New hydrogen-storage method discovered

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem. The researchers found that the normally unreactive, noble gas xenon combines with molecular hydrogen (H2) under pressure to form a previously unknown solid with unusual bonding chemistry. The experiments are the first time these elements have been combined to form a stable compound. The discovery debuts a new family of materials, which could boost new hydrogen technologies. The paper is published in the November 22, 2009, advanced online publication of Nature Chemistry. Read more...

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/ci-nhm112009.php

Breakthrough in Battery Technology in the offing

Scientists in advanced materials and electrochemistry have produced electric storage batteries what could be the single most important breakthrough for clean, alternative energy.

It's a new generation of deep-storage battery that's small enough, and safe enough, to sit in your basement and power you home.

Read More...
Source: Daily Herald

Nanotechnology: Lithium-Ion Batteries Have Better Performance With New Electrode Material

Nanotechnology: Lithium-Ion Batteries Have Better Performance With New Electrode Material

Need to store electricity more efficiently? Put it behind bars.
That's essentially the finding of a team of Rice University researchers who have created hybrid carbon nanotube metal oxide arrays as electrode material that may improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.
With battery technology high on the list of priorities in a world demanding electric cars and gadgets that last longer between charges, such innovations are key to the future. Electrochemical capacitors and fuel cells would also benefit, the researchers said.
The team from Pulickel Ajayan's research group published a paper this week describing the proof-of-concept research in which nanotubes are grown to look – and act – like the coaxial conducting lines used in cables. The coax tubes consist of a manganese oxide shell and a highly conductive nanotube core. REA MORE...
Source: ScienceDaily

Fusion breakthrough will boost power output

Fusion breakthrough will boost power output
Dec. 4, 2008David Chandler, MIT News OfficeResearch carried out at MIT's Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor may have brought the promise of fusion as a future power source a bit closer to reality, though scientists caution that a practical fusion powerplant is still decades away.
Fusion, the reaction that produces the sun's energy, is thought to have enormous potential for future power generation because fusion plant operation produces no emissions, fuel sources are potentially abundant, and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste. But it still faces great hurdles."There's been a lot of progress," says physicist Earl Marmar, division head of the Alcator Project at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). "We're learning a lot more about the details of how these things work."The Alcator C-Mod reactor, in operation since 1993, has the highest magnetic field and the highest plasma pressure of any fusion reactor in the world, and is the largest fusion reactor operated by any university. READ MORE...

The story is also available in the Dec. 3, 2008, edition of MIT Tech Talk, http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/techtalk53-10.pdf

SOURCE: MIT

Light Weight Hydrogen 'Tank' Could Fuel Hydrogen Economy

Dutch-sponsored researcher Robin Gremaud has shown that an alloy of the metals magnesium, titanium and nickel is excellent at absorbing hydrogen. This light alloy brings us a step closer to the everyday use of hydrogen as a source of fuel for powering vehicles. A hydrogen ‘tank’ using this alloy would have a relative weight that is sixty percent less than a battery pack.

In order to find the best alloy Gremaud developed a method which enabled simultaneous testing of thousands of samples of different metals for their capacity to absorb hydrogen.

Hydrogen is considered to be a clean and therefore important fuel of the future. This gas can be used directly in cars in an internal combustion engine, like in BMW’s hydrogen vehicle, or it can be converted into electrical energy in so-called fuel cells, like in the Citaro buses in service in Amsterdam. READ MORE...
Source: ScienceDaily

High-temperature Superconductors: New Method Exploring 'Energy Gap' Shows Electron Pairs Exist Before Superconductivity Sets In

Like astronomers tweaking images to gain a more detailed glimpse of distant stars, physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have found ways to sharpen images of the energy spectra in high-temperature superconductors — materials that carry electrical current effortlessly when cooled below a certain temperature.

These new imaging methods confirm that the electron pairs needed to carry current emerge above the transition temperature, before superconductivity sets in, but only in a particular direction. READ MORE...

Source: ScienceDaily

New type of fuel found in Patagonia fungus

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- A team led by a Montana State University professor has found a fungus that produces a new type of diesel fuel, which they say holds great promise.

Calling the fungus' output "myco-diesel," Gary Strobel and his collaborators describe their initial observations in the November issue of Microbiology.

The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol. READ MORE...

Source: Erekalert

Lithium-ion Nanomaterial Batteries: Our new hope with a dose of caution

The article says that the batteries could be significant to energy storage for transportation; wind, solar, and other forms of alternative energy; smart-grid electricity management; viable electric vehicles; and others. The article says that there is currently a lack of oversight on other potential risks and that only a few studies exist on the potential environmental implications of recycling and disposing these new batteries.

The article can be viewed here.

Nanowires: Boosting batteries

Nanowires: Boosting batteries
Tim Reid

Electrodes made from silicon nanowires can greatly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Original article citation Peng, K., Jie, J., Zhang, W. & Lee, S. T. Silicon nanowires for rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 033105 (2008).

Source: Nature

A new approach to use hydrogen as an alternative fuel source has been discovered

A team of scientists from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has designed a material with such high ion conductivity that it allows the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel. The research work has been published in the prestigious journal 'Science.'

Fuel cells are the foundation of this technology which, if it becomes industrially viable, would represent the beginning of an energy revolution that would replace the current fossil fuel based system by a model based on hydrogen. This would be an energy source that is practically endless and since it only generates water as a combustion by-product, it is ecologically friendly.
The function of fuel cells is similar to that of batteries, but while batteries only store energy in a closed chemical system, fuel cells produce energy by combusting hydrogen.

To accomplish this, fuel cells require an electrolyte that permits the flow of ions between the electrodes. The problem that scientists currently face is that a temperature of up to 800 degrees Celsius is needed to achieve a high enough ionic conductivity. Therefore the challenge they must overcome is how to reduce the working temperature of this technology to an acceptable range.
Towards this end, a research group at the Complutense University has produced a material with a new structure by alternating layers of an ion conductive material that is currently used in fuel cells (Yttria-stabilized zirconia) with a dielectric material (Strontium titanate). The combination of these two materials with very diverse crystalline structures has produced a rare atomic disposition full of gaps that act as a path for the flow of ions. This results in a colossal ionic conductivity at the transition surface between the two materials.

The image of the molecular structure of this material has been obtained at the Oak Ridge national laboratory (USA) using a scanning transmission electron microscope with a resolution of less than 0,1 nanometres (the approximate size of an hydrogen atom). The researchers were very surprised to see in the images a perfectly structured growth at the atomic level, in spite of the very different structures of the materials. As a matter of fact, this result was absolutely unexpected according to the experience gathered from the analysis of this type of structures.

An even greater surprise was the high degree of ionic conductivity, measured at the Universidad Complutense in collaboration with the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. It is about a hundred million times higher than that of materials used at present for the fabrication of fuel cells. This characteristic could allow their use at room temperature, permitting extensive use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source.

SOURCE: http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08100782

Nanotechnology applications could provide the required energy breakthroughs

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Nanotechnology applications could provide decisive technological breakthroughs in the energy sector and have a considerable impact on creating the sustainable energy supply that is required to make the transition from fossil fuels. Possibilities range from gradual short- and medium-term improvements for a more efficient use of conventional and renewable energy sources all the way to completely new long-term approaches for energy recovery and utilization. With enough political will – and funding – nanotechnology could make essential contributions to sustainable energy supply and global climate protection policies. The technological foundation is there, all it takes is political leadership to create the right research and investment conditions to make it happen.

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Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/