Global electricity use is increasing rapidly and must be addressed sustainably. Developing new materials could give us much more efficient solar cell materials than at present; materials so thin and flexible that they could encase anything from mobile phones or entire buildings.
Using computer simulation and machine learning, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now taken an important step toward understanding and handling halide perovskites, among the most promising but notoriously enigmatic materials.
Electricity use is constantly increasing globally and, according to the International Energy Agency, its proportion of the world’s total energy consumption is expected to exceed 50% in 25 years, compared to the current 20%.
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 photoelectrochemical (PEC) flow cells—an emerging technology that combines the sunlight-harvesting ability of a solar panel with the storage power of a battery.
MIT researchers developed a fully autonomous platform that can identify, mix, and characterize novel polymer blends until it finds the optimal blend. This system could streamline the design of new composite materials for sustainable biocatalysis, better batteries, cheaper solar panels, and safer drug-delivery materials.
Questions to inspire discussion.
Energy for AI and Infrastructure.
🤖 Q: How does AI development impact energy demands? A: AI development will drive massive demand for electricity, with solar and batteries being the only energy source with an unbounded upper limit to scale and meet these demands.
⛽ Q: Can solar energy support existing infrastructure? A: Solar energy can produce synthetic biofuels and oil and gas through chemical processes, enabling it to power existing infrastructure that runs on traditional fuels.
Expert Predictions.
🚗 Q: What does Elon Musk predict about future energy sources? A: Elon Musk predicts that solar and batteries will dominate the future energy landscape, citing China’s massive investment as a key factor in this prediction.
From health monitors and smartwatches to foldable phones and portable solar panels, demand for flexible electronics is growing rapidly. But the durability of those devices—their ability to stand up to thousands of folds, flexes and rolls—is a significant concern.
New research by engineers from Brown University has revealed surprising details about how cracks form in multilayer flexible electronic devices. The team shows that small cracks in a device’s fragile electrode layer can drive deeper, more destructive cracks into the tougher polymer substrate layer on which the electrodes sit. The work overturns a long-held assumption that polymer substrates usually resist cracking.
“The substrate in flexible electronic devices is a bit like the foundation in your house,” said Nitin Padture, a professor of engineering at Brown and corresponding author of the study published in npj Flexible Electronics. “If it’s cracked, it compromises the mechanical integrity of the entire device. This is the first clear evidence of cracking in a device substrate caused by a brittle film on top of it.”
Methane (CH₄), the colorless and odorless gas that makes up most natural gas on Earth, has so far been converted into useful fuels and chemicals via energy-intensive processes that need to be carried out at high temperatures. Some energy researchers, however, have been exploring the possibility of transforming this gas into useful hydrocarbons and chemicals via photocatalysis.
Photocatalysis is a process through which the energy contained in light, typically solar energy, activates a material known as a “catalyst,” driving desired chemical reactions. Converting CH₄ into specific fuels or chemicals via photocatalysis instead of conventional methods that rely on the burning of fossil fuels could be highly advantageous, as it could contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers at Hebei University and other institutes in China recently introduced a new photocatalysis-driven approach to convert CH₄ into propane (C₃H₈), a hydrocarbon that is easier to use in real-world settings, as it becomes liquid at specific pressures, which facilitates its storage and transport.
Graphene is an extraordinary material—a sheet of interlocking carbon atoms just one atom thick that is stable and extremely conductive. This makes it useful in a range of areas, such as flexible electronic displays, highly precise sensors, powerful batteries, and efficient solar cells.
A new study—led by researchers from the University of Göttingen, working together with colleagues from Braunschweig and Bremen in Germany, and Fribourg in Switzerland—now takes graphene’s potential to a whole new level. The team has directly observed “Floquet effects” in graphene for the first time.
This resolves a long-standing debate: Floquet engineering—a method in which the properties of a material are very precisely altered using pulses of light—also works in metallic and semi-metallic quantum materials such as graphene. The study is published in Nature Physics.
Photovoltaics (PVs), technological systems that can convert sunlight into electricity are among the most promising and widely adopted clean energy solutions worldwide. While existing silicon-based solar cells have already achieved remarkable performances, energy engineers have been working to develop other photovoltaic technologies that could be even more durable, efficient and affordable.
An emerging type of solar cells that could be manufactured at a lower cost, while still retaining good efficiencies, are those based on a class of materials with a characteristic arrangement of atoms, known as perovskites. These cells, known as perovskite solar cells (PSCs), have been found to attain high power conversion efficiencies and are based on materials that could be easier to synthesize when compared to silicon wafers.
Despite their potential, PSCs still face considerable limitations that have so far prevented their widespread deployment and commercialization. Most notably, improving the efficiency of these cells has been found to adversely impact their stability over time, and vice versa.