A new memorandum has firmed up China and Russia’s intent to lead the construction of a new lunar base to be completed by 2036, as NASA talks about scaling
Category: energy – Page 9
Smart charging, real cash: Ava wants to pay EV drivers to plug in
Ava Community Energy just rolled out a new program in California that pays EV and plug-in hybrid drivers for charging their cars when electricity on the grid is cleaner and cheaper.
The new Ava SmartHome Charging program, launched in partnership with home energy analytics platform Optiwatt, offers up to $100 in incentives in the first year. And because the program helps shift home charging to lower-cost hours, Ava says drivers could save around $140 a year on their energy bills.
EV and PHEV owners who are Ava customers can download the Optiwatt app for free, connect their vehicle, and let the app handle the rest. The app uses an algorithm to automatically schedule charging when demand is low and more renewable energy is available, typically overnight or during off-peak hours.
Sustainable method produces high-purity material for use in green hydrogen production
A group of researchers affiliated with the Center for Innovation in New Energies (CINE) has developed a method for purifying materials that is simple, economical and has a low environmental impact. The scientists have managed to improve the efficiency of a film that can be used in some green hydrogen production processes.
Known as mullite-type bismuth ferrite (Bi₂Fe₄O₉), the material has been used as a photoelectrocatalyst in the production of hydrogen by photoelectron oxidation, a process in which molecules of water or biomass derivatives are oxidized using sunlight as an energy source. The role of bismuth ferrite films in this process is to absorb light and drive the electrochemical reactions that “separate” the hydrogen from the original molecules (water, glycerol, ethanol, etc.).
However, the performance of these photoelectrocatalysts has been limited in the production of hydrogen due, among other factors, to the presence of unwanted compounds in the material itself, known as secondary phases. Now, research carried out by CINE members in the laboratories of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil has brought a solution to the problem: a purification method that has managed to eliminate these unwanted compounds.
UK lab promises air-con revolution without polluting gases
The soft, waxy “solid refrigerant” being investigated in a UK laboratory may not look very exciting, but its unusual properties promise an air-conditioning revolution that could eliminate the need for greenhouse gases.
The substance’s temperature can vary by more than 50 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) under pressure, and unlike the gases currently used in appliances solid refrigerants, it does not leak.
“They don’t contribute to global warming, but also they are potentially more energy efficient,” Xavier Moya, a professor of materials physics at the University of Cambridge, told AFP.
Advances in ceramic electrochemical cells promise more reliable hydrogen production and clean energy storage
Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have made significant advances in a promising technology for efficient energy conversion and chemical processing. Two recent studies involving protonic ceramic electrochemical cells, called PCECs, address significant challenges in electrochemical manufacturing and efficiency. These innovations are a crucial step toward reliable and affordable solutions for hydrogen production and clean energy storage.
The studies were led by Hanping Ding, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma.
PCECs have traditionally struggled to maintain performance under the extreme conditions required for commercial use. In a study featured in Nature Synthesis, Ding and his colleagues reported a new approach that eliminates the need for cerium-based materials, which are prone to breakdown under high steam and heat.
New quantum gravity discovery could unite quantum mechanics and relativity
Two recent advances—one in nanoscale chemistry and another in astrophysics—are making waves. Scientists studying the movement of molecules in porous materials and researchers observing rare cosmic events have uncovered mechanisms that could reshape both industry and our view of the universe.
One of the most promising fields in material science centers on molecular diffusion. This is the way molecules move through small, confining spaces—a key process behind technologies like gas separation, catalysis, and energy storage. Materials called MOFs, short for metal-organic frameworks, have emerged as powerful tools because of their flexible structure and tunable chemistry.
Yet predicting how molecules behave inside these frameworks isn’t simple. Pore size, shape, chemical reactivity, and even how the material flexes all play a role. Studying these factors one by one has been manageable. But understanding how they work together to control molecular flow remains a major hurdle for material designers.
Urine-powered electrolysis systems offer energy-efficient green hydrogen production
Researchers have developed two unique energy-efficient and cost-effective systems that use urea found in urine and wastewater to generate hydrogen.
The unique systems reveal pathways to economically generate “green” hydrogen, a sustainable and renewable energy source, and the potential to remediate nitrogenous waste in aquatic environments.
Typically, we generate hydrogen through the electrolysis of water where water is split into oxygen and hydrogen. It is a promising technology to help solve the global energy crisis, but the process is energy intensive, which renders it cost-prohibitive when compared to extracting hydrogen from fossil fuels (gray hydrogen), itself an undesirable process because of the carbon emissions it generates.
Record-setting lithium-ion conductors: Researchers develop new material for solid-state batteries
Researchers at TUM and TUMint. Energy Research have taken a significant step towards improving solid-state batteries. They developed a new material made of lithium, antimony and scandium that conducts lithium ions more than 30% faster than any previously known material. The work is published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
The team led by Prof. Thomas F. Fässler from the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry with a Focus on Novel Materials partially replaced lithium in a lithium antimonide compound with the metal scandium. This creates specific gaps, so-called vacancies, in the crystal lattice of the conductor material. These gaps help the lithium ions to move more easily and faster, resulting in a new world record for ion conductivity.
Since the measured conductivity far exceeded that of existing materials, the team collaborated with the Chair of Technical Electrochemistry under Prof. Hubert Gasteiger at TUM to confirm the result.
Warm metalworking turns brittle semiconductors into flexible, high-performance electronic films
Inorganic semiconductors form the backbone of modern electronics due to their excellent physical properties, including high carrier mobility, thermal stability, and well-defined energy band structures, which enable precise control over electrical conductivity. Unfortunately, their intrinsic brittleness has traditionally required the use of costly, complex processing methods like deposition and sputtering—which apply inorganic materials to rigid substrates and limit their suitability for flexible or wearable electronics.
Now, however, a recent breakthrough by researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the warm processing of traditionally brittle semiconductors offers tremendous potential to expand applications for inorganic semiconductors into these fields.
In their study recently published in Nature Materials, the researchers report achieving plastic warm metalworking in a range of inorganic semiconductors traditionally considered too brittle for such processing. These findings open new avenues for efficient and cost-effective semiconductor manufacturing.