#Artificial leaf harnesses sunlight for efficient fuel production Generating and storing renewable energy, such as solar or wind power, is a key barrier to a clean energy economy.
When the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) was established at Caltech and its partnering institutions in 2010,
the U s. Department of energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub had one main goal: a cost-effective method of producing fuels using only sunlight, water,
and storing energy in the form of chemical fuels for use on demand. Over the past five years, researchers at JCAP have made major advances toward this goal,
or artificial leaf, is described in the August 24 online issue of the journal Energy and Environmental science.
and are used therefore in solar panels. However, these materials also oxidize (or rust) on the surface
converts 10 percent of the energy in sunlight into stored energy in the chemical fuel,
Enhancing the mobility of liquid droplets on rough surfaces has applications ranging from condensation heat transfer for heat exchangers in power plants to more efficient water harvesting in arid regions where collecting fog droplets on coated meshes provides drinking water
The NAPA platform consists of an array of silicon nanoposts that exhibit enhanced electromagnetic fields upon interaction with pulses of laser radiation.
Uranium plays an important role in the search for alternative energies to fossil fuels; however, uranium resources on land are limited.
U s. Department of energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic energy Sciences, Chemical sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Heavy Element Chemistry Program under contract number DE-FG02-07er15865 to C. H
Office of Basic energy Sciences under contract number DE-AC02-06ch11357 7
#Super water-repellant coatings can now take the pressure Conventional superhydrophobic coatings that repel liquids by trapping air inside microscopic surface pockets tend to lose their properties
substantial gains in the durability and applicability of these structures for solar panels, highly robust, self-healing coatings,
Office of Science, Basic energy Sciences in the Materials sciences and Engineering Division and at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials under Contract No.
the noise of part of the electromagnetic field was reduced to an extremely precise and low level, below the standard baseline of vacuum fluctuations.
This was done at the expense of making other parts of the electromagnetic field less measurable, meaning that it became possible to create a level of noise that was lower-than-nothing, in keeping with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle,
which fluctuations in the electromagnetic field could be measured on a graph creates a shape where the uncertainty of one part has been reduced,
in order to reduce power consumption when transmitting and receiving information, wireless systems need to send signals that can easily travel from one side of the human body to another.
which uses the body as a vehicle to deliver magnetic energy between electronic devices. An advantage of this system is that magnetic fields are able to pass freely through biological tissues,
so signals are communicated with much lower path losses and potentially, much lower power consumption. In their experiments, researchers demonstrated that the magnetic communication link works well on the body,
but they did not test the technique's power consumption. Researchers showed that the path losses associated with magnetic field human body communication are upwards of 10 million times lower than those associated with Bluetooth radios."
Lower power consumption also leads to longer battery life.""A problem with wearable devices like smart watches is that they have short operating times
because they are limited to using small batteries. With this magnetic field human body communication system, we hope to significantly reduce power consumption as well as how frequently users need to recharge their devices,
"said Jiwoong Park, a Ph d student in Mercier's Energy-efficient Microsystems Lab at the UC San diego Jacobs School of engineering and first author of the study.
The new approach combines a battery-powered wearable bionic suit that enables people to move their legs in a step-like fashion,
The discovery could lead to dramatic improvements and addresses one of the biggest challenges in flexible electronics, an industry still in its infancy with applications such as bendable batteries, robotic skins, wearable monitoring devices and sensors,
and bending while continuing to conduct electricity. Manufacturers have used so far tiny metal springs that can stretch
Furthermore, electricity has to travel farther in coiled springs, requiring more power and bigger batteries."
"The circuitry ends up requiring a ton of real estate and bulky batteries,"said Panat. Researchers have experimented with gold,
which works better than other materials but is prohibitively expensive, and copper, which severely cracks when it is stretches more than 30 percent or so.
According to financial reports, the global market for graphene reached $9 million in 2014 with most sales in the semiconductor, electronics, battery, energy,
According to financial reports, the global market for graphene reached $9 million in 2014 with most sales in the semiconductor, electronics, battery, energy,
lightweight solar cells track the sun Solar cells capture up to 40 percent more energy when they can track the sun across the sky,
Now, by borrowing from kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed solar cells that can have it both ways."
what a large tracking solar panel does and condenses it into something that is essentially flat, "said Aaron Lamoureux, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering and first author on the paper in Nature Communications.
Residential rooftops make up about 85 percent of solar panel installations in the U s.,according to a report from the Department of energy,
A team of engineers and an artist developed an array of small solar cells that can tilt within a larger panel
the solar cell would split into tiny segments that would follow the position of the sun in unison."
"Solar cell researchers think of tracking in terms of how much of a solar panel the sun can"see.""When the panel is at an angle,
To make the solar array, Kyusang Lee, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, built custom solar cells in the lab of Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and Paul G. Goebel
because the solar cells would be very long and narrow. Scaling up to a feasible width, the cells became too long to fit into the chambers used to make the prototypes on campus,
Conventional trackers produce about 40 percent more energy than stationary panels under the same conditions,
"It could ultimately reduce the cost of solar electricity
#Genome mining effort discovers 19 new natural products in four years It took two postdoctoral researchers, a lab technician,
#Nano-dunes with the ion beam Many semiconductor devices in modern technology--from integrated circuits to solar cells and LEDS--are based on nanostructures.
Peidong Yang, a professor of chemistry at Berkeley and co-director of the school's Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute, leads a team that has created an artificial leaf that produces methane, the primary component of natural gas
or years and distributed through existing energy infrastructure. In a roundtable discussion on his recent breakthroughs and the future of synthetic photosynthesis
where he previously headed the Center for Bioenergy & Photosynthesis. Ultimately, researchers hope to create an entirely synthetic system that is more robust and efficient than its natural counterpart.
--and how learning from nature's genius could transform our energy future. Imagine creating artificial plants that make gasoline
a professor of chemistry at Berkeley and co-director of the school's Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute, leads a team that has created an artificial leaf that produces methane,
or years and distributed through existing energy infrastructure. In a roundtable discussion on his recent breakthroughs and the future of synthetic photosynthesis, Yang said his hybrid inorganic/biological systems give researchers new tools to study photosynthesis
where he previously headed the Center for Bioenergy & Photosynthesis. Ultimately, researchers hope to create an entirely synthetic system that is more robust and efficient than its natural counterpart.
The authors first discovered that an enzyme related to HSD10, Csga, produces energy during sporulation in the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus.
Csga was found to degrade the phospholipid cardiolipin into fragments that were used as energy sources during sporulation much the same way humans produce
and protects the energy-making machinery from oxidative stress. HSD10 is a versatile protein with many known functions
the newly formed cardiolipin peroxides induce apoptosis instead of energy production. The UGA research team, led by microbiology professor Lawrence Shimkets,
Roofing tiles that double as solar panels. Sun powered cell phone chargers woven into the fabric of backpacks.
And then, with this enhanced view,"this energy barrier can be eliminated entirely, "the team writes.
Better Solar cells Though the Nature Communications study focused on just one organic material, phthalocyanine, the new research provides a powerful way to explore many other types of organic materials, too--with particular promise for improved solar cells.
A recent U s. Department of energy report identified one of the fundamental bottlenecks to improved solar power technologies as"determining the mechanisms by
which the absorbed energy (exciton) migrates through the system prior to splitting into charges that are converted to electricity."
--and can't be pushed by voltage like the electrons flowing in a light bulb--they can, in a sense, bounce from one of these tightly stacked molecules to the next.
This allows organic thin films to carry energy along this molecular highway with relative ease,
"One of today's big challenges is how to make better photovoltaics and solar technologies,"says Furis,
who directs UVM's program in materials science, "and to do that we need a deeper understanding of exciton diffusion.
#Loss of cellular energy leads to neuronal dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease model A new study from the Gladstone Institutes shows for the first time that impairments in mitochondria--the brain's cellular power plants--can deplete cellular energy levels
A link between mitochondria, energy failure, and neurodegeneration has long been hypothesized. However, no previous studies were able to comprehensively investigate the connection because sufficiently sensitive tests,
the scientists created novel assays to more accurately measure the brain's energy production. Using a model of Leigh's disease,
the researchers tested energy levels in neurons using the new assays. They found that the genetic mutation associated with Leigh's disease compromised ATP levels,
"It was assumed always that defects in mitochondria would result in a depletion of energy levels,
the researchers also determined the energy threshold needed to support synaptic vesicle cycling--the process by
so that the cells had to rely solely on their mitochondria for energy. This allowed the researchers to more accurately assess the contribution of mitochondrial ATP to different steps in the cycle,
From this exploration, the scientists revealed that bringing the vesicles back up into the cell after they have released their neurotransmitters is the most energy-demanding process.
The researchers also compared energy levels in boutons--the docks from which neurotransmitters are shipped--with and without mitochondria.
Remarkably, there was no difference in energy levels between the two, and both types of boutons had sufficient ATP to support synaptic vesicle cycling.
so that even those boutons lacking mitochondria have sufficient energy to function under normal conditions. They note it will be important to determine
and without the need for chemical additives or the high power consumption associated with conventional strategies,
relays signals between the cell's mitochondria"powerhouses"and the immune system. The new study shows that this crosstalk is important not only for launching immune responses against tumors,
Astonishingly, it now appears that the magnetic properties of this so-called metamaterial change with the temperature,
the so-called metamaterial exhibits phase transitions, much like those between steam, water and ice. This effect was observed by a team of researchers headed by Laura Heyderman from PSI."
the result of the new study also reveals that the PSI researchers'metamaterial would be a potential candidate here.
The major advantage of the synthetic metamaterial is that it can be customised virtually freely. While the individual atoms in a natural material cannot be rearranged with pinpoint precision on such a grand scale,
Thanks to a special measuring technique, the scientists initially studied the collective magnetic behaviour of their metamaterial at room temperature.
When the researchers cooled the metamaterial gradually and constantly, however, they reached a point where a higher order appeared:
Metamaterial can be customised In the next step, the researchers might influence these magnetic phase transitions by altering the size, shape and arrangement of the nanomagnets.
tailored phase transitions could enable metamaterials to be adapted specifically for different needs in future, "explains Heyderman.
Besides its potential use in information transfer, the metamaterial might also prove useful in data storage or for sensors that measure magnetic fields.
and therefore the properties of the metamaterial, can only be conducted exclusively at PSI. The equipment at the S S,
thanks to the electron beam energy being kept below the radiation damage threshold of tungsten. Miao and his team showed that the atoms in the tip of the tungsten sample were arranged in nine layers, the sixth
#Engineers invent transparent coating that cools solar cells to boost efficiency Every time you stroll outside you emit energy into the universe:
Now three Stanford engineers have developed a technology that improves on solar panel performance by exploiting this basic phenomenon.
Their invention shunts away the heat generated by a solar cell under sunlight and cools it in a way that allows it to convert more photons into electricity.
The work by Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, research associate Aaswath P. Raman and doctoral candidate Linxiao Zhu is described in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy
The hotter solar cells get, the less efficient they become at converting the photons in light into useful electricity.
The Stanford solution is based on a thin, patterned silica material laid on top of a traditional solar cell.
The material is transparent to the visible sunlight that powers solar cells, but captures and emits thermal radiation,
or heat, from infrared rays.""Solar arrays must face the sun to function, even though that heat is detrimental to efficiency,
"Fan said.""Our thermal overlay allows sunlight to pass through, preserving or even enhancing sunlight absorption,
In their new paper, the researchers applied that work to improve solar array performance when the sun is beating down.
The Stanford team tested their technology on a custom-made solar absorber--a device that mimics the properties of a solar cell without producing electricity--covered with a micron-scale pattern designed to maximize the capability to dump heat
Their experiments showed that the overlay allowed visible light to pass through to the solar cells, but that it also cooled the underlying absorber by as much as 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
For a typical crystalline silicon solar cell with an efficiency of 20 percent, 55 F of cooling would improve absolute cell efficiency by over 1 percent,
a figure that represents a significant gain in energy production. The researchers said the new transparent thermal overlays work best in dry, clear environments,
which are preferred also sites for large solar arrays. They believe they can scale things up so commercial and industrial applications are feasible
and reduce their energy consumption. Together with all-optical connections, they might reduce latencies. Energy-intensive conversion of optical signals into electronic signals and vice versa would no longer be required i
#Quantum teleportation: World record of 100 kilometers Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have teleported
and is a co-director of the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute (Kavli-ENSI), is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in the journal Science.
including ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity, superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance. In the past couple of years, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have been processed solution into thin films
potentially multiple FPGA chips or FPGA chips with other chips that are high in power consumption.
and that will lead to improvements in bandwidth density and reductions in energy use.""The cooling research was funded by DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, through the ICECOOL program.
The possibility to use arbitrary metallic electrodes significantly simplifies the fabrication and operation of such novel storage devices s
This first prototype of a terahertz accelerator was able to increase the energy of the particles by seven kiloelectronvolts (kev."
Plasma accelerator technology, which is also at an experimental stage right now, promises to produce even higher accelerations,
Engineers build better energy storage device Mcmaster Engineering researchers Emily Cranston and Igor Zhitomirsky are turning trees into energy storage devices capable of powering everything from a smart watch to a hybrid car.
an organic compound found in plants, bacteria, algae and trees, to build more efficient and longer-lasting energy storage devices or supercapacitors.
and Zhitomirsky, a materials science and engineering professor, demonstrates an improved three-dimensional energy storage device constructed by trapping functional nanoparticles within the walls of a nanocellulose foam.
and faster charging abilities compared to rechargeable batteries. Lightweight and high-power density capacitors are of particular interest for the development of hybrid and electric vehicles.
The fast-charging devices allow for significant energy saving, because they can accumulate energy during braking and release it during acceleration."
"I believe that the best results can be obtained when researchers combine their expertise, "Zhitomirsky says."
reducing energy costs for ink curing. Once dry, the'electric ink'is also waterproof and adheres to its substrate extremely well.
"In the short to medium term, the researchers hope to use their method to make printed, disposable biosensors, energy harvesters and RFID tags.
These bacteria can only use organochlorine compounds as an energy source during their respiration process, transforming them into products that are chlorinated less, more biodegradable and, in some cases, harmless.
designing the first on-chip metamaterial with a refractive index of zero, meaning that the phase of light can travel infinitely fast.
This new metamaterial was developed in the lab of Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Area Dean for Applied Physics AT SEAS,
or manipulated but this metamaterial permits you to manipulate light from one chip to another, to squeeze,
or squished, twisted or turned, without losing energy. A zero-index material that fits on a chip could have exciting applications, especially in the world of quantum computing."
"Integrated photonic circuits are hampered by weak and inefficient optical energy confinement in standard silicon waveguides,
"This zero-index metamaterial offers a solution for the confinement of electromagnetic energy in different waveguide configurations
"The metamaterial consists of silicon pillar arrays embedded in a polymer matrix and clad in gold film.
""This on-chip metamaterial opens the door to exploring the physics of zero index and its applications in integrated optics,"said Mazur r
electrical devices (pacemakers or defibrillators) or drugs (eg beta blockers. However, these methods are relatively crude: they can stop
Mumbai, India, have identified now a five amino acid segment of a Plasmodium parasite protein that is normally involved in producing energy from glucose.
Holey metamaterials enhance thermal energy harvesting It's estimated that the U s. fails to use more than half of the energy it generates--mostly
and turn into usable DC electricity. The researchers will describe the surface at the AVS 62nd International Symposium and Exhibition
held Oct 18-23 in San jose, Calif. Objects that heat up from wasted energy emit electromagnetic oscillations,
The difference is the frequency of the oscillation--the electricity from a wall socket in North america oscillates 60 times a second,
called a plasmon, that hugs the surface.""We design the surface to support a surface wave,
Presentation EM+AS+SS-Mom6,"Metamaterial Enhanced Rectenna for Efficient Energy harvesting,"is at 10:00 a m. on Monday, Oct 19.
The research described in this story is funded in part by a grant from Redwave Energy Inc c
which are tiny'batteries'in cells that provide energy, play an important role in a number of diseases that affect the nervous system, including Parkinson's.
The researchers'analysis found that this energy-consuming intermediary step is not necessary for the conversion to happen.
Instead, an energy-producing"hydrocarbon pool"mechanism allows the zeolite catalysts to directly produce longer hydrocarbon chains from the original alcohols."
and requires energy. We showed this step doesn't occur, and that the overall reaction is slightly exothermic."
The research, supported by DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office, has implications for the energy efficiency and cost of catalytic upgrading technologies proposed for use in biorefineries.
Uncovering the mechanism behind the reaction helps support the potential economic viability of ORNL's direct biofuel-to-hydrocarbon conversion approach."
and Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA, used extrusion-based 3-D printing to produce a grid-like 3-D structure to grow embryoid body that demonstrated cell viability
In the future, these infections will be prevented thanks to a new plasma implant coating that kills pathogens using silver ions.
in addition to combining it with a hydrophilic plasma polymer coating, which attracts moisture, "says Dr. Ingo Grunwald,
Researchers have integrated silver nanoparticles into the thin plasma polymer coating, which is up to just 100 nanometers thick.
with two plasma polymer layers surrounding a center layer of silver. Within this structure a biocide reservoir is formed
This allows the silver ions to penetrate the outermost plasma polymer layer over a set period of time deemed necessary to properly integrate the implant.
The test samples were coated using a plasma polymerization facility at the IFAM in Bremen. Researchers confirmed the mechanical stability
A demonstration unit of the plasma polymer coating is currently available. Researchers will be presenting a dental implant featuring the Dentaplas coating at the MEDICA trade fair in Düsseldorf from November 16-19 at the joint Fraunhofer booth t
Energy & Sustainability: Bigger Cities Aren't Always Greener, Data Show Health: Pharma Watch: Raising Awareness or Drumming Up Sales?
requiring them to use fermentation to generate energy. They are also missing many basic biosynthetic pathways
The Universe Is Dying Slowly The most comprehensive assessment of the energy output in the nearby universe reveals that today's produced energy is only about half of
A team of international scientists used several of the world's most powerful telescopes to study the energy of the universe
-and ground-based telescopes as we could get our hands on to measure the energy output of over 200,000 galaxies across as broad a wavelength range as possible,"Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) team leader Simon Driver,
When the Big bang created the energy of the universe about 13.8 billion years ago, some portion of that energy found itself locked up as mass.
When stars shine they are converting that mass back into energy, as described by Albert Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 (energy=mass x speed of light squared).
From the Big bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps"While most of the energy sloshing around in the universe arose in the aftermath of the Big bang,
additional energy is constantly being generated by stars as they fuse elements like hydrogen and helium together,
"Driver said.""This new energy is absorbed either by dust as it travels through the host galaxy,
or escapes into intergalactic space and travels until it hits something, such as another star, a planet,
or, very occasionally, a telescope mirror.""Astronomers have known that the universe is slowly fading out since the late 1990s.
the team found that the energy output is dropping over 21 different wavelengths, making their results the most comprehensive assessment to date of the energy output of the nearby universe."
"The universe will decline from here on in, sliding gently into old age, "Driver said d
#Exoplanet 51 Eridani b: A Red-hot Young Jupiter Around Distant Star (Infographic) Astronomers have photographed directly a planet not unlike Jupiter orbiting 51 Eridani, a sunlike star 96 light-years from Earth.
#Saltwater lamp could replace dangerous kerosene lights The majority of inhabitants on the Philippines7000 islands do not have access to electricity.
The SALT lamp which stands for Sustainable Alternative Lighting IS LED an light that makes use of the science behind the Galvanic cell (the basis for batteries) and changes electrolytes to a nontoxic
an energy harnessing musical instrument, and a flatpack biofuel stove. What other sustainable resources could be tapped into for similar purposes
Aegis says the battery can last for up to 14 hours. The Aegis Pro can also be paired with your phone,
Nanoscale Speed bump Could Regulate Plasmons for High-speed data Flow The name sounds like something Marvin the Martian might have built,
the innovation harnesses tiny electron waves called plasmons. It a step towards enabling computers to process information hundreds of times faster than today machines.
Computers currently shuttle information around using electricity traveling down nanoscale metal wires. Although inexpensive and easy to miniaturize,
Unlike light, these plasmons are free to travel down nanoscale wires or gaps in metals.
Incoming plasmons, created by laser light at one end of the array, travel though this air gap between the bridges and the bottom gold layer.
slowing the plasmons. As the plasmons slow their wavelength becomes shorter, allowing more than an extra half of a plasmonic wave to fit under the bridge.
Because it exactly out of phase with the original wave, this additional half wavelength can be used to selectively cancel the wave,
which is involved in memory retention using minute amounts of electricity. The increase in brain cells reduces anxiety and depression,
portable battery attached by long wires. The cosmetic effect of the device was often a concern for patients who declined to participate in the trial, noted Schiff,
and being hooked up to a battery about the size of a small laptop computer whenever they want to go out and about.
such as targeting medicines more specifically into cancer cells and driving charge separation potentially for harvesting energy for batteries.
but he did say there could be benefits to society in areas such as energy and medicine. e envision that this protein can create an electrochemical gradient using things like ph,
One can imagine in a totally noncellular case that one could potentially harvest this kind of pumping to create things like batteries.
but things like this could be used to do some kind of energy harvesting, Grabe said. Moving things in and out of living cells would be even harder
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011