and graduate student Manish Shankla applied an electric charge to the graphene sheet hoping that the DNA would react to the charge in a way that would let them control its movement down to each individual link or nucleotide in the DNA chain.
The world's rapidly growing demand for energy and the requirement of sustainable energy production calls for an urgent change in today's fossil fuel based energy system.
Research groups worldwide work intensively to develop novel advanced energy conversion and storage systems with high efficiency low cost and environmental compatibility.
Fuel cell systems represent a promising alternative for low carbon emission energy production. Traditional fuel cells are limited however by the need of efficient catalysts to drive the chemical reactions involved in the fuel cell.
Historically platinum and its alloys have frequently been used as anodic and cathodic catalysts in fuel cells
but the high cost of platinum due to its low abundance motivates researchers to find efficient catalysts based on earth-abundant elements.
They are only able to reproduce inside the host's cells they have known the smallest genome of all organisms with a cell nucleus (eukaryotes) and they posses no mitochondria of their own (the cell's power plant.
The research will be published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 13 2014 Mitochondria are structures within cells that produce energy
They affect organs that require a lot of energy including the heart skeletal muscle and brain. They are devastating diseases
and technologies such as energy saving LED LIGHTS where dopants can affect color and atom movement can determine the failure modes.
#Smart lithium-ion battery warns of fire hazard Stanford university scientists have developed a smart lithium-ion battery that gives ample warning before it overheats
The new technology is designed for conventional lithium-ion batteries now used in billions of cellphones laptops and other electronic devices as well as a growing number of cars and airplanes.
The system can detect problems that occur during the normal operation of a battery but it does not apply to batteries damaged in a collision or other accident.
Cui and his colleagues describe the new technology in a study published in the Oct 13 issue of the journal Nature Communications.
Lowering the oddsa series of well-publicized incidents in recent years has raised concern over the safety of lithium-ion batteries.
In 2013 the Boeing aircraft company temporarily grounded its new 787 Dreamliner fleet after battery packs in two airplanes caught fire.
In 2006 the Sony Corporation recalled millions of lithium-ion batteries after reports of more than a dozen consumer-laptop fires.
The company said that during the manufacturing process tiny metal impurities had gotten inside the batteries causing them to short-circuit.
We want to lower the odds of a battery fire to one in a billion or even to zero.
A typical lithium-ion battery consists of two tightly packed electrodes--a carbon anode and a lithium metal-oxide cathode--with an ultrathin polymer separator in between.
If it's damaged the battery could short-circuit and ignite the flammable electrolyte solution that shuttles lithium ions back and forth.
The separator is made of the same material used in plastic bottles said graduate student Denys Zhuo co-lead author of the study.
so that lithium ions can flow between the electrodes as the battery charges and discharges. Manufacturing defects such as particles of metal and dust can pierce the separator
if the battery is charged too fast or when the temperature is too low--a phenomenon known as overcharge.
and eventually make contact with the cathode causing the battery to short. Smart separatorin the last couple of years we've been thinking about building a smart separator that can detect shorting before the dendrites reach the cathode said Cui a member of the photon science faculty at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
That lets you know that the dendrites have grown halfway across the battery. It's a warning that the battery should be removed before the dendrites reach the cathode and cause a short circuit.
The build up of dendrites is most likely to occur during charging not during the discharge phase
when the battery is being used. You might get a message on your phone telling you that the voltage has dropped to zero so the battery needs to be replaced Zhuo said.
That would give you plenty of lead-time. But when you see smoke or a fire you have to shut down immediately.
when a battery is likely to fail. Locating defectsin addition to observing a drop in voltage co-lead author Hui Wu was able to pinpoint where the dendrites had punctured the copper conductor simply by measuring the electrical resistance between the separator and the cathode.
Adding this thin conducting layer doesn't change the battery's performance but it can make a huge difference as far as safety.
Most lithium-ion batteries are used in small electronic devices. But as the electric vehicle market expands
The bigger the battery pack the more important this becomes Cui added. Some electric cars today are equipped with thousands of lithium-ion battery cells.
If one battery explodes the whole pack can potentially explode. The early-warning technology can also be used in zinc aluminum and other metal batteries.
It will work in any battery that would require you to detect a short before it explodes Cui said.
Video: http://youtu. be/2vsqny0zyjystory Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Stanford university. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Cushings syndrome: Researchers characterize new tumor syndrome Scientists at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have published their findings that mutations in a gene known as ARMC5 promote the growth of benign tumors in the adrenal glands
#Ultra-fast charging batteries that can be recharged 70 in just two minutes Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have developed a new battery that can be recharged up to 70 per cent in only
The battery will also have a longer lifespan of over 20 years. Expected to be the next big thing in battery technology this breakthrough has a wide-ranging impact on many industries especially for electric vehicles
which are inhibited currently by long recharge times of over 4 hours and the limited lifespan of batteries.
This next generation of lithium-ion batteries will enable electric vehicles to charge 20 times faster than the current technology.
With it electric vehicles will also be able to do away with frequent battery replacements. The new battery will be able to endure more than 10000 charging cycles--20 times more than the current 500 cycles of today's batteries.
NTU Singapore's scientists replaced the traditional graphite used for the anode (negative pole) in lithium-ion batteries with a new gel material made from titanium dioxide an abundant cheap and safe material found in soil.
It is used commonly as a food additive or in sunscreen lotions to absorb harmful ultraviolet rays.
Naturally found in a spherical shape NTU Singapore developed a simple method to turn titanium dioxide particles into tiny nanotubes that are a thousand times thinner than the diameter of a human hair.
what helps to speeds up the chemical reactions taking place in the new battery allowing for superfast charging.
NTU professor Rachid Yazami who was the co-inventor of the lithium-graphite anode 34 years ago that is used in most lithium-ion batteries today said Prof Chen's invention is the next
big leap in battery technology. While the cost of lithium-ion batteries has been reduced significantly and its performance improved
since Sony commercialised it in 1991 the market is fast expanding towards new applications in electric mobility
Ideally the charge time for batteries in electric vehicles should be less than 15 minutes which Prof Chen's nanostructured anode has proven to do.
and is currently developing new types of batteries for electric vehicle applications at the Energy Research Institute at NTU (ERI@N). Commercialisation of technologymoving forward Prof Chen's research team will be applying for a Proof-of-Concept
grant to build a large-scale battery prototype. The patented technology has attracted already interest from the industry.
and Prof Chen expects that the new generation of fast-charging batteries will hit the market in two years'time.
Equally important we can now drastically cut down the waste generated by disposed batteries since our batteries last ten times longer than the current generation of lithium-ion batteries The long-life of the new battery also means drivers save on the cost of a battery replacement
which could cost over USD$5000 each. Easy to manufactureaccording to Frost & Sullivan a leading growth-consulting firm the global market of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is projected to be worth US$23. 4 billion in 2016.
Lithium-ion batteries usually use additives to bind the electrodes to the anode which affects the speed in
which electrons and ions can transfer in and out of the batteries. However Prof Chen's new cross-linked titanium dioxide nanotube-based electrodes eliminate the need for these additives
and can pack more energy into the same amount of space. Manufacturing this new nanotube gel is very easy Prof Chen added.
Titanium dioxide and sodium hydroxide are mixed together and stirred under a certain temperature. Battery manufacturers will find it easy to integrate our new gel into their current production processes.
This battery research project took the team of four NTU Singapore scientists three years to complete
and is funded by Singapore's National Research Foundation. Last year Prof Yazami was awarded the Draper Prize by the National Academy of Engineering for his ground-breaking work in developing the lithium-ion battery with three other scientists.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Nanyang Technological University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Balancing renewable energy costs and optimizing energy mix Increasing reliance on renewable energies is the way to achieve greater CO2 EMISSION sustainability and energy independence.
As such energies are yet only available intermittently and energy cannot be stored easily most countries aim to combine several energy sources.
In a new study in EPJ Plus French scientists have come up with an open source simulation method to calculate the actual cost of relying on a combination of electricity sources.
Bernard Bonin from the Atomic energy Research Centre CEA Saclay France and colleagues demonstrate that cost is not directly proportional to the demand level.
Although recognised as crude by its creator this method can be tailored to account for the public's interest-and not solely economic performance-when optimising the energy mix.
The authors consider wind solar hydraulic nuclear coal and gas as potential energy sources. In their model the energy demand and availability are cast as random variables.
The authors simulated the behaviour of the mix for a large number of tests of such variables using so-called Monte-carlo simulations.
For a given mix they found the energy cost of the mix presents a minimum as a function of the installed power.
This means that if it is fixed too large the costs dominate the total and become overwhelming.
In contrast if it is too small expensive energy sources need to be solicited frequently. The authors are also able to optimise the energy mix according to three selected criteria namely economy environment and supply security.
The simulation tested on the case of France based on 2011 data shows that an optimal mix is 2. 4 times the average demand in this territory.
This mix contains a large amount of nuclear power and a small amount of fluctuating energies: wind and solar.
and Research (BMBF) hydraulic engineering experts of KIT built an underground cave power station. For the first time they succeeded in completely filling a karst cave with water.
In 2010 they handed the cave power station over to the Indonesian authorities. The plant can supply 80000 people with water.
By a pipeline system fecal sludge of the hospital enters a two-stage unaerobic reactor where it is mixed with biowaste.
Bacteria decompose the mixture and produce among others the energy-rich gas of methane. It is used then for the gas stoves in the kitchen of the hospital.
which studies the interaction between electromagnetic fields and free electrons in metal. In the experiment her group manufactured 75-nanometer silver nanocubes
and consumes no energy until readings are being made she said. In the short term we hope to use devices like this to track packages
Grasslands support more species than cornfields In Wisconsin bioenergy is for the birds. Really. In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE University of Wisconsin-Madison
whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat.
These grassland fields can also produce ample biomass for renewable fuels. Monica Turner UW-Madison professor of zoology and study lead author Peter Blank a postdoctoral researcher in her lab hope the findings help drive decisions that benefit both birds
and biofuels too by providing information for land managers farmers conservationists and policy makers as the bioenergy industry ramps up particularly in Wisconsin and the central U s as bioenergy production demand increases we should pay attention to the ecological consequences says Turner.
when UW-Madison's Carol Williams coordinator of the Wisconsin Grasslands Bioenergy Network and the DNR's David Sample approached Turner
of which are used already for small-scale bioenergy production--and 11 cornfields in southern Wisconsin. Over the course of two years the researchers characterized the vegetation growing in each field calculated
and estimated the biomass yields possible and counted the total numbers of birds and bird species observed in them.
According to Blank and Turner the study is one of the first to examine grassland fields already producing biomass for biofuels
and is one of only a few analyses to examine the impact of bioenergy production on birds.
and other types of vegetation the new findings indicate grassland fields may represent an acceptable tradeoff between creating biomass for bioenergy and providing habitat for grassland birds.
Our study suggests diverse bioenergy crop fields could benefit birds more so than less diverse fields.
new findings indicate grassland fields may represent an acceptable tradeoff between creating biomass for bioenergy and providing habitat for grassland birds.
By locating biomass-producing fields near existing grasslands both birds and the biofuels industry can win.
They also add that the biomass yields calculated in the study may represent the low end of
We really can produce bioenergy and provide habitat for rare birds in the state. Story Source:
The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3d shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology microscopy solar cells electronics environmental testing disease
This capability should open up entirely new strategies for fields ranging from computer miniaturization to energy and pathogen detection.
Plasmonics involves the control of light at the nanoscale using surface plasmons, which are coordinated waves,
Localized surface plasmons of metal nanostructures result in unique optical properties with characteristics that depend upon the metal composition,
It is so strong that the binding energy of the proton gives a much larger contribution to the mass through Einstein's equation E=mc2 than the quarks themselves. 3 Due in part to the forces'relative simplicity scientists have previously been able to solve the equations behind gravity
Similar but more powerful transformers are used in electricity substations to convert the high voltages of the transmission grid into the standard AC power supply delivered to households.
To minimize the energy loss associated with this process special types of iron-silicon alloy known as electrical steel are used to make the core.
In high-performance machines such as vehicle engines which are designed to run at high rotational speeds energy loss can be reduced by a few percentage points In high-torque electric motors such as those used to operate pumps the reduction in energy loss can be as high as twentyfive
These sparks knock atoms out of the material resulting in a plasma that emits multicolored light.
The plasma light is split into two beam channels and broken down into several wavebands like the colors of a rainbow
This reveals the nature and concentration of particles suspended in the plasma from which it is possible to derive information on the composition of the steel sample.
so that the instrument can distinguish between light emitted by te plasma and that emitted by the sparks.
Dr. Blanchard adapted an imaging technique that uses fluorescence to measure distance on molecular scale--single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smfret) imaging--to study viral particles.
and replace them with synthetic components to create a new generation of solar cells. Evans concludes:"
--whether it is for energy capture, or to create artificial noses for the early detection of disease
--which is safe for the eyes at the instrument's infrared wavelength--NIST's 3d mapping system scans a target object point by point across a grid measuring the distance to each point.
We used magnetic beads of 3 micrometers in diameter to pull down the exosomes in plasma samples Zeng said.
In order to avoid other interfering species present in plasma the bead surface was modified chemically with an antibody that recognizes
The plasma containing magnetic beads then flows through the microchannels on the diagnostic chip in which the beads can be collected readily using a magnet to extract circulating exosomes from the plasma.
Beyond lung cancer Zeng said the lab-on-a-chip could be used to detect a range of potentially deadly forms of cancer.
Autophagy is a fundamental process used by cells to degrade unnecessary components in times of starvation releasing energy stores that help promote cell survival.
MTORC1 is a critical protein complex that regulates energy consumption and growth in cells. he ability of let-7 alone to activate autophagy in this way was totally unknown
Plasma levels of antibodies to Clpb and melanotropin were higher in these patients. Furthermore their immunological response determined the development of eating disorders in the direction of anorexia or bulimia.
The driver can be plugged in or battery-powered. In the pilot study 20 patients with New york Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or ambulatory functional class IV heart failure were implanted with the device.
and conduct both heat and electricity. This scanning electron microscope image shows the network of conductive nanoribbons in Rice university's high-density graphene nanoribbon film.
The material would replace a bulky and energy-hungry metal oxide framework. The graphene-infused paint worked well,
The basic concept behind resistive memory devices is the insertion of a dielectric material--one that won't normally conduct electricity--between two wires.
The energy generated by the sun and transferred to the fiber-optic cable system--similar in some ways to a data transmission line--can heat up the reaction chamber to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit to treat the waste material disinfect pathogens in both feces and urine and produce char.
and provides energy comparable to that of commercial charcoal. Linden is working closely with project co-investigators Professor R. Scott Summers of environmental engineering and Professor Alan Weimer chemical and biological engineering and a team of postdoctoral fellows professionals graduate students undergraduates
Tests have shown that each of the eight fiber-optic cables can produce between 80 and 90 watts of energy meaning the whole system can deliver up to 700 watts of energy into the reaction chamber said Linden.
and energy on our team and the Gates Foundation values that Linden said. It is one thing to do research another to screw on nuts and bolts
and can save irrigation water labor energy and fertilizer. The authors of a report published in Horttechnology said that the use of sensor-based irrigation technology can also accelerate container and greenhouse plant production time.
Sensor-based irrigation systems substitute capital for water and associated inputs such as energy labor and fertilizer the authors explained.
#New Technique Increases Nanofiber Production Rate Fourfold Nanofibers polymer filaments only a couple of hundred nanometers in diameter have a huge range of potential applications, from solar cells
to water filtration to fuel cells. But so far, their high cost of manufacture has relegated them to just a few niche industries.
while reducing energy consumption by more than 90 percent, holding out the prospect of cheap, efficient nanofiber production. e have demonstrated a systematic way to produce nanofibers through electrospinning that surpasses the state of the art,
that actuate, that exchange energy between different domains, like solar to electrical or mechanical. We have something that naturally fits into that picture.
Tangled tale Nanofibers are useful for any application that benefits from a high ratio of surface area to volume solar cells, for instance,
or fuel cell electrodes, which catalyze reactions at their surfaces. Nanofibers can also yield materials that are permeable only at very small scales, like water filters,
an ion crystal essentially, a grid of charged atoms in order to study friction effects, atom by atom.
and then there suddenly a catastrophic release of energy. he group continued to stretch and squeeze the ion crystal to manipulate the arrangement of atoms,
#Researchers Increase Energy-Burning Brown Fat cells A team of researchers has discovered a way to increase energy-burning human brown fat cells
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists have found a way to both make more energy-burning human brown fat cells
or ad, fat cells, oodbrown fat cells make a protein called UCP1 that converts energy stored in glucose
brown fat cells can also use energy stored by white fat cells, and as a result reduce the size of nearby white fat cells.
determined that the amount of energy burned varies from person to person and from cell to cell.
a brown fat cell can make the energy-burning protein, and when it is turned off, it doesn.
the additional brown fat cells would burn energy from the existing white fat cells. Tseng hopes this technique could eventually replace invasive procedures such as liposuction and gastric bypass surgery.
meaning they use energy to produce heat and thus burn calories, we may discover novel therapeutics for the treatment of obesity
thanks to a moisture mill a turbine engine driven by water evaporating from wet paper strips lining its walls.
Eva is one of the many devices created to harness evaporation energy. Credit: Sahin Laboratory, Columbia University An immensely powerful yet invisible force pulls water from the earth to the top of the tallest redwood
or produce electricity has remained largely untapped until now. In the June 16 online issue of Nature Communications, Columbia University scientists report the development of two novel devices that derive power directly from evaporation a floating,
piston-driven engine that generates electricity causing a light to flash, and a rotary engine that drives a miniature car.
When evaporation energy is scaled up the researchers predict, it could one day produce electricity from giant floating power generators that sit on bays or reservoirs,
or from huge rotating machines akin to wind turbines that sit above water, said Ozgur Sahin, Ph d,
They pack more energy pound for pound, than other materials used in engineering for moving objects,
Building on last year findings, Sahin and his Columbia colleagues sought to build actual devices that could be powered by such energy.
Coupling that piston to a generator produced enough electricity to cause a small light to flash. e turned evaporation from a pool of water into light,
and more spores could potentially generate even more power per unit area than a wind farm. The Columbia team other new evaporation-driven engine the Moisture Mill contains a plastic wheel with protruding tabs of tape covered on one side with spores.
if achieved, would require neither fuel to burn nor an electrical battery. A larger version of the Moisture Mill could also produce electricity
Sahin said, suggesting a wheel that sits above a large body of water and evaporates saltwater, causing the wheel to rotate
and generate electricity. This development would steadily produce as much electricity as a wind turbine, Sahin said
#Safe drinking water Via Solar power Desalination Natasha Wright, an MIT Phd student in mechanical engineering, has designed a solar powered system that makes water safe to drink for rural, off-grid Indian villages.
When graduate student Natasha Wright began her Phd program in mechanical engineering, she had no idea how to remove salt from groundwater to make it more palatable,
their designs are intended to be powered grid. When operating off the grid, these systems are not cost-effective,
essentially blocking disconnected, rural villages from using them. Wright solution offers an alternative to grid power:
She designed a village-scale desalination system that runs on solar power. Since her system is powered by the sun,
#Half Price Lithium-ion Batteries With Improved Performance and Recyclability MIT spinoff company 24m has reinvented the manufacturing process for lithium-ion batteries to reduce cost,
An advanced manufacturing approach for lithium-ion batteries, developed by researchers at MIT and at a spinoff company called 24m,
promises to significantly slash the cost of the most widely used type of rechargeable batteries while also improving their performance
says Yet-Ming Chiang, the Kyocera Professor of Ceramics at MIT and a cofounder of 24m (and previously a cofounder of battery company A123).
The existing process for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, he says, has changed hardly in the two decades
In this so-called low battery, the electrodes are suspensions of tiny particles carried by a liquid
and pumped through various compartments of the battery. The new battery design is a hybrid between flow batteries and conventional solid ones:
In this version, while the electrode material does not flow, it is composed of a similar semisolid, colloidal suspension of particles.
Chiang and Carter refer to this as a emisolid battery. impler manufacturing processthis approach greatly simplifies manufacturing,
and also makes batteries that are flexible and resistant to damage, says Chiang, who is senior author of a paper in the Journal of Power Sources analyzing the tradeoffs involved in choosing between solid
and flow-type batteries, depending on their particular applications and chemical components. This analysis demonstrates that
while a flow battery system is appropriate for battery chemistries with a low energy density (those that can only store a limited amount of energy for a given weight),
for high-energy density devices such as lithium-ion batteries, the extra complexity and components of a flow system would add unnecessary extra cost.
Almost immediately after publishing the earlier research on the flow battery, Chiang says, e realized that a better way to make use of this flowable electrode technology was to reinvent the lithium ion manufacturing process. nstead of the standard method of applying liquid coatings to a roll of backing material,
thicker electrodes, the system reduces the conventional battery architecture number of distinct layers, as well as the amount of nonfunctional material in the structure, by 80 percent.
Bendable and foldablein addition to streamlining manufacturing enough to cut battery costs by half, Chiang says,
the new system produces a battery that is more flexible and resilient. While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress
the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent, folded or even penetrated by bullets without failing.
This should improve both safety and durability, he says. The company has made so far about 10,000 batteries on its prototype assembly lines, most
of which are undergoing testing by three industrial partners, including an oil company in Thailand and Japanese heavy-equipment manufacturer IHI Corp. The process has received eight patents
The company is initially focusing on grid-scale installations, used to help smooth out power loads
By 2020, Chiang estimates that 24m will be able to produce batteries for less than $100 per kilowatt-hour of capacity.
when is it better to build a flow battery versus a static model. This paper will serve as a key tool for making design choices
and go-no go decisions. iswanathan adds that 24m new battery design ould do the same sort of disruption to lithium ion batteries manufacturing as
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