US Department of Energy

Pressure cooking to improve electric car batteries

By creating nanoparticles with a controlled shape, researchers believe smaller, more powerful and energy efficient batteries can be built.

Better batteries through biology?

Lithium-air batteries have become a hot research area in recent years: They hold the promise of drastically increasing power per battery weight, which could lead, for example, to electric cars with a much greater driving range.

Cure for crack-prone high-capacity batteries

Researchers have shown that mixing silicon microparticles with self-healing polymers helps prevent a longer-lasting battery from failing.

Better batteries through biology?

researchers have found that adding genetically modified viruses to the production of nanowires — wires that are about the width of a red blood cell, and which can serve as one of a battery's electrodes — could help solve some problems.

New solar cell is more efficient, less costly

American innovators still have some cards to play when it comes to squeezing more efficiency and lower costs out of silicon, the workhorse of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules worldwide

Opportunities for organic solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells

The Printed Electronics and Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2013 events bring together leading players who are developing and commercializing the third-generation of photovoltaic technologies, including organic photovoltaics and dye-sensitised solar cells.

Chrylsler Group to develop advanced electric and hybrid power trains

hrysler Group LLC has entered a 5-year, $18.2 million partnership with McMaster University, with funding support from the Canadian government, to develop next-generation, energy-efficient, high-performance electrified powertrains and powertrain components.

Supercapacitors USA 2013

There are just three weeks left until IDTechEx's Supercapacitors USA event in Santa Clara California, on November 20-21.

Forest waste to develop cheaper, greener supercapacitors

Researchers report that wood-biochar supercapacitors can produce as much power as today's activated-carbon supercapacitors at a fraction of the cost - and with environmentally friendly byproducts.

New 8 million dollar battery laboratory

A new $8 million battery lab has opened at the University of Michigan that will help Ford develop batteries that are smaller, lighter and less expensive to produce.

Class action against Ecotality Inc

Pomerantz Grossman Hufford Dahlstrom & Gross LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against Ecotality, Inc and certain of its officers.

Tiny water droplets carry electric charge

In a completely unexpected finding, researchers have discovered that tiny water droplets that form on a superhydrophobic surface, and then "jump" away from that surface, carry an electric charge.

New battery technology could allow EVs twice the current range

A cutting-edge battery technology developed at the University of Colorado Boulder that could allow tomorrow's electric vehicles to travel twice as far on a charge is now closer to becoming a commercial reality.

$3.4 million for breakthrough battery technology

$3.4 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) to develop a breakthrough battery technology that may more than double the current range of electric vehicles (EV), increase safety, reduce costs and simplify recharging.

New materials improve oxygen catalysis

Researchers have found a new family of materials that provides the best-ever performance in a reaction called oxygen evolution, a key requirement for energy storage and delivery systems such as advanced fuel cells and lithium-air batteries.

Innovative solid-state rechargeable battery

A cutting-edge battery technology could allow tomorrow's electric vehicles to travel twice as far on a charge is now closer to becoming a commercial reality.

Water a possible key to energy storage for electric vehicles

scientists from GE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) may have just the recipe for next-generation electric vehicle (EV) batteries that achieve desired driving range and cost for consumers.

Nanocrystal catalyst transforms impure hydrogen into electricity

Brookhaven Lab scientists use simple, 'green' process to create novel core-shell catalyst that tolerates carbon monoxide in fuel cells and opens new, inexpensive pathways for zero-emission vehicles.

Physicists develop polymer with tunable colours

y inserting platinum atoms into an organic semiconductor physicists were able to "tune" the plastic-like polymer to emit light of different colors - a step toward more efficient, less expensive and truly white organic LEDs for light bulbs of the future.

New method for harvesting energy from light

Researchers have demonstrated a new mechanism for extracting energy from light, a finding that could improve technologies for generating electricity from solar energy and lead to more efficient optoelectronic devices used in communications.