Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Though plants can serve as a source of food, oxygen and décor, they’re not often considered to be a good source of electricity. But by collecting electrons naturally transported within plant cells, scientists can generate electricity as part of a “green,” biological solar cell. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have, for the first time, used a succulent plant to create a living “bio-solar cell” that runs on photosynthesis.

In all living cells, from bacteria and fungi to plants and animals, electrons are shuttled around as part of natural, biochemical proces...

Fast ‘green’ process revives essential battery components for reuse. How many rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are you wearing? How many are in your general vicinity?

Probably more than a few, and they’re great for powering all the things important to modern lives: cellphones, watches, computers, cars and so much more.

But where they go when they fail is a growing problem. Rice University scientists believe they have a partial solution that relies on the unique “-flash” Joule heating process they developed to produce graphene from waste.

The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has reconfigured the process to quickly regenerate graphite anode materials found in lithium-ion batteries, removing impurities so they can be used again and again.

The lab’s work appears in Advanced Ma...

MIT engineers have developed ultralight fabric solar cells that can quickly and easily turn any surface into a power source.

These durable, flexible solar cells, which are much thinner than a human hair, are glued to a strong, lightweight fabric, making them easy to install on a fixed surface. They can provide energy on the go as a wearable power fabric or be transported and rapidly deployed in remote locations for assistance in emergencies...

An international team of researchers are hoping that a new, low-cost battery which holds 4X the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries and is far cheaper to produce will significantly reduce the cost of transitioning to a decarbonised economy.

Led by Dr Shenlong Zhao from the University’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the battery has been made using sodium-sulphur — a type of molten salt that can be processed from seawater — costing much less to produce than lithium-ion.

Although sodium-sulphur (Na-S) batteries have existed for more than half a century, they have been an inferior alternative and their widespread use has been limited by low energy capacity and short life...