“Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a lithium-ion battery made entirely of solid material: it contains neither liquids nor gels. The battery cannot ignite, even at very high temperatures, giving it a safety advantage over conventional batteries. In addition, they allow new forms of battery design.”
They might not work, but no one will know for sure unless they’re given a chance.
That’s the general idea behind the recent selection of five aviation-related technologies for vigorous study as part of NASA’s ongoing Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project during the next two years of so, which itself is now in its second year.
Researchers will study a new kind of fuel cell, increasing electric motor output with the help of 3D printing, use of Lithium-Air batteries to store energy, new mechanisms for changing the shape of a wing in flight and basing a new antenna design on the use of lightweight aerogel.
The rapid growth of the world’s human population raises the issue of more efficient food production; one solution to the problem is “clean meat,” which is produced in the equivalent of meat fermenters, Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of the Good Food Institute, told Radio Sputnik.
The world’s human population reached 7.4 billion in March 2016, having reached 7 billion in October 2011. In 2050, it is expected to reach 9.7 billion, raising the question of how to produce enough food for everybody.
Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of the Good Food Institute, told Radio Sputnik that current methods of agricultural production are using energy inefficiently.
A team of University of Toronto chemists has created a battery that stores energy in a biologically-derived unit, paving the way for cheaper consumer electronics that are easier on the environment.
The battery is similar to many commercially-available high-energy lithium-ion batteries with one important difference. It uses flavin from vitamin B2 as the cathode: the part that stores the electricity that is released when connected to a device.
“We’ve been looking to nature for a while to find complex molecules for use in a number of consumer electronics applications,” says Dwight Seferos, an associate professor in U of T’s department of chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Polymer Nanotechnology.
Very BIG DEAL for battery life improvements.
A QUEENSLAND company working to improve lithium-ion batteries has secured agreements with two international manufacturing companies to test its technology.
Nano-Nouvelle has a tin-based material with a 3D nanostructure that could replace layered graphite-copper in the anode of Li-ion batteries, with the potential to improve energy storage capacity by 50 per cent.
CEO Stephanie Moroz (pictured) secured the field testing deal at the recent 18th International Meeting on Lithium Batteries, Chicago, USA. The meeting attracted more than 1,500 delegates from Europe, Asia, and the USA.
Hydrogen is widely regarded as a promising and clean alternative energy source. The traditional source of hydrogen (H2) for fuel cell use is water, which is split into H2 and oxygen (O2). But O2 is a low-value product.
So, this week in ACS Central Science (“Electrochemical Partial Reforming of Ethanol into Ethyl Acetate Using Ultrathin Co3O4 Nanosheets as a Highly Selective Anode Catalyst”), researchers report a new approach and a new catalyst that can produce not just hydrogen but also valuable chemicals, including the most common ingredient in nail polish.
Researchers have found a way to make the valuable chemical ethyl acetate while generating H2 gas to power fuel cells. (Image: Nanfeng Zheng)
