Jun
15
Pushing Solar to Investment and Efficiency Turning Points
June 15, 2012 | 1 Comment
Two press releases show that both silicon and organic solar are closing in on dramatic cost reductions per watt-hour. The major market player based on silicon, that’s using about 40% of the overall cost, is getting a new MIT approach that could reduce the thickness of the silicon used by more than 90 percent while […]
Jun
14
A New CO2 to Fuel Process
June 14, 2012 | 2 Comments
At the Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMR) a research team led by the chemist Prof. Dr. Ingo Krossing has developed a new system for producing methanol that uses CO2 and hydrogen. Substituting methanol can for example, be used as an environmentally friendly alternative for gasoline. The FMR team’s goal is to harness the power of […]
Jun
13
A New Material Designed for Carbon Dioxide Capture
June 13, 2012 | 1 Comment
Research led by The University of Nottingham School of Chemistry has developed a new porous material that has unique carbon dioxide retention properties. The material’s structure allows selective adsorption of carbon dioxide – while other gases such as nitrogen, methane and hydrogen can pass back through, the carbon dioxide remains trapped in the materials nanopores, […]
Jun
12
Carbon May Substitute for Platinum as a Catalyst
June 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of a team searching for an inexpensive alternative to platinum catalysts, turned to carbon, developing multi-walled carbon nanotube complex that consists of cylindrical sheets of carbon. Led by Stanford University’s Hongjie Dai, the team’s newly developed carbon nanotube material could help lower the cost of fuel cells, catalytic […]
Jun
11
Working At Better Understanding of Photosynthesis
June 11, 2012 | 1 Comment
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are working toward a better understanding of how a large complex of proteins, called Photosystem II, is able to split water molecules into oxygen, electrons and hydrogen ions (protons). Splitting the water for the hydrogen and […]