storage tagged posts

From stillage to storage: Turning bourbon byproducts into supercapacitors

From stillage to storage: Researchers turn bourbon byproducts into supercapacitors
Researchers converted bourbon distillery waste (left image) into electrodes for supercapacitors (right image) that store more energy per kilogram than commercial devices. Credit: Josiel Barrios Cossio

The state of Kentucky produces 95% of the world’s bourbon, and all that bourbon leaves behind an enormous amount of waste grain, called stillage. Now, researchers at the University of Kentucky have developed a process to transform that stillage into electrodes. With the bourbon byproduct electrodes, they created supercapacitors that could store more nergy than similarly sized commercial devices. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS Spring 2026), held in Atlanta from March 22 to 26.

Turning bourbon stillage into carbon
Jos...

Read More

Solar breakthrough — hotter panels mean better storage

Solar breakthrough—hotter panels mean better storage
Schematic of PEC cell setup composed of a c-Si device based on a pn+-junction and coated with a 10 nm Pt layer as a photocathode, a Hg/HgSO4 electrode as a reference electrode, and a carbon rod as the counter electrode. Credit: The Journal of Chemical Physics (2025). DOI: 10.1063/5.0283536

Scientists have uncovered a surprising advantage in next-generation solar technology—the hotter it gets, the better it can store energy. Traditionally, heat has been seen as the enemy of solar power. Standard solar panels lose efficiency as temperatures rise.

But a new study, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, shows that in special “solar-plus-storage” devices, heat can actually boost performance by speeding up the internal chemical reactions that store energy.

The team studied ...

Read More