Energy
press releases.

Energy20 Oct 2023

Researchers demonstrate a high-speed electrical readout method for graphene nanodevices

The 'wonder material' graphene is well-known for its high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and flexibility. Stacking two layers of graphene with atomic layer thickness produces bilayer graphene, which possesses excellent electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. As such, bilayer graphene has attracted significant attention and is being utilized in a host of next-generation devices, including quantum computers. But complicating their application in quantum computing comes in the form of gaining accurate measurements of the quantum bit states. Most research has primarily used low-frequency electronics to overcome this. However, ...

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Energy20 Oct 2023

Electric hair styling products common cause of burn injuries in children

AAP media contacts: Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org ...

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Energy20 Oct 2023

Electric scooter injuries increased more than 70% in youth age 18 and younger from 2020-2021

Ror release: 12:01 a.m. ET Friday, Oct. 20, 2023 AAP media contacts: Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org Adam Alexander, 630-626-6765, aalexander@aap.org Washington, D.C.— As standing electric scooters (e-scooters) have become an increasingly popular mode of transportation, new research finds a 71% increase in injuries reported ...

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Energy19 Oct 2023

Unified picture on temperature dependence of lithium dendrite growth via phase-field simulation

They published their work on Sep. 12 in Energy Material Advances. "The great electrochemical phase-field simulation efforts devoted to exploring the dendrite growth mechanism under the temperature field recently," said paper author Shi, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University. "The uniformity of temperature distribution inside batteries has a substantial impact on the stability of Li electrodeposition and dissolution, and the mechanism underlying the temperature-dependent Li dendrite growth remains controversial." Shi said ...

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Energy19 Oct 2023

New noble-metal-free electrocatalyst decreases the energy required to generate hydrogen gas from water

As a combustible fuel, the burning of hydrogen gas does not contribute to global warming. Today, the majority of hydrogen gas is generated from fossil fuels, however, and this process releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Generating hydrogen gas from clean sources, such as the splitting of water molecules with electricity through electrolysis, is important to achieving future carbon neutrality, but current methods are inefficient and limit the commercial practicality of hydrogen-based technologies. ...

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Energy18 Oct 2023

Liverpool chemist presented with 2023 Eni Energy Frontiers Award by President of Italy

Professor Matt Rosseinsky, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, was presented with the 2023 Eni Energy Frontiers Award by Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Republic of Italy, at a ceremony in Rome this week. Professor Rosseinsky received the prestigious Eni Award for the digital design and discovery of next-generation energy materials. The presentation ceremony took place at the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome which was also attended by Giuseppe Zafarana, Chairman of Eni and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni. Professor Rosseinsky said: “It was a great honour to be presented with this award by the President ...

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Energy18 Oct 2023

As surging threats teeter electrical power grids, scientists offer insights to make them more resilient

Power grids—the web of electrical networks that sprawl across countries and continents—are under stress. Extreme weather events and volatile energy demands often push the system to the brink. Although these high-impact events can be very damaging, often overlooked is the impact of minor disruptions that trigger a domino effect throughout the system, according to a study analyzing European power blackouts. The findings, published October 18 in the journal Joule, showed that recovering power within 13 hours can reduce up to ...

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Energy18 Oct 2023

Researchers unveil fire-inhibiting nonflammable gel polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries

A collaborative research team, led by Professor Hyun-Kon Song in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, Dr. Seo-Hyun Jung from Research Center for Advanced Specialty Chemicals at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), and Dr. Tae-Hee Kim from the Ulsan Advanced Energy Technology R&D Center at Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in battery technology. Their remarkable achievement in developing a non-flammable gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) is set to revolutionize the safety of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by ...

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Energy18 Oct 2023

Study predicts potential for 110% electricity increases in U.S. urban buildings

A research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and recently published in the journal Nature Communications tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. Fossil fuels account for approximately 40% of all building energy use in urban city centers in the United States, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential and commercial buildings in U.S. cities are one of the major energy ...

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Energy17 Oct 2023

Harnessing molecular power: electricity generation on the nanoscale

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2023 – Wave energy technology is a proven source of power generation, but there is power inherent in every molecule of liquid on earth, even when the liquid is at rest. At the molecular scale, atoms and ions are always moving. If this nanoscale movement can be harvested, it could be a big source of energy. “There are vast amounts of air and liquid on the earth, and their successful harvesting could produce a gigantic amount of energy for society,” author Yucheng Luan said. In an article published this week in APL Materials, by AIP Publishing, Luan and his collaborators tested a molecular energy harvesting device that captures ...

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Energy16 Oct 2023

MIT design would harness 40% of the sun’s heat to produce clean hydrogen fuel

MIT engineers aim to produce totally green, carbon-free hydrogen fuel with a new, train-like system of reactors that is driven solely by the sun. In a study appearing today in Solar Energy Journal, the engineers lay out the conceptual design for a system that can efficiently produce “solar thermochemical hydrogen.” The system harnesses the sun’s heat to directly split water and generate hydrogen — a clean fuel that can power long-distance trucks, ships, and planes, while in the process emitting no greenhouse gas emissions. Today, hydrogen is largely produced through processes that involve natural gas and other fossil fuels, ...

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Energy16 Oct 2023

US Department of Energy selects the high performance data facility lead

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of the High Performance Data Facility (HPDF) hub, which will create a new scientific user facility specializing in advanced infrastructure for data-intensive science. The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) will be the HPDF Hub Director and the lead infrastructure will be located at JLab. The project to build the Hub will be a partnership between JLab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the two labs ...

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Energy16 Oct 2023

A clean-energy future for legacy coal?

Lehigh University researchers Carlos Romero, Director of the Energy Research Center (ERC), co-Associate Director of the Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure and Energy (I-CPIE), and a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, and Zheng Yao, Principal Research Scientist at the ERC, have been awarded a DOE STTR (Department of Energy Small Business Technology Transfer) award for Phase II of their proposal, “Machine Learning Enhanced LIBS to Measure and Process Biofuels ...

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Energy13 Oct 2023

OmicsSuite: A customized and pipelined suite for analysis and visualization of multi-omics big data

Abstract: With the advancements in high-throughput sequencing technologies such as Illumina, PacBio, and 10X Genomics platforms, and gas/liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, large volumes of biological data in multiple formats can now be obtained through multi-omics analysis. Bioinformatics is constantly evolving and seeking breakthroughs to solve multi-omics problems, however it is challenging for most experimental biologists to analyze data using command-line interfaces, coding, and scripting. Based on experience with multi-omics, we have developed OmicsSuite, a desktop suite that comprehensively integrates statistics and multi-omics analysis and visualization. The suite ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

An electrical switch to control chemical reactions

New pharmaceuticals, cleaner fuels, biodegradable plastics: in order to meet society’s needs, chemists have to develop new synthesis methods to obtain new products that do not exist in their natural state. A research group at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with Cardiff University, has discovered how to use an external electric field to control and accelerate a chemical reaction, like a ‘‘switch’’. This work, to be read in Science Advances, could have a considerable impact on the development of new molecules, enabling not only more environmentally friendly synthesis, but also very simple external control of a chemical reaction. In ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

New catalyst could provide liquid hydrogen fuel of the future

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden are investigating a car fuel comprised of a liquid that is converted to hydrogen by a solid catalyst. The used liquid is then emptied from the tank and charged with hydrogen, after which it can be used again in a circular system that is free from greenhouse gas emissions. In two research articles, Lund researchers have demonstrated that the method works, and while it is still basic research, it has the potential to become an efficient energy-storage system in the future. “Our catalyst is one of the most efficient around, at least if you look at publicly available research,” says Ola ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

Stronger lithium batteries may need ‘weaker’ solvation structure, researchers report

Lithium batteries power our phones, computers, many of our cars and so much more — even the drill and weedwhacker. But as technology advances, can they keep up in their current format? No, but there is a way forward, according to a new review paper from researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, by further developing the electrolytes that allow for energy storage and discharge. The team published their work in Energy Materials and Devices on September 18, 2023. “Lithium batteries ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

Polyoxometalates and ionic liquid enhance solid-state lithium-ion electrolyte performance

Polyoxometalates (POMs) containing charged lithium ions combined with ionic liquids, increase the ion conductivity of a solid-state electrolyte membrane. Solid-state lithium-ion batteries depend on the movement of ions (charged atoms) in the solid, rather than liquid, state to either charge or discharge the battery. These solid-state electrolytes are safer, more cost efficient and capable of higher energy densities than batteries that rely on liquid electrolyte solutions, but suffer from low ionic conductivity, or movement of ions, and poor thermal stability. A new composite ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

Proof-of-concept method advances bioprocess engineering for a smoother transition to biofuels

One of the primary goals of bioprocess engineering is to increase the yield of the desired material while maintaining high production rates and low raw material utilization. This optimization is usually accomplished by controlling the behavior of microorganisms used in the process and ensuring that their biological capabilities are fully utilized. This control may be computerized (in silico feedforward) or autonomous (in-cell feedback) which predicts the optimization based on inputs received. However, a process-model mismatch (PMM) occurs when there is a discrepancy between the predicted and actual production processes. A recent paper published in Scientific Reports demonstrates a ...

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Energy12 Oct 2023

Revolutionizing energy storage: Metal nanoclusters for stable lithium–sulfur batteries

The demand for efficient energy storage systems is ever increasing, especially due to the recent emergence of intermittent renewable energy and the adoption of electric vehicles. In this regard, lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs), which can store three to five times more energy than traditional lithium-ion batteries, have emerged as a promising solution. LSBs use lithium as the anode and sulfur as the cathode, but this combination poses challenges. One significant issue is the “shuttle effect,” in which intermediate lithium polysulfide ...

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Energy11 Oct 2023

Oregon State to lead $2M federal push toward more-efficient, longer-lasting electrical components

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Engineering are spearheading a $2 million federal effort to explore new ways of developing electrical components that are better able to withstand extreme operating conditions, especially high temperatures. The team will try to find novel, artificial-intelligence-based methods for designing and building long-lasting, high-efficiency electrical components for harsh-environment applications such as high-power radar and the aerospace, automotive and wireless communications industries. “The semiconductor ...

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Energy11 Oct 2023

SwRI selected for $1.5 million DOE grant to evaluate compressor system for hydrogen-natural gas blends

SAN ANTONIO — October 11, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute has been selected to receive a $1.5 million contract from the U.S Department of Energy to evaluate the safety and efficiency of a full-scale compressor system for hydrogen-natural gas blends containing up to 20 percent hydrogen by volume. SwRI will collaborate with the Gas Machinery Research Council (GMRC) on this project. “Hydrogen has been recognized as a viable alternative to natural gas fuel,” said SwRI Senior Research Analyst Sarah Simons. “However, a pure hydrogen stream is not compatible with existing energy transport infrastructure because hydrogen and natural gas have ...

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Energy10 Oct 2023

Wireless, battery-free electronic ‘stickers’ gauge forces between touching objects

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed electronic “stickers” that measure the force exerted by one object upon another. The force stickers are wireless, run without batteries and fit in tight spaces. That makes them versatile for a wide range of applications, from arming robots with a sense of touch to elevating the immersive experience of VR and AR, making biomedical devices smarter, monitoring the safety of industrial equipment, and improving the accuracy and efficiency of inventory management in warehouses. They could be used, for example, in knee implants to measure the forces that implants exert on the joint. ...

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Energy10 Oct 2023

Seamlessly multiplexing memory storage and recall

Every day we store memories, some of which we are able to recall later. But while we do so, do we keep on storing? Yes! We cannot afford to stop memory formation while we are retrieving prior ones. Imagine, for instance, that you are navigating the city while recalling last night’s events to a friend tagging along. Your brain must memorize aspects of the route even while you are in the story, so that you can find your way back later or reach your next destination. We seem to perform this task without much conscious effort. Big deal, one could say, as we know that the brain has trillions of synaptic connections, so parallel processing ...

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Energy6 Oct 2023

ORNL is poised to have a major role in the future of nuclear physics

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a bastion of nuclear physics research for the past 80 years, is poised to strengthen its programs and service to the United States over the next decade if national recommendations of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, or NSAC, are enacted. “The 2023 Long Range Plan lays out a compelling vision for nuclear science in the United States under multiple budget scenarios,” said Gail Dodge, physicist at Old Dominion University and chair of the NSAC. “Implementation of the Long Range Plan’s ...

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