Research announcements from universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Explore the stories, people and discoveries behind the headlines.
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A team of researchers, jointly led by Professor Hyun-Wook Lee and Professor Dong-Hwa Seo from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), in collaboration with Professor Seok Woo Lee from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has achieved significant breakthroughs in harnessing low-grade heat sources (
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A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has achieved a groundbreaking advancement in nanomaterials by successfully developing a highly efficient electrocatalyst which can enhance the generation of hydrogen significantly through electrochemical water splitting. This major breakthrough has great application potential for the clean energy industry. Professor Zhang Hua, Herman Hu Chair Professor of Nanomaterials at CityU, and his team have developed an electrocatalyst by using the transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) nanosheets with unconventional crystal phases as supports. The electrocatalyst exhibits superior activity and excellent ...
Read the releaseCAMBRIDGE, MA -- By mining data from X-ray images, researchers at MIT, Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator, and the Toyota Research Institute have made significant new discoveries about the reactivity of lithium iron phosphate, a material used in batteries for electric cars and in other rechargeable batteries. The new technique has revealed several phenomena that were previously impossible to see, including variations in the rate of lithium intercalation reactions in different regions of a lithium iron phosphate nanoparticle. The paper’s most significant practical finding — that ...
Read the releaseToday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $73 million in funding for eleven projects which focus on the goal of accelerating the transition from discovery to commercialization of new technologies that will form the basis of future industries. This goal will require basic research to be conducted with an eye to an innovation’s end application, considering discovery, creation, and production of materials and technologies with approaches that can be scaled and readily transitioned into new products and capabilities to support the economic health and security of the nation. “This ...
Read the releaseUnderstanding the interactions between materials and chemical species is critical for engineers as it helps them determine their best uses for both day-to-day life and global-level applications. Metal oxides, a binary material of metal and oxygen, greatly interest researchers because of their importance in transforming energy storage, production, and conversion. To further those possibilities, a team from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering has determined a new way to view how hydrogen and metal oxides interact. “Numerous experimental techniques have been used to understand this phenomenon – from spectroscopy to catalysis” explained Giannis ...
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A vital component of the batteries at the heart of electric vehicles and grid energy storage, lithium is key to a clean energy future. But producing the silvery-white metal comes with significant environmental costs. Among them is the vast amount of land and time needed to extract lithium from briny water, with large operations running into the dozens of square miles and often requiring over a year to begin production. Now, researchers at Princeton have developed an extraction technique that slashes the amount of land and time needed for lithium production. The researchers say their system ...
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Industrial Internet of Things (IIoTs) refers to a technology that combines wireless sensors, controllers, and mobile communication technologies to make every aspect of industrial production processes intelligent and efficient. Since IIoTs can involve several small battery-driven devices and sensors, there is a growing need to develop a robust network for data transmission and power transfer to monitor the IIoT environment. In this regard, wireless power transfer is a promising technology. It utilizes radio frequency signals to power small devices that consume minimal power. Recently, simultaneous wireless information ...
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Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) could deliver a major efficiency boost to the photocatalytic production of clean hydrogen. Chemical engineers have drafted a comprehensive overview of the state of their field and a plan for where it needs to focus. Clean hydrogen production remains an energy-intensive and therefore costly proposition, inhibiting the battle against global warming. Metal organic frameworks—in effect tiny molecular ‘sponges’—look set to radically improve the efficiency of photocatalytic production of hydrogen due to their unique structural ...
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Fusion is the process of combining two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy. The Sun and all stars are powered through fusion, which makes it the universe's preferred method of producing energy. Recent breakthroughs in fusion research have led to the US government's Bold Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy and the remarkable growth of the global fusion industry. To accelerate the development of fusion-powered reactors on Earth, the US Department ...
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Hydrogen spillover is exactly what it sounds like. Small metal nanoparticles anchored on a thermally stable oxide, like silica, comprise a major class of catalysts, which are substances used to accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed themselves. The catalytic reaction usually occurs on the reactive — and expensive — metal, but on some catalysts, hydrogen atom-like equivalents literally spill from the metal to the oxide. These hydrogen-on-oxide species are called "hydrogen ...
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UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 16:00 BST / 11:00 ET WEDNESDAY 30 AUGUST 2023 Researchers have developed a miniature battery that could be used to power tiny devices integrated into human tissues. The design uses an ionic gradient across a chain of droplets – inspired by how electric eels generate electricity. The device was able to regulate the biological activity of human neurons. This could open the way to the development of tiny bio-integrated devices, with a range of applications in biology and medicine. University of Oxford researchers have made a significant step towards realising miniature ...
Read the releaseShaggy-haired, tusked pigs roam free in the woods of Germany and Austria. Although these game animals look fine, some contain radioactive cesium at levels that render their meat unsafe to eat. Previously, scientists hypothesized that the contamination stemmed from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. But now, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report that nuclear weapon fallout from 60 to 80 years ago also contributes significantly to the wild boars’ persistent radioactivity. Radioactive cesium, a byproduct of nuclear weapons explosions and nuclear ...
Read the releaseWASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced 106 awards totaling $126 million in research and development grants for 90 different small businesses whose projects will address multiple mission areas across the Department, including clean energy and decarbonization, cybersecurity and grid reliability, fusion energy, and nuclear nonproliferation. Small businesses are the backbone of the nation’s economy, employing nearly half of all private-sector workers in the United States, and will play a major role in decarbonizing the ...
Read the releaseLOS ALAMOS, N.M., Aug. 23, 2023 — Mathematical modeling can show how to safely blend hydrogen with natural gas for transport in existing pipeline systems. A secure and reliable transition to hydrogen is one of the proposed solutions for the shift to a net-zero-carbon economy. “Mixing hydrogen into a natural gas pipeline changes how the gases flow, which will create new conditions for operators,” said Anatoly Zlotnik, a co-author of a new paper on the modeling in the journal PRX Energy. ...
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A new study led by Dr. Xuekun Lu from Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with an international team of researchers from the UK and USA has found a way to prevent lithium plating in electric vehicle batteries, which could lead to faster charging times. The paper was published in the journal Nature Communications. Lithium plating is a phenomenon that can occur in lithium-ion batteries during fast charging. It occurs when lithium ions build up on the surface of the battery's negative ...
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A team of interdisciplinary researchers led by Arindam Banerjee, professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department at Lehigh University, has been awarded nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation to train a diverse group of future energy-sector leaders across academia, industry, government and policy organizations. The five-year award will allow Lehigh to establish a SEED (Stakeholder Engaged, Equitable, Decarbonized) Energy Futures Training Program to provide graduate students with the skills needed to explore, collaborate and pioneer solutions to the society’s reliance on carbon-based energy sources and energy inequities. ...
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Osaka, Japan – How is a donut similar to a coffee cup? This question often serves as an illustrative example to explain the concept of topology. Topology is a field of mathematics that examines the properties of objects that remain consistent even when they are stretched or deformed—provided they are not torn or stitched together. For instance, both a donut and a coffee cup have a single hole. This means, theoretically, if either were pliable enough, it could be reshaped into the other. This ...
Read the releaseIn 2010, the U.S. government announced a multi-billion-dollar plan to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings, including a focus on LEED certification. Used worldwide, LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—is a system that rates buildings on energy efficiency. A new study examined the effects of LEED certification on energy efficiency in federal buildings. The study found no effect on average energy consumption, primarily because many other factors come into play when rating energy. The study, by researchers ...
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Engineers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are collaborating on nine projects awarded to universities under the DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) and Integrated Research Projects. The projects were selected as part of DOE’s commitment to investing in nuclear energy technologies, universities and the development of the next generation of researchers and scientists. These projects will play a vital role in advancing nuclear technology, supporting early career faculty research activities and fostering student innovation at Argonne ...
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The new project creates opportunities for researchers from historically underrepresented groups to develop technology that will help us understand the forces behind an expanding universe. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) have been awarded funding for a program that aims to generate insights about the universe while expanding diversity in the high energy physics field. Through the $589,000, three-year grant from DOE’s Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative, ...
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As an energy carrier, hydrogen holds the prominent advantages of high gravimetric energy density, high abundance, and zero emission, yet its effective storage and transportation remain a bottleneck problem for the widespread applications of hydrogen energy. To address such an issue, different types of hydrogen storage materials are developed and carefully investigated in the past decades. Among them, magnesium hydride (MgH2) has been considered as one of the most promising hydrogen storage materials because of its high capacity, excellent reversibility, sufficient magnesium reserves, and low cost. However, the poor thermodynamic and kinetic properties ...
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The whaling industry helped drive industrialization in the 19th century, with whale oil used to light lamps and lubricate machinery. Even after petroleum replaced whale oil as an energy source in the U.S., whaling continued to be part of our cultural imagination and helped develop the idea of an energy industry, said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign English professor Jamie L. Jones. Her new book, “Rendered Obsolete: The Afterlife of U.S. Whaling in the Petroleum Age,” examines the influence of a dying industry during the massive energy transition from the organic fuel sources of the 19th century, including whale oil and wood, to the extraction of fossil ...
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Systems in the Universe trend toward disorder, with only applied energy keeping the chaos at bay. The concept is called entropy, and examples can be found everywhere: ice melting, campfire burning, water boiling. Zentropy theory, however, adds another level to the mix. A team led by Zi-Kui Liu, the Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State, developed the theory. The “Z” in zentropy stands for the German word Zustandssumm, meaning ‘‘sum over states” of entropy. Alternatively, Liu said, zentropy may be considered as a play on the term “zen” ...
Read the releaseWASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $11 million in funding for 15 projects in exploratory research for extreme-scale science that will leverage emerging trends and advances in high-end computing, massive datasets, scientific machine learning, artificial intelligence, and novel computing architectures. “There is a wide expanse of exciting opportunities as we reach beyond exascale computing,” said Ceren Susut, DOE Acting Associate Director of Science for Advanced Scientific Computing Research. “These ...
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Sodium, Potassium and zinc have all been promising contenders for lithium’s place in rechargeable batteries of the future, but researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have added an unusual and more abundant competitor to the mix: chloride, the richest negatively charged ions in seawater. Xiaowei Teng, the James H. Manning professor of Chemical Engineering at WPI, has discovered a new redox chemistry empowered by chloride ions for the development of seawater green batteries. Modern lithium-ion batteries used in various applications, including electric vehicles, can be problematic for grid storage, given their ...
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