They used titanium dioxide (TiO2) whose lattice structure had been modified by changing its ordered pattern. They did that by hydrogenating the TiO2 crystals and found out that the disordered titanium dioxide they obtained was black, hence the idea that it absorbs light much better than the white one.
According to the researchers, the glass can be produced in a range of different transparent colors for use in cladding buildings and windows. "It opens up a lot of versatility and a lot of possibilities for building design," said Dr Snaith.
An idea by designer Satoshi Yanagisawa is using a spring, some gears and a small motor to produce about 3 watts of electricity. The 6-volt energy generator is hand-cranked, and its energy lasts for 30 minutes.
Few times in history have there been alliances between French and German auto manufacturers, but it seems right now that BMW and Peugeot/Citroen are actually interested in building an electric vehicle alliance set to bring profits to them both and to set an European manufacturing standard.
Eight years ago, President George W. Bush proposed a $1.2 billion program to help develop fuel-cell vehicles and hydrogen storage systems. Now, in 2011, the U.S. still has no hydrogen fuel cell cars in commercial production.
Vestas, one of the world's largest wind turbine producers, is expecting a boom in wind energy growth in Romania and also believes that the wind energy sector will have a significant progress in the following years. The capital of Romania, Bucharest, will be the place where the company wants to locate its new Eastern European hub.
The German automobile producer Daimler (the owner of the Mercedes brand) seems to be quite optimistic about the development of fuel cell cars in the near future. Yesterday I wrote about Tesla Motors' CEO, Elon Musk, who was also enthusiastic about his own niche, battery-powered electric vehicles.
Now, Elon Musk, Tesla Motors' CEO, has declared himself super-optimistic about their chances to produce an electric SUV and show it to us this year, as a concept. The Tesla Model X, as he called it, is set to go onto the production lines and to the market in about four years, way after the Model S sedan will have grown in popularity.
The joint efforts of a team of researchers from the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures in Lausanne (LANES), Switzerland, have produced a new semiconducting material, made with molybdenite (MoS2). The new discovery could have important applications in transistors that are superior to silicon or graphene-based ones, in terms of size and energy efficiency.
Here's Eric Jacqmain, who built his "Death Ray" out of a normal satellite dish with 5,800 small mirrors on it. He worked about 24 hours on the project whose results you can see in the video below.
