10 Oct 2014

How to make a perfect solar absorber
The key to creating a material that would be ideal for converting solar energy to heat is tuning the material's spectrum of absorption just right.
7 Oct 2014

Crumpled graphene could provide an unconventional energy storage
Researchers have now found that crumpling a piece of graphene "paper" — a material formed by bonding together layers of the two-dimensional form of carbon — can actually yield new properties that could be useful for creating extremely stretchable supercapacitors to store energy for flexible electronic devices.
6 Oct 2014

Underwater robot for port security
Researchers have unveiled an oval-shaped submersible robot, a little smaller than a football, with a flattened panel on one side that it can slide along an underwater surface to perform ultrasound scans.
29 Sep 2014

New formulation leads to improved liquid battery
Researchers have improved a proposed liquid battery system that could enable renewable energy sources to compete with conventional power plants.
23 Sep 2014

Greater than 99% semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes
SouthWest NanoTechnologies has received an SBIR Phase 1 Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
18 Sep 2014

Study sheds new light on why batteries go bad
A comprehensive look at how tiny particles in a lithium ion battery electrode behave shows that rapid-charging the battery and using it to do high-power, rapidly draining work may not be as damaging as researchers had thought - and that the benefits of slow draining and charging may have been overestimated.
External press release
4 Sep 2014

What's in store? The future of batteries to be revealed
A current major topic of conversation within the advanced battery and electric vehicle industry is the future of battery technology and chemistries in the context of energy density, safety and cost.
22 Aug 2014

Hanergy completes acquisition of Alta Devices
Hanergy Holding Group Limited announced that it has completed the acquisition of Alta Devices, whose thin film solar technology has a conversion efficiency of 30.8 percent, the highest among the solar energy technologies currently available in the world.
20 Aug 2014

Recycling old batteries into solar cells
A system proposed by researchers recycles materials from discarded car batteries — a potential source of lead pollution — into new, long-lasting solar panels.
12 Aug 2014

Running on waste heat
Researchers have now created a thermoelectric generator (TEG) — a one-square-inch, quarter-inch-thick module — that turns waste heat emitted by vehicles into electricity to lend those vehicles added power.
30 Jul 2014

Generating electricity from humidity
Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices.
25 Jul 2014

Spongelike structure converts solar energy into steam
A new material structure generates steam by soaking up the sun.
21 Jul 2014

Solar powered smart benches
Soofa is a solar-powered bench that provides free outdoor charging for mobile devices and location-based information like air quality and noise levels by uploading environmental sensor data to soofa.co. The smart urban furniture is developed by Changing Environments, a MIT Media Lab spin-off.
21 Jul 2014

Flexible, printed batteries for wearable devices
A California startup is developing flexible, rechargeable batteries that can be printed cheaply on commonly used industrial screen printers.
16 Jul 2014

Thermoelectric material to hit market later this year
California-based Alphabet Energy plans to begin selling a new type of material that can turn heat into electricity. Unlike previous thermoelectrics, as such materials are known, it is abundant, cheap, and nontoxic.
24 Jun 2014

UAVs can recharge their batteries by perching on power lines
Researchers developed a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can perch on a power line like a bird. This opens up the possibility for UAVs to recharge their batteries using the magnetic fields emitted by power lines.
16 Jun 2014

Record-breaking solar cell points the way to cheaper power
Panasonic reveals a design that surpasses a 20-year-old mark for solar cell efficiency.
9 Jun 2014

Improving a new breed of solar cells
Researchers have set a new record for the most efficient quantum-dot cells — a type of solar cell that is seen as especially promising because of its inherently low cost, versatility, and light weight.
30 May 2014

Battery made of iron could improve economics of solar and wind power
A startup called Enervault recently unveiled battery technology that could increase the amount of renewable energy utilities can use.
29 May 2014

Improving a new breed of solar cells
A new record has been set for the most efficient quantum-dot cells — a type of solar cell that is seen as especially promising because of its inherently low cost, versatility, and light weight.