Jun

28

Big Improvement to Lithium Ion Batteries Gets Closer

June 28, 2016 | Leave a Comment

Researchers at Hanyang University, and their U.S. and Qatar colleagues combined two complementary carbon materials to boost the lithium ion cathode electrode’s conductivity. The team of researchers has designed a cathode for such batteries that holds up to 10 times as much sulfur as other designs without a drop in performance. A test battery made […]

Sep

24

A New Cheaper Water Splitting Catalyst

September 24, 2015 | 1 Comment

A University of Wisconsin at Madison research team reports a hydrogen making catalyst containing phosphorus and sulfur – both common elements – and cobalt, a metal that is 1,000 times cheaper than platinum. Like gasoline, natural gas and other petrochemicals, hydrogen could also be used to store energy. Hydrogen could be the ideal fuel: Whether […]

Feb

6

Lithium Battery Material Redesign For a Big Improvement

February 6, 2013 | Leave a Comment

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University scientists set a new world record for energy storage, using a clever “egg yolk-shell” design to store five times more energy in the sulfur cathode of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.  The comparison is made directly to today’s commercial technology. The performance is quite impressive beyond the capacity.   The […]

Dec

24

A Strong Hint on Building Synthetic Hydrocarbons

December 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

Colleagues at Northwestern University and the University of Virginia are working to invent novel ways and catalytic materials to activate methane to produce ethylene.  The collaborating team published a paper in the online edition of the journal Nature Chemistry detailing the use of sulfur as a possible “soft” oxidant for catalytically converting methane into ethylene, […]

Dec

20

A Lower Cost Method to Capture Sulfur From Fuels

December 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

University of Illinois (UI) researchers have developed mats of metal oxide nanofibers that more effectively scrub sulfur from petroleum-based fuels than traditional materials. Sulfur is the chemical element that made acid rain such a nasty event downwind from coal and oil burning facilities.  When burned sulfur is reformed into toxic acids that persist a short […]

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