Solarmer's Organic Solar Cells Getting Real Hopes to Enter Mainstream Market
A CA-based company, Solarmer Energy, is now collaborating with professor Luping Yu, from the University of Chicago, to build the best cheapest flexible polymer solar cell ever, one that will be able to reach 10 percent efficiency.
Compressed-Air Energy Storage Plants Offering Solution for Excess Wind/Solar Power
In the renewable energy field, wind turbines have played an important step, but today the future of wind energy may come from the underground. The compressed-air energy storage plants could be the solution. Air is pumped into large underground formations where it can be used later to deliver the large amount of energy that it previously received.
Silicon-Carbon Battery Anode Yielding High Efficiency and Capacity
Usually, Li-Ion batteries have carbon (graphite) electrodes, and the performance that we already know, which is not good enough for our cars at this moment. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers developed a new, high-performance anode based on a silicon-carbon nanocomposite material that could well improve the usability of Li-Ion batteries.
Electric Bicycles Powered by Sanyo's Solar Parking Lot
Sanyo, a giant Japan-based company has opened two solar parking lots in Tokyo. These solar-powered panels can charge about 100 electric hybrid bicycles. Using lithium-ion batteries, the system has enough power left over to also illuminate the parking lot with LED lights at night.
Hitachi-Maxell's New Li-Ion Batteries Shown at Rechargeable Battery Expo in Tokyo
The 1st Int'l Rechargeable Battery Expo held in Tokyo at the beginning of March was pleased to announce a lot of battery manufacturers interested in future technologies, in new developments for various industries.
CalTech Researchers Creating Near-Perfect Silicon Nanowire Solar Cell
A team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology have invented a new type of solar cell whose active ingredients are nanometer-sized silicon wires. The solar cell they prototyped thus uses only a small fraction of the silicon used to make conventional solar cell, the rest being made of a polymer.
Energy-Efficient Way to Produce Hydrogen from Noise and Vibrations
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a new way to produce hydrogen by using ambient noise to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel. The process harvests small amounts of waste energy in the form of stray vibrations and noise from the environment to break the chemical bonds in water and generate hydrogen and oxygen.
CUESS: 3 Times Cheaper, 4 Times More Efficient Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Array
Using cheaper materials and latest technology scientists have managed to create a new type of concentrating array, three times cheaper and four times more efficient than any other solar cells. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have explained why this technology is so efficient by listing some key components and explaining how they work.
Lithium Sulfur Experimental Batteries Provide 4 Times Capacity of Li-Ion
Based on recent discoveries by University of Waterloo University scientists from Ontario, a team of Stanford researchers developed an electrode that can provide more energy density in lithium-sulfur batteries. Their experiments promise an improvement of 4 times the capacity of a standard lithium-ion battery, if current issues are overcame.
New Cobalt-Based Catalyst Helps Scientists Produce Hydrogen From Water and Sun
Water oxidation is an essential component for generating hydrogen from water by only using sunlight. Emory University researchers, led by Craig Hill, discovered the most powerful homogeneous catalyst known for oxidizing water, which could lead to successfully replicating the way photosynthesis works, but much more efficiently and controllable.
