Fuel cell advance
Researchers report a breakthrough that promises to bring down the cost of hydrogen fuel cells by replacing expensive platinum catalysts with cheaper ones made from metals like nickel.
Researchers report a breakthrough that promises to bring down the cost of hydrogen fuel cells by replacing expensive platinum catalysts with cheaper ones made from metals like nickel.
Hitachi, Ltd. and Tohoku University’s Advanced Institute for Materials Research have developed a basic technology to reduce the internal resistance of the all-solid-state lithium ion battery using a complex hydride as a solid electrolyte.
Water-splitting cells absorb sunlight and produce fuel. Creating such cells means pairing a material to absorb sunlight and generate electrons with the one that uses those electrons to produce fuel. Scientists introduced a novel way to study the flow of electrons where the materials meet.
A team led by researchers has created a super-strong yet light structural metal with extremely high specific strength and modulus, or stiffness-to-weight ratio. To create the super-strong but lightweight metal, the team found a new way to disperse and stabilize nanoparticles in molten metals.
They sound like futuristic weapons, but electron guns are actually workhorse tools for research and industry: They emit streams of electrons for electron microscopes, semiconductor patterning equipment and particle accelerators, to name a few important uses. Now scientists have figured out how to increase these electron flows 13,000-fold by applying a single layer of diamondoids – tiny, perfect diamond cages – to an electron gun’s sharp gold tip.
Researchers have revealed precisely how much different slipstreaming tactics reduce drag on a horse during a race.
Scientists demonstrate an unconventional means to achieve more efficient and robust conversion of solar energy into electricity.