__NOTOC__
News stories relating to Directory:Nanotechnology as it relates to free/renewable energy technologies. This separate news page was commenced Oct. 22, 2010.
2016
Latest:
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Batteries >
Directory:Hydrogen >
Directory:Hydrogen Production /
Directory:Fuel Cells >
Directory:KB Consulting, with Constantine Balakirian >
Konstantin Balakiryan: Proton-3ND Energy Storage Technology Could Revolutionize Battery Industry - The capacity of the Proton-3ND (Proton -3 Nano Diffusion) battery is projected to be 44 times the capacity of lithium batteries. Electric vehicles with these batteries would have more power and much more mileage at no extra charge. (PESN January 4, 2016)
2015
Latest:
Directory:Spirituality >
Directory:Nanotechnology >
World-class nanotechnology chemistry professor and Jew, James Tour, testifies of Jesus Christ at Texas A&M Veritas Forum - Projects the team he leads do include: Nano-cars: four wheels, fully-rotating axles, motors Plastic film supercapacitors for electric vehicle acceleration Graphene nanotube batteries for 3-second cell phone charging Graphene oxide process for removing radioactive elements from water. (PESN May 31, 2015)
Latest:
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar PhotoVoltaics /
Directory:Storage >
Directory:Capacitors >
Directory:Graphene >
Directory:Sunvault Energy Inc. Graphene Generator and Supercapacitor Technology - Coming up with a clever way to make graphene that both collects solar energy and stores it, Sunvault expects that after roll-out in Q3, their storage device price point to get down to $40/kW-h by year end. Applications include phones that never have to be recharged. (PESWiki May 25, 2015)
Latest:
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar PhotoVoltaics /
Directory:Storage >
Directory:Capacitors >
Directory:Sunvault Energy Inc. Graphene Generator and Supercapacitor Technology >
Sunvault Energy and Edison Power Company Create Massive 10,000 Farad Graphene Supercapacitor - "At 10,000 Farads, a Graphene Supercapacitor / Battery is powerful enough to power up a Semi Truck while being the size of a paperback novel at this point." The price point is expected to start lower ($100/kW-h) in Q3 roll-out to the market than where Tesla expects to be in 5 years and will be half that ($40/kW-h) by year end. (PESN May 25, 2015)
2013
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar /
Directory:Piezoelectric >
Using Nanotechnology to Capture the Energy Around Us - Dr. Zhong Lin Wang, Professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology, has developed a way to harness both sunlight and small movements in the same hybrid cell. To construct a nanogenerator, Wang grew a vertical array of microscopic zinc oxide (ZnO) wires on a flat base. On top of this, he placed an electrode with multiple pointed peaks that give it a “zig-zag” appearance. (
News:Pure Energy Blog May 19, 2013)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar Paint >
Graphene paint just one atom thick could power homes of the future - Scientists at the University of Manchester have found a way to use thin slices of graphene to convert solar energy to direct current electricity. The discovery could lead to a whole array of new applications, including a whole new method of creating a sustainable energy source to power buildings of the future. (
News:Pure Energy Blog March 5, 2013)
2012
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
A Nano-Approach to Solar Rivals the Entire Market - A small team of experts at Magnolia Solar have come together to develop a nanostructure-based coatings to replace silicon and thin-film approaches. They are working on a concept that would allow for the full absorption of all light, boasting efficiencies of 15 to 20 percent as low as 50 cents per watt. (EnergyDigital March 19, 2012)
Directory:Cold Fusion /
Directory:Magazines >
Directory:Infinite Energy Magazine >
Infinite Energy: Issue 102: Nano Dust Fusion -
Sidney Kimmel Institute • Nano Dust Fusion • An Oral History of Dr. Talbot Chubb • Testing the Definition of Thermodynamic Equilibrium • Part 1: Systems in a Gravitational Field •
MIT Short Course • Camouflaged Contextual Posturing in the Laws of Nature: Hidden Riches for Novel Forms of Technology and Energy Generation (March/April 2012)
Directory:Nanotechnology >
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar:Photosynthesis Imitation >
MIT Researchers Find a Way to Make Solar Panels from Grass Clippings - A paper published in
Scientific Reports describes an improved method for making electricity-producing "biophotovoltaics" without the sophisticated laboratory equipment previously needed. Researchers said custom-designed chemicals could be mixed with green plants, even grass clippings, to create a photovoltaic material by harnessing photosynthesis. (CNET February 2, 2012)
2011
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar Paint >
Directory:Paintable plastic solar cells using quantum dots >
Researchers develop paint-on solar cells - A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame have developed an inexpensive solar paint that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy. "By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, we've made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment." (PhysOrg December 21, 2011)
Directory:Nanotechnology >
Directory:Motors >
World's smallest electric motor made from a single molecule - Chemists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have developed the world's first single molecule electric motor, a development that may potentially create a new class of devices that could be used in applications ranging from medicine to engineering. (PhysOrg September 4, 2011)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Thin Film Solar >
Directory:Thin Film Solar >
'Swiss cheese' design enables thin film silicon solar cells with potential for higher efficiencies - A bold new design for thin film solar cells that requires significantly less silicon - and may boost their efficiency - is the result of an industry/academia collaboration between Oerlikon Solar in Switzerland and the Institute of Physics' photovoltaic group at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. (Solar Daily May 10, 2011)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Microorganisms in Energy Production /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Thin Film Solar >
Solar power goes viral: Modified virus improves solar-cell efficiency by one-third - Researchers at MIT have found a way to make significant improvements to the power-conversion efficiency of solar cells by enlisting the services of tiny viruses to perform detailed assembly work at the microscopic level. (PhysOrg April 25, 2011)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Waste to Energy >
Directory:Waste Heat Generators >
14% Nanomaterial Breakthrough in Waste Heat Electricity Could Turn Dirty Industries in US Into Electric Power Generators - A group of material scientists, physicists, and chemists at Northwestern University in Illinois have just created a new nanomaterial that enables 14% of heat waste to be converted to electricity, a scientific first. (Clean Technica January 20, 2011)
Directory:Solar /
Directory:Nanotechnology >
Directory:Nanotechnology >
MIT: Get Lots of Solar Energy in a Little Light - Researchers at MIT will use a way to concentrate sunlight so they can get a more powerful solar energy -- up to 100 times than current traditional photovoltaic cells. They use a solar funnel with carbon nanotubes - hollow tubes made of carbon atoms to capture and focus light energy. The drawback is the price of carbon nanotubes. (Solar Energy Utilize January 11, 2011)
2010
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Lighting >
Gold nanoparticles turn trees into streetlights - Yen-Hsun Su of Academia Sinica in Taiwan implanted gold nanoparticles into Bacopa caroliniana plants and found that, when exposed to high wavelength ultraviolet light, the gold nanoparticles can produce a blue-violet fluorescence that triggers a red emission of the surrounding chlorophyll. (GizMag Nov. 11, 2010)
Directory:Conspiracy / Directory:Nanotechnology / Directory:Batteries > Directory:Lithium Ion Batteries > Batteries smaller than a grain of salt - Research funded by DARPA is pushing the limits of this technology and trying to create some of the tiniest batteries on Earth, the largest of which would be no bigger than a grain of sand. These tiny energy storage devices could one day be used to power the electronics and mechanical components of tiny micro- to nano-scale devices. (Physorg October 19, 2010)
Directory:Piezoelectric /
Directory:Nanotechnology >
New piezoelectric device harvests wasted energy from electronics - A new device made out of piezoelectric material by researchers at Louisiana Tech University could allow a wide range of electronic devices to harvest their own wasted operational energy. It is coated with a carbon nanotube film on one side that causes the cantilever to bend back and forth repeatedly when it absorbs light and/or heat. (GizMag Oct. 11, 2010) (
Inhabitat)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Waste to Energy >
Directory:Waste Heat Generators >
Directory:Thermal Electric >
Directory:Thermal Electric >
Turning Waste Heat Into Power via Nanotech Molecules - Using a theoretical model of a so-called molecular thermoelectric device, a technology being developed at the University of Arizona harvests waste heat and cleanly converts it directly into electrical power, and requires no moving parts. A rubber-like polymer sandwiched between two metals acting as electrodes can do the trick, taking advantage of the laws of quantum physics. (Univ. of AZ News Sept. 23, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Storage >
Directory:Batteries >
Directory:Lithium Ion Batteries >
Paper-Thin Batteries Provide Bendable Power - New carbon nanotube-based technology could literally allow companies to paint layers of electricity-holding lithium-ion on standard pieces of paper. The new batteries, which are just 300 ?m thick, are thinner and more flexible, and they exhibit higher energy density and other electrical advantages, compared with other types of thin batteries. (Chemical & Engineering News Sept. 20, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Mimicking Living Organisms /
Directory:Solar >
Plant-Mimicking Solar Cells Can Self-Assemble - Scientists at MIT have created a breakthrough solution to one of the biggest problems facing solar cells by mimicking the world's best harvesters of solar energy: plants. Over time, sunlight breaks down the materials in solar cells, leading to a gradual degradation of devices aiming to harvest the energy in that light. Plants don't have this problem. (EcoGeek Sept. 7, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Solar PhotoVoltaics >
Directory:Concentrated Solar Power >
Carbon nanotube “solar funnel” for smaller, more efficient solar cells - Using carbon nanotubes, MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular PV cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays. (GizMag September 12, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Solar >
Directory:Thin Film Solar >
Transparent Solar Spray Transforms Windows Into Watts - Norwegian Company
EnSol AS has developed a remarkable new spray-on solar film that allows windows to generate solar power without clouding the view. The material consists of metal nanoparticles embedded in a transparent composite matrix that can be easily sprayed on. And the cells don’t just work on glass — they can be used on the rest of the house, too! (Inhabitat Aug. 10, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology / Directory:Waste to Energy > Directory:Energy from Sewage > Nanotech coatings produce 20 times more electricity from sewage - Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times (PhysOrg July 21, 2010)
Directory:Nanotechnology /
Directory:Batteries >
Carbon Nanotube Batteries Pack More Punch - Carbon nanotubes are attractive materials for battery-making because of their high surface area, which can accept more positive ions and potentially last longer than conventional batteries. Instead of this design, researchers at MIT have introduced something new — using chemically modified carbon nanotubes as the positive ion source themselves. (Science June 20, 2010)
2008
High-Performance Thermoelectric Capability in Silicon Nanowires - Researchers have shown that the thermoelectric properties of silicon—a material that can be processed on a large scale but has poor thermoelectric properties—can be vastly improved by structuring it into arrays of nanowires and carefully controlling nanowire morphology and doping. (Green Car Congress Jan. 11, 2008)
2007
New Solar Panel Design Traps More Light - A new solar panel design at Georgia Tech features an array of nano-towers -- like microscopic blades of grass -- that add surface area and trap more sunlight. The team is working on the voltage end of the equation to make the 60-x increase in current meaningful. (PhysOrg Apr. 11, 2007)
2006
The Nanopowers of Spinach - Ohio University physicists have developed a complex nanobiological switch using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to image chlorophyll-a and then inject it with a single electron to manipulate the molecule into four positions. The researchers say this biological switch might be used in future applications for green energy, technology and medicine. (Slashdot Sept. 9, 2006)
Body Movement Generates Electricity in Miniature Device - A new class of devices aims to convert energy created from body movement, the stretching of muscles or the flow of water to power future nanoscale components. (Fox News Apr. 14, 2005)
MIT researchers introduce nanotech battery - Nanotube ultracapacitors would store energy on atomic level, providing what is said to be the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in more than 200 years. (PESN Feb. 9, 2006)
Single molecule motor inspired by natural energy conversion - The cycle of oxidation and reduction causes soft/hard transitions within the molecule. The associated stretching and shrinking gives the mechanical energy. Published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications. (PhysOrg Jan. 23, 2006)
First solar-powered nano motor - When one of the dumbbell's stoppers absorbs sunlight, it transfers an electron to one of these ports of call, driving the ring to then shuffle over to the other station. The ring returns to the old site after the electron transfers back to the stopper, allowing the cycle to begin all over again. (PhysOrg Jan. 24, 2006)
Nanobatteries Power Artificial Eyes - A team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories is developing a nano-size battery to be implanted in the eye to power artificial retina. Applications also include nanomedical devices based on natural and synthetic ion transporters. (Sandia Jan. 12, 2006) (See Slashdot discussion)
2005
Carbon Nanotubes Improve Efficiency of Extracting Hydrogen from Water - Scientists at North Carolina State University have discovered a nanoscale method for extracting hydrogen from water that requires only half the energy of current hydrogen production methods. (ZPEnergy Sept. 29, 2005)
Nanotechnology for Recovery and Reuse of Spilled Oil - The recent hurricane Katrina disaster has included significant oil spills. Interface Science Corporation has announced that the company is launching its proprietary oil remediation and recovery application. (PhysOrg Sept. 9, 2005)
Method slashes quantum dot costs by 80 percent - Scientists at Rice University have developed a new method of replacing the pricey solvents used in fluorescent quantum dot synthesis with cheaper oils that are commonplace at industrial chemical plants. (EurekAlert Sept. 7, 2005)
Inexpensive oxidation catalyst could reduce diesel emissions - A new application of silver hollandite could make a big impact in diesel emissions control, according to researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who have developed an inexpensive method of synthesizing nano-sized silver hollandite. (EurekAlert Aug. 31, 2005)
New Source of Energy Using Nanotechnology - Solid state energetic material consisting of fuel and oxidizer creates high amounts of mechanical and thermal energy which can be converted energy into electrical energy using the thermoelectric and piezoelectric conversions. (PhysOrg Aug. 15, 2005)
Purdue simulation to help merge molecules with silicon electronics - Engineers at Purdue University have created a nanotech simulation tool that shows how current flows between silicon atoms and individual molecules to help researchers design "molecular electronic" devices for future computers and advanced sensors. Details are appearing in the current issue of Physical Review Letters. (EurekAlert Aug. 15, 2005)
$2 Billion Market in Nanopore - Sponges with pores only nanometers in diameter could help lead to advanced fuel cells in hydrogen-powered cars, as well as super-coolants to keep perishable drugs fresh and devices to clean out toxins in the body. (PhysOrg July 15, 2005)
Nanotechnology holds promise for new hydrogen fuel technologies - Jin Zhang, of the University of California, to receive $535,000 in grants from the U.S. DOE for two research projects aimed at developing new technologies for the production (solar hydrogen) and storage (hydrates) of hydrogen fuel. (PhysOrg June 29, 2005)
A giant step toward tiny functional nanowires - Northwestern University chemists have developed a new method that can routinely and cheaply produce nanowires with gaps as small as five nanometers wide. (EurekAlert June 29, 2005)
Going nano boosts thermoelectrics - International team of university researchers have come up with a designed that could increase maximum efficiency from today's 10% to 50%, whereby dissimilar metal heating/cooling generates electricity. (ZPEnergy May 27, 2005)
Quantum dot materials can reduce heat, boost electrical output - "Nanocrystals," also known as "quantum dots," produce as many as three electrons from one high energy photon of sunlight. In comparison today's photovoltaic solar cells produce less than one electron, the rest is lost as heat. (PhysOrg May 23, 2005)
'Metal-decorated' nanotubes hold hydrogen - New quantum calculations and computer models show that carbon nanotubes "decorated" with titanium or other transition metals can latch on to hydrogen molecules in numbers more than adequate for efficient hydrogen storage. (PhysOrg May 4, 2005)
Energy, Farms, Water Seen Aided by Nanotechnology - energy storage, production and conversion would be the top use of nanotechnology in a decade, including more efficient solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and new hydrogen storage. (Reuters April 13, 2005)
Toshiba's New Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Recharges in Only One Minute - A breakthrough technology applied to the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode. (Toshiba.com March 29, 2005)
Nanotechnology could promote hydrogen economy - Researchers at Rutgers impose a finely textured surface on the metal iridium creating millions of pyramids with facets as tiny as five nanometers across, onto which ammonia molecules can nestle like matching puzzle pieces for complete and efficient decomposition. (PhysOrg March 29, 2005 / Journal of the American Chemical Society, April 20, 2005)
Nanotechnologies could slash cost of solar energy - "Nanopatterning" can artificially change the optical properties of materials to allow light to be trapped in solar cells. (PhysOrg Feb. 3, 2005)
Moving electrons at the molecular and nonometer scales - Learning how to control the movement of electrons on the molecular and nanometer scales could help scientists devise small-scale circuits for a wide variety of applications, including more efficient ways of storing and using solar energy. (PhysOrg March 14, 2005)
Method Captures, Converts Heat - Using extremely thin nanowires could more than doubles the efficiency of thermoelectric materials, enabling a more effective capturing of thermal sources such as the waste heat in a car or geothermal heat. (PhysOrg March 31, 2005)
Nanoscience solutions for energy technologies advocated - Breakthroughs in nanotechnology are introducing technologies that are more efficient, inexpensive and environmentally sound, including technologies for storing and transmitting electricity. (PhysOrg March 10, 2005)
Carbon Nanotube Enhanced Ultracapacitors - Our analysis shows that the utilization of a matrix of vertically aligned Carbon Nanotubes as electrode structure, can lead to an ultracapacitor characterized by a power density greater than 100kW/kg (three orders of magnitude higher than batteries), a lifetime longer than 300,000 cycles, and an energy density higher than 60Wh/kg.
