Feb

28

New Understanding for Oxygen Fuel Cells and Zirconia

February 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment

K. L. Ngai, from the University of Pisa in Italy, and colleagues from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, devised a model of the oxygen-ion dynamics that contribute to the conductivity of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ).  This is significant because of the movement of oxygen within a fuel cell and for devices we are already […]

Feb

27

Algae Oil Gene Put Into Plant Leaves

February 27, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have successfully engineered a plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) with oily leaves.  The team has shown they could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves – an uncommon occurrence for most plants. The results have been published in […]

Feb

26

Solar Efficiently Drives Hydrogen From New H2O Splitter

February 26, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) have developed an efficient, autonomous solar water-splitting device.  The new idea is based on a gold nanorod array where essentially all charge carriers involved in the oxidation and reduction steps arise from the hot electrons resulting from the excitation of surface plasmons in the nanostructured gold […]

Feb

25

Graphene Can Multiply the Power of Light

February 25, 2013 | 2 Comments

Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Science (ICFO), in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany, and Graphenea S.L. Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain have demonstrated graphene is able to convert a single photon such that when it’s absorbed it releases multiple freed electrons. This is a very promising discovery.  […]

Feb

22

Carbon Dioxide Plus Sunlight with Copper Gets Methanol

February 22, 2013 | 6 Comments

Researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) are pioneering a new method for using carbon dioxide, or CO2, to make liquid methanol fuel by using copper oxide nanowires and sunlight.  In a brainstorm sure to warm the hearts of coal and natural gas burners the possibility could come for CO2 to go right […]

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