Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Next-generation wireless technology may leverage the human body for energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While you may be just starting to reap the advantages of 5G wireless technology, researchers throughout the world are already working hard on the future: 6G. One of the most promising breakthroughs in 6G telecommunications is the possibility of Visible Light Communication (VLC), which is like a wireless version of fiberoptics, using flashes of light to transmit information. Now, a team has announced that they have invented a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna. This waste energy can be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or even, perhaps, larger electronics.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

More links aren't necessarily better for hybrid nanomaterials      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Chemists have discovered more isn't always better when it comes to packing charge-acceptor molecules on the surface of semiconducting nanocrystals.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new kind of solar panel has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen--mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in the technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than solar water-splitting experiments of its kind.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels
Published

A step towards solar fuels out of thin air      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Chemical engineers have invented a solar-powered artificial leaf, built on a novel electrode which is transparent and porous, capable of harvesting water from the air for conversion into hydrogen fuel. The semiconductor-based technology is scalable and easy to prepare.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Space: Exploration
Published

Space solar power technology demo launched into orbit      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The launch represents the first in-situ test of the technology to harvest solar energy in space and transmit it to Earth.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Self-powered, printable smart sensors created from emerging semiconductors could mean cheaper, greener Internet of Things      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Creating smart sensors to embed in our everyday objects and environments for the Internet of Things (IoT) would vastly improve daily life -- but requires trillions of such small devices. A professor believes that emerging alternative semiconductors that are printable, low-cost and eco-friendly could lead the way to a cheaper and more sustainable IoT.

Engineering: Graphene Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Human brain organoids implanted into mouse cortex respond to visual stimuli for first time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of engineers and neuroscientists has demonstrated for the first time that human brain organoids implanted in mice have established functional connectivity to the animals' cortex and responded to external sensory stimuli. The implanted organoids reacted to visual stimuli in the same way as surrounding tissues, an observation that researchers were able to make in real time over several months thanks to an innovative experimental setup that combines transparent graphene microelectrode arrays and two-photon imaging.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Improving the operational stability of perovskite solar cells      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have found a way to improve the operational stability of perovskite solar cells, a crucial step towards their commercialization.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Space: The Solar System
Published

The world's largest turbulence simulation unmasks the flow of energy in astrophysical plasmas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers uncover the long-hidden process that helps explain why the Sun's corona can be vastly hotter than the solar surface that emits it.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Designing with DNA      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Marvel at the tiny nanoscale structures emerging from labs, and it's easy to imagine you're browsing a catalog of the world's smallest pottery: itty-bitty vases, bowls, and spheres. But instead of making them from clay, the researchers designed these objects out of threadlike molecules of DNA, bent and folded into complex three-dimensional objects. These creations demonstrate the possibilities of a new open-source software program.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Shrinking hydrogels enlarge nanofabrication options      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a strategy for creating ultrahigh-resolution, complex 3D nanostructures out of various materials.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

New X-ray imaging technique to study the transient phases of quantum materials      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of researchers has recently demonstrated for the first time the use of a new lensless ultrafast X-Ray method to image phase transitions. This new method enables the direct observation of the dynamics of quantum materials at the nanoscale.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New study models the transmission of foreshock waves towards Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the supersonic solar wind surges towards Earth, its interaction with our planet's magnetic field creates a shock to deflect its flow, and a foreshock filled with electromagnetic waves. How these waves can propagate to the other side of the shock has long remained a mystery.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Scientists discover a novel photophysical mechanism that has achieved record-breaking efficiency for organic photovoltaics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are a promising, economical, next-generation solar cell technology for scalable clean energy and wearable electronics. But the energy conversion loss due to the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in OPVs has hindered further enhancement of their power conversion efficiency (PCE). Recently, researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) overcame this obstacle by inventing a novel device-engineering strategy to successfully suppress the energy conversion loss, resulting in record-breaking efficiency.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Ammonium is the secret ingredient in stable, efficient, scalable perovskite solar cells      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new pathway to creating durable, efficient perovskite photovoltaics at industrial scale has been demonstrated through the first effective use of lead acetate as a precursor in making formamidinium-caesium perovskite solar cells.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Tandem solar cell achieves 32.5 percent efficiency      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers report a new world record for tandem solar cells consisting of a silicon bottom cell and a perovskite top cell. The new tandem solar cell converts 32.5 percent of the incident solar radiation into electrical energy.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Catalyzing 'net-zero' green hydrogen from the sun      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered an important in-situ protonation process that the photodynamics and separation of charge carriers in a photocatalyst, leading to efficient hydrogen generation from water using visible solar light. The process is enabled in an interstitial phosphorus doped carbon nitride structure, with only earth-abundant non-metallic elements, for its cost-effectiveness and high potential for practical applications.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published

Producing 'green' energy -- literally -- from living plant 'bio-solar cells'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Though plants can serve as a source of food, oxygen and décor, they're not often considered to be a good source of electricity. But by collecting electrons naturally transported within plant cells, scientists can generate electricity as part of a 'green,' biological solar cell. Now, researchers have used a succulent plant to create a living 'bio-solar cell' that runs on photosynthesis.

Energy: Alternative Fuels
Published

Good vibrations turbo charge green hydrogen production      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Engineers have used sound waves to boost production of green hydrogen by 14 times, through electrolysis to split water.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published

Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source      (via sciencedaily.com) 

MIT researchers developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce ultrathin, flexible, durable, lightweight solar cells that can be stuck to any surface. Glued to high-strength fabric, the solar cells are only one-hundredth the weight of conventional cells while producing about 18 times more power-per-kilogram.