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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 14

Jun 22, 2024

Apple partner’s new material boosts solid-state batteries by 100x

Posted by in categories: energy, materials

Japanese firm TDK aims to improve next-gen solid-state battery design with a new material utilizing multi-layer lamination technology.

Jun 20, 2024

Dr Valerie Sarisky-Reed — Director, Bioenergy Technologies Office — U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Bioenergy Innovation For The U.S. Bioeconomy — Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed Ph.D. — Director, Bioenergy Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Jun 19, 2024

The dark side of transmission X-ray microscopy

Posted by in categories: energy, nanotechnology

X-ray microscopes are essential for examining components and materials because they can be used to detect changes and details in the material. Until now, however, it has been difficult to detect small cracks or tiny inclusions in the images. By developing a new method, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon are now able to visualize such changes in the nanometer regime. In particular materials research and quality assurance will profit from this development.

The team reported on their new development in the scientific journal Optica (“Nanoscale dark-field imaging in full-field transmission X-ray microscopy”).

The quality must be right. This also applies to materials science. When metal parts are welded together, you need to know whether the weld seam is any good — or whether small cracks or pores have formed inside, which could lead to failure. High-performance materials, e.g. for electrodes in electric car batteries or fuel cells, should not contain defects to allow the current to flow undisturbed.

Jun 18, 2024

Towards wider 5G network coverage: Scientists design novel wirelessly powered relay transceiver array

Posted by in categories: energy, internet

A novel 256-element wirelessly powered transceiver array for non-line-of-sight 5G communication, featuring efficient wireless power transmission and high-power conversion efficiency, has been designed by scientists at Tokyo Tech.

Jun 17, 2024

Researchers improve solid oxide fuel cell threefold

Posted by in category: energy

A research team has successfully developed a catalyst coating technology that significantly improves the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in just four minutes.

Jun 17, 2024

Swedish startup promises “massless” carbon fibre battery for wind blades, EVs and aircraft

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Sinonus uses technology developed at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, where researchers have been studying the concept of a structural battery using carbon fibre for years.

Massless batteries have been something of a holy grail for energy storage since 2007, because the weight of the battery effectively disappears once it is part of the load-bearing structure. The Chalmers team, led by professor Leif Asp, is one of the few to find a material that works.

Carbon fibre is known for its strength versus weight.

Jun 17, 2024

Rocket company develops massive catapult to launch satellites into space without using jet fuel: ‘10,000 times the force of Earth’s gravity’

Posted by in categories: energy, health, satellites

SpinLaunch was founded in 2014, and its leadership team has since raised tens of millions of dollars in funding. The company has been working with NASA, Airbus, and Cornell University, launching some of their equipment as part of testing. The tech has so far endured 10,000 Gs, “10,000 times the force of Earth’s gravity,” all per the Space.com report.

If SpinLaunch’s concept proves reliable, it could eliminate the loads of fuel that is burned to launch spacecraft. In 2016, Business Insider noted that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket used more than 900,000 pounds of propellant for each liftoff, for reference. The fuel efficiency may have improved some since then.

Continue reading “Rocket company develops massive catapult to launch satellites into space without using jet fuel: ‘10,000 times the force of Earth’s gravity’” »

Jun 17, 2024

MXenes for energy storage: Chemical imaging more than just surface deep

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy, nanotechnology

A new method in spectromicroscopy significantly improves the study of chemical reactions at the nanoscale, both on surfaces and inside layered materials. Scanning X-ray microscopy (SXM) at MAXYMUS beamline of BESSY II enables the investigation of chemical species adsorbed on the top layer (surface) or intercalated within the MXene electrode (bulk) with high chemical sensitivity. The method was developed by a HZB team led by Dr. Tristan Petit. The scientists demonstrated among others first SXM on MXene flakes, a material used as electrode in lithium-ion batteries.

Since their discovery in 2011, MXenes have gathered significant scientific interest due to their versatile tunable properties and diverse applications, from energy storage to electromagnetic shielding. Researchers have been working to decipher the complex chemistry of MXenes at the nanoscale.

The team of Dr. Tristan Petit now made a significant progress in MXene characterization, as described in their recent publication (Small Methods, “Nanoscale surface and bulk electronic properties of Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXene unraveled by multimodal X-ray spectromicroscopy”). They utilized SXM to investigate the chemical bonding of Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXenes, with Tx denoting the terminations (Tx=O, OH, F, Cl), with high spatial and spectral resolution. The novelty in this work is to combine simultaneously two detection modes, transmission and electron yield, enabling different probing depths.

Jun 14, 2024

New carbon nitride membrane improves lithium extraction from salt lakes

Posted by in categories: energy, innovation

In a breakthrough for lithium recovery technologies, researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators, have developed a crystalline carbon nitride membrane that could transform the lithium extraction industry.

Jun 13, 2024

Adding Certainty to Plutonium’s Fission Yield

Posted by in category: energy

A first-of-its-kind measurement reveals the energy spectrum of the neutrons produced during the fission of plutonium, a common nuclear fuel component.

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