Energy Science & Engineering News

The battery charging system developed by University of West Florida students. Image credit: University of West Florida.

Researchers Create Battery Charging System for Soldiers Operating in Jungle Environments

Aug 23, 2023 by News Staff

An innovative battery charging system developed by electrical engineering students at the University of West Florida uses soldiers’ motion as they walk...

Small-scale battery-like microbial fuel cells are a promising alternative power source for future low-power electronics. Controllable microbial electrocatalytic activity in a miniaturized microbial fuel cell with unlimited biodegradable energy resources would enable simple power generation in various environmental settings. However, the short shelf-life of living biocatalysts, few ways to activate the stored biocatalysts, and extremely low electrocatalytic capabilities render the miniature microbial fuel cells unsuitable for practical use. In new research, heat-activated Bacillus subtilis spores are revolutionarily used as a dormant biocatalyst that can survive storage and rapidly germinate when exposed to special nutrients that are preloaded in the device. Image credit: Maryam Rezaie & Seokheun Choi, doi: 10.1002/smll.202301135.

Bacteria-Powered Biobattery Has 100-Year Shelf Life, Scientists Say

Apr 19, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York, have used a species of spore-forming bacterium called Bacillus subtilis to create a...

Chauhan et al. designed a smart supercapacitor using a novel stack of metal oxides that can efficiently harvest energy from sunlight and simultaneously store it. Image credit: Chauhan et al., doi: 10.1039/D2TA06790K.

Newly-Developed Supercapacitor Harvests and Stores Solar Energy

Mar 9, 2023 by News Staff

Like batteries, supercapacitors store and release electricity. But unlike batteries, supercapacitors don’t need a chemical reaction to store energy....

The PEMFC domain generated by Wang et al.: (a) 2D and (b) 3D rendering of the segmented membrane electrode assembly with artificially overlayed flow channels; the gas channel and land contacting the microporous gas diffusion layer are labeled. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-35973-8.

Novel Algorithm Helps Produce High-Resolution Images of Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Feb 20, 2023 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by University of New South Wales researchers Ryan Armstrong, Chuan Zhao and Quentin Meyer has developed a new algorithm to improve...

Prototypes designed and built by Kay et al. contain several layers of channels, each of which contain fluids with various optical properties; by pumping the fluids in and out of the channels, the system can optimize the type, quantity and distribution of light passing through. Image credit: Raphael Kay / Adrian So.

Researchers Create Squid-Inspired ‘Liquid Windows’

Feb 1, 2023 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has developed a multilayered fluidic system that can reduce the energy costs of heating, cooling and...

Ionocaloric refrigeration would eliminate the risk of greenhouse gases escaping into the atmosphere by replacing them with solid and liquid components. Image credit: Jenny Nuss / Berkeley Lab.

Ionocaloric Cooling: Novel Method of Refrigeration Developed

Jan 4, 2023 by News Staff

Solid- or liquid-state cooling strategies often rely on caloric effects in which materials are taken through some sort of phase change. Researchers from...

Example of wireless sensor modules (A) comprising acoustoelectric RF-to-DC converters; the illustration also shows expanded views of a sensor module (B) and its acoustoelectric RF-to-DC converter (C, D). Image credit: Reza Abdolvand / Hakhamanesh Mansoorzare.

New Technology Converts Radio Frequency Signals into DC Electricity

Dec 20, 2022 by News Staff

The new technology, developed by researchers at the University of Central Florida, can reduce the electronic industry’s reliance on batteries and broaden...

Shlosberg et al. present a method to simultaneously absorb carbon dioxide while producing an electrical current with minimal engineering requirements. Image credit: Shlosberg et al., doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c15123.

Researchers Turn Succulent Plant into Living ‘Bio-Solar Cell’

Dec 14, 2022 by News Staff

Harvesting an electrical current from biological photosynthetic systems, such as live cells, is typically achieved by immersion of the system into an electrolyte...

To create fusion ignition, NIF’s laser energy is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum, which then compress a fuel capsule until it implodes, creating a high temperature, high pressure plasma. Image credit: National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Physicists Achieve Key Milestone in Nuclear Fusion Energy

Dec 13, 2022 by News Staff

Physicists with the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting...

The concept of direct air electrolysis for hydrogen production: (a) a schematic diagram of the direct air electrolysis module with a water harvesting unit made of porous medium soaked with the hygroscopic ionic solution; (b) a schematic diagram of the cross-section of the direct air electrolysis module, showing the electrodes are isolated from the air feed, and the absorbed water are transported to the electrode by capillaries of the sponge. Image credit: Guo et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32652-y.

Scientists Demonstrate Novel Method of Direct Hydrogen Production from Air

Sep 6, 2022 by News Staff

To overcome the water shortage problem in the case of widespread deployment of hydrogen production, a team of researchers from Australia, the United Kingdom...

This system, containing Synechocystis blue-green algae, powered a microprocessor continuously for a year using nothing but ambient light and water. Image credit: Paolo Bombelli.

Renewable Bio-Photovoltaic Cell Created

May 12, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have created a bio-photovoltaic energy harvester system using a species of photosynthetic blue-green algae called Synechocystis on an aluminum...

The green fuel (alcohol) is represented by the green-colored droplets at the top of the image, which upon interacting with curcumin enveloped gold nanoparticles, efficiently yield energy (white-colored sparks at the bottom of the image). Image credit: Sri Sai Prasad Nayak / Lakshman Ventrapragada.

Scientists Use Curcumin to Create Highly Efficient Electrode

Apr 19, 2022 by News Staff

A team of researchers from India and the United States has combined curcumin, a molecule that was first extracted from the roots of Curcuma longa (turmeric),...

A thermophotovoltaic cell (size 1 x 1 cm) mounted on a heat sink designed to measure the TPV cell efficiency. Image credit: Felice Frankel.

Researchers Develop Highly Efficient Heat Engine

Apr 14, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-developed heat engine is a thermophotovoltaic cell that captures high-energy photons from a white-hot heat source and converts them into electricity...

The annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 Twh and generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emission. Image credit: Aaron Olson.

China’s Bitcoin Miners Will Consume as Much Energy as Mid-Sized Country within Three Years

Apr 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Given the current trends in Bitcoin mining, Chinese researchers estimate that the energy consumption from this process in their country alone will peak...

Devices with stretchable wideband antennas and rectennas create application opportunities such as self-powered systems, remote monitoring of the environment, and clean energy. Image credit: Zhu et al., doi: 10.1016/j.mtphys.2021.100377.

Newly-Developed Stretchable Antenna Harvests Energy from Radio Waves

Mar 31, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Pennsylvania State University and elsewhere has developed a stretchable antenna and rectenna system that harvests energy...

Electron microscopy image of a densely packed droplet of hydrogen-producing algal cells. Scale bar - 10 micrometers. Image credit: Xin Huang, Harbin Institute of Technology.

Scientists Create Hydrogen-Producing Algal Droplets

Nov 25, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from the United Kingdom and China has created droplet-based algal micro-reactors capable of aerobic or hypoxic photosynthesis...

The ENGAGE device. Image credit: Northwestern University.

Researchers Create Battery-Free, Energy-Harvesting Gaming Device

Sep 4, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Northwestern University and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has developed the first-ever battery-free, personal...

Stable blue whirl observed in an experiment. Image credit: H. Xiao, University of Science and Technology of China.

Structure of Mysterious Blue Whirl Revealed

Aug 14, 2020 by News Staff

The blue whirl consists of three different flame structures that swirl together into one otherworldly blue ring, according to new research. Stable blue...

Graphic image of a thin film of protein nanowires generating electricity from atmospheric humidity. Image credit: Yao and Lovley labs, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

‘Air-Gen’ Device Generates Electric Power from Ambient Humidity

Feb 18, 2020 by News Staff

A thin-film device made from nanometer-scale protein wires harvested from the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens can generate continuous electric power in...