminescence an international team of researchers (UK, Portugal, Belarus, Australia) has observed the conversion of a deep boron-di-oxygen-related donor state into a shallow acceptor which correlates with the change in the lifetime of minority carriers in the silicon. They propose structures of the BsO2 defect which match the experimental findings and hypothesize that the dominant recombination […]
New green technology generates electricity ‘out of thin air’
Phys.org February 17, 2020 Researchers at UMass Amherst have developed a thin-film device they call “Air-gen”, made from nanometre-scale protein wires harvested from the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens that can generate continuous electric power in the ambient environment. The devices produce a sustained voltage of around 0.5 volts across a 7-micrometre-thick film, with a current density of around 17 microamperes per square centimetre. According to the researchers the driving force behind this energy generation is a self-maintained moisture gradient that forms within the film when the film is exposed to the humidity that is naturally present in air. Connecting several devices […]
Movement of a liquid droplet generates over 5 volts of electricity
EurekAlert February 13, 2020 Researchers in Japan have demonstrated that using molybdenum disulfide instead of graphene as the active material in the generator makes it possible to generate over 5 volts of electricity from a liquid droplet. They made a large area single -layer MoS2 film with polystyrene film as bearing material, by chemical vapor deposition using a sapphire substrate with molybdenum oxide (MoO3) and sulphur powders. The film made it easy to transfer the synthesized MoS2 film to the surface. The generator is flexible enough to be installed on the curved inner surface of plumbing and is thus expected […]
With nanogenerators, static electricity as strong as lightening can be saved in a battery
Nanowerk February 6, 2020 Researchers in South Korea have developed a one-step process of thermal nanoimprinting and simultaneous electric poling to increase the total energy obtained by each cycle of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with a ferroelectric thermoplastic polymer. They invented an integrated circuit that converted temporary and unstable electric energy generated by a triboelectric nanogenerator into reliable power source. They demonstrated that even when 2.5 µW of energy was input, the conversion efficiency recorded over 70% and that stable power of 1.8V was obtained without external power supply when this circuit was used. This amount of power was enough to […]
5 Big Ideas for Making Fusion Power a Reality
IEEE Spectrum January 28, 2020 Over the past several years, more than two dozen research groups and well-funded startups, university programs, and corporate projects have achieved eye-opening advances in controlled nuclear fusion. Some of these groups are predicting significant fusion milestones within the next five years, including reaching the breakeven point at which the energy produced surpasses the energy used to spark the reaction. Fusion research is among the costliest of endeavors. Advances in high-speed computing, materials science, and modeling and simulation are helping to topple once-recalcitrant technical hurdles, and significant amounts of money are flowing into the field. According […]