Category Technology/Electronics

Rice University researchers have demonstrated an efficient new way to capture the energy from sunlight and convert it into clean, renewable energy by splitting water molecules. Credit: I. Thomann/Rice University

Process uses Light-harvesting Gold Nanoparticles, captures energy from ‘hot electrons’ (highly excited electrons). “Hot electrons have the potential to drive very useful chemical reactions, but they decay very rapidly, and people have struggled to harness their energy,” said lead researcher Assistant/Prof Isabell Thomann “For example, most of the energy losses in today’s best photovoltaic solar panels are the result of hot electrons that cool within a few trillionths of a second and release their energy as wasted heat.”

Capturing these high-energy electrons before they cool could a...

Schematic diagrams showing the synthesis and microstructures of a 3D graphene-RACNT fiber. (A) Aluminum wire. (B) Surface anodized aluminum wire (AAO wire). (C) 3D graphene-RACNT structure on the AAO wire. (D) Schematic representation of the pure 3D graphene-RACNT structure. (E to G) Top view SEM images of the 3D graphene-RACNT fiber at different magnifications. (I to K) SEM images of the cross-section of the 3D graphene-RACNT fiber. (H and L) AFM images of the 3D graphene-RACNT fiber. (M to P) SEM image (M) and corresponding EDX elemental mapping of (N) aluminum, (O) oxygen, and (P) carbon from the 3D graphene-RACNT fiber.

First 1-step process for making seamless carbon-based nanomaterials that possess superior thermal, electrical and mechanical properties in 3 dimensions...

This illustration shows the flow of a magnetic property of electrons known as spin current from a magnetic material (blue), to a nonmagnetic material (red). Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The result, which revealed a surprising loss of current along the way, is an important step toward realizing next-gen “Spintronics”. Spin current is an inherent magnetic property common to all electrons – as it travels across materials. Modern computing relies on the precise control of electric charges that zip around from component to component in labyrinth-like channels in semiconductors. Spintronics could change that by tapping electrons’ spin, with “up” or “down” orientation, rather than their charge.

Finding a way to directly control this up or down property would rule out the need to f...

Bathing the Earth with enough energy in one hour to meet human needs for an entire year, the sun represents the ultimate source of clean, green sustainable energy. Credit: courtesy of NASA

By combining designer quantum dot light-emitters with spectrally matched photonic mirrors, a team of scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois “achieved a luminescent concentration ratio greater than 30 with an optical efficiency of 82% for blue photons,” the highest luminescent concentration factor ever recorded. This breakthrough paves the way for the future development of low-cost solar cells that efficiently utilize the high-energy part of the solar spectrum.

The solar energy industry in the United States is soaring with the number of photovoltaic instal...