Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

A type of battery first invented nearly five decades ago could catapult to the forefront of energy storage technologies, thanks to a new finding by researchers at MIT. Credit: Illustration modified from an original image by Felice Frankel

A new battery technology, based on a metal-mesh membrane and electrodes made of molten sodium and nickel chloride, could open the way for more intermittent, renewable power sources on the grid. It could make wind and solar capable of delivering reliable baseload electricity...

“Imagine if someone were to fine-tune our system so that you could get 85 percent of the carbon and nitrogen back from waste into protein without having to use hydroponics or artificial light,” said House. “That would be a fantastic development for deep-space travel.” Image: Space Toilet © iStock Photo ALJ1

A Penn State team has shown that it is possible to rapidly break down solid and liquid waste to grow food with a series of microbial reactors, while simultaneously minimizing pathogen growth. “We envisioned and tested the concept of simultaneously treating astronauts’ waste with microbes while producing a biomass that is edible either directly or indirectly depending on safety concerns,” said Christopher House, professor of geosciences, Penn State...

Engineered carbon fibers embedded with active nanoparticles (top) can be fabricated into structural materials that are lightweight and flexible (bottom). Credit: UC Riverside

New material creates fuel cell catalysts at a hundredth of the cost. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, describe the development of an inexpensive, efficient catalyst material for a type of fuel cell called a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which turns the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity and is among the most promising fuel cell types to power cars and electronics.

The catalyst developed at UCR is made of porous carbon nanofibers embedded with a compound made from a relatively abundant metal such as cobalt, which is more than 100X less expensive than platinum...

Photocatalytic overall pure-water splitting using the 2D heterostructures of BP/BiVO4 without any sacrificial agents under visible light irradiation.

Researchers combined 2 2D materials – black phosphorus and bismuth vanadate – to form a biologically inspired water-splitting catalyst. Normal sunlight could drive the reactions and careful design of the catalyst enabled the expected ratio of hydrogen and oxygen production. Burning hydrogen produces harmless water with the potential to eliminate CO2 emissions and their environmental burden. In pursuit of technologies that could lead to a breakthrough in achieving a hydrogen economy, a key issue is making hydrogen cheaply...