Researchers from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) have created a new polymer that can be used in both new age plastic electronics as well as plastic solar cells. The new polymer enables thinner and lighter electronic components and organic solar cells which can be produced… »
A team of researchers, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) Jun Xu, created a 3D nanocone-based solar cell platform which boosts the light-to-power conversion efficiency of photovoltaics by nearly 80 percent. The technology substantially overcomes the problem of poor transport of charges generated by solar photons, which occur due to defects in bulk materials… »
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Materials Science and Technology Division are developing novel, lightweight energy storage devices. Rather than depend on highly acidic electrolytes, ionic liquids are used to create a solid polymer electrolyte composed of an ionic liquid and polyvinyl alcohol, thus developing novel types of solid state batteries with discharge voltages… »
The Scottish Government approved ScottishPower Renewables’ plans to develop a 10MW tidal power array in The Sound of Islay on Scotland’s west coast. The project will be capable to generate enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of the whole island. It is also the first tidal array project to be approved by Marine Scotland,… »
There are estimated half-million garbage pickers in Brazil, known as catadores, who turn waste into profit by sorting out recyclable items and selling their findings to recycling companies. With help from some MIT students, the catadores have a less-expensive and environmentally friendly option to transport those goods by using recycled cooking oil for their fuel…. »
A scientific method developed by researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center uses atomic oxygen to save and restore works of art that would have been irreparably damaged. It can also completely sterilize surgical implants intended for human bodies, improve glucose monitoring devices for diabetic patients, and texture the surfaces of polymers to invite bone cell… »
The Wind Explorer is a lightweight electrically-, wind- and kite-powered vehicle all in one. It might seem as a concept, but it already exists and it is on its route across the Australian continent. With extreme efficiency, the Wind Explorer combines technologies that are available today, but neither sensibly nor fully utilized. The wind explorer… »
Some forms of plankton and bacteria have the ability to build an extra natural layer of nanoparticle-like armor. That ability has inspired chemists at the University of Warwick to create a remarkably simple way to give drug bearing polymer vesicles (microscopic polymer based sacs of liquid) their own armored protection. The technology could be used… »
