US Department of Energy

Energy harvesting, WSN, supercaps: 3 Events, 2 Days, 1 Venue

For the first time in this year's event in Washington DC on the 7th and 8th of November, a third event, focusing on supercapacitor technologies will be co-located, highlighting the advances, applications and adoption trends in this closely related field.

Utah physicists invent 'Spintronic' LED

New technology promises brighter TV and computer displays

Photovoltaics from any semiconductor

A technology that would enable low-cost, high efficiency solar cells to be made from virtually any semiconductor material has been developed.

The long, winding road to advanced batteries for electric cars

Batteries have come a long way since Alessandro Volta first discovered in 1800 that two unlike metals, when separated by an acidic solution, could produce an electric current. In their evolution, batteries have taken on various forms, ranging from lead-acid, to nickel-metal hydride, to current-day lithium-ion.

EV battery funding successes and hopes

US and European funding for electric vehicle batteries continues to trickle in but at a more modest scale than before.

OLED lighting is still in its infancy

Recently IDTechEx attended the solid-state lighting workshop in San Jose, California.

Breakthrough graphene technology wins R&D Magazine award

Vorbeck Materials, in partnership with Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) and Princeton University, was recognized last week by R&D Magazine for developing one of the 100 most significant scientific and technological products or advances of the year.

Textured surface may boost power output of solar cells

A team at MIT has found a new approach that could reduce the thickness of the silicon used by more than 90 percent while still maintaining high efficiency.

Ancient effect harnessed to produce electricity

A phenomenon first observed by an ancient Greek philosopher 2,300 years ago has become the basis for a new device designed to harvest the enormous amounts of energy wasted as heat each year to produce electricity.

New process for solar glass

Columbia, MD - June 18, 2012 - New Energy Technologies, Inc., developer of see-through solar cells for generating electricity on glass, today announces an improvement in its manufacturing technique that should lead to higher speed, lower costs and greater durability

A dirt cheap magnetic field sensor from plastic paint

The new kind of magnetic-resonance magnetometer also resists heat and degradation, works at room temperature and never needs to be calibrated.

Traction batteries beyond Li-ion arriving early

Lithium-ion batteries involve lithium ions being intercalated and de-intercalated at electrodes during cycling. Other batteries involve lithium ions but are not called lithium-ion because they work in another way. There are single use versions but now there are rechargeable versions arriving earlier than most pundits thought possible.

Unzipped carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could eventually replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

Scientists uncover photosynthetic puzzle

The result of the study could significantly influence efforts by chemists and nanoscientists to create artificial materials and devices that can imitate natural photosynthetic systems.

Taking solar technology up a notch

New inexpensive, environmentally friendly solar cell shines with potential.

Energy Harvesting & Storage and Wireless Sensor Networks & RTLS awards

On Tuesday the 15th of May in Berlin, Germany, IDTechEx recognised innovation once more with the Energy Harvesting & Storage and Wireless Sensor Networks & RTLS awards, in a ceremony that took place on the first day of the IDTechEx conference on the topic.

Scientists generate electricity from viruses

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

Report on EVS26

EVS26 in Los Angeles this month reminded one of the children's chant, "When she was good she was very, very good but when she was bad she was awful". The networking opportunities were superb, the welcoming reception and the Gala Dinner being truly memorable.

Black solar cells have lowest reflectance for silicon solar cells

Scientists at Natcore Technology Inc using simple liquid bath processes, have created a black surface on a silicon wafer with an average reflectance in the visible and near-infrared region of the solar spectrum of 0.3%, making it the "blackest" silicon solar cell surface ever recorded.

UK research brings quantum computing closer to reality

The UK-USF team showed that a flat sheet of pure carbon only one atom thick, called graphene, can be suitably engineered and used for this purpose when combined with atoms of the metallic element cobalt.