adminA joint research team in Japan has developed a “single-seed cast method,” a new casting method making it possible to grow high-quality mono silicon at low cost. New casting method may facilitate the return of a market-competitive solar cell industry.
adminImagine a ‘smart pill’ that can sense problems in your intestines and actively release the appropriate drugs. We have the biological understanding to create such a device, but we’re still searching for electronic materials (like batteries and circuits) that pose no risk if they get stuck in our bodies. Now researchers present a vision for creating safe, consumable electronics, such as those powered by the charged ions within our digestive tracts.
Converting solar or wind into carbon-based ‘fossil’ fuels might seem anything but green, but when you start with carbon dioxide — which can be dragged out of the air — it’s as green as it gets. The technology that makes it economically feasible isn’t available yet, but a recently published paper presents nice step forward in the effort to not just sequester carbon dioxide, but turn it into a useful fuel that is part of a carbon-neutral future.
adminScientists have discovered how to make the electrical wiring on top of solar cells nearly invisible to incoming light. The new design, which uses silicon nanopillars to hide the wires, could dramatically boost solar-cell efficiency.
A new method to extract more efficient and polarized light from quantum dots (QDs) over a large-scale area has been developed by researchers. Their method, which combines QD and photonic crystal technology, could lead to brighter and more efficient mobile phone, tablet, and computer displays, as well as enhanced LED lighting.
adminResearchers are developing technology to make pacemakers battery-free. The advancement is based upon a piezoelectric system that converts vibrational energy — created inside the chest by each heartbeat — into electricity to power the pacemaker.
adminTo limit climate change, experts say that we need to reach carbon neutrality by the end of this century at the latest. To achieve that goal, our dependence on fossil fuels must be reversed. But what energy source will take its place? Researchers report that they just might have the answer: blue-green algae.
