University of Pennsylvania

Super-stretchable yarn Is made of graphene

Researchers at Penn State and Shinshu University in Japan have developed a simple, scalable method of making graphene oxide fibers that are strong, stretchable and can be easily scrolled into yarns with strengths approaching that of Kevlar.

Researchers develop all-carbon lithium battery

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new type of rechargeable lithium battery with components made entirely of carbon.

Tiny power generator runs on spit

Saliva-powered micro-sized microbial fuel cells can produce minute amounts of energy sufficient to run on-chip applications, according to an international team of engineers.

Pipistrel

World's leading electric aircraft manufacturer and the only one with ten years of sales.

Supercapacitors increase range of electric vehicles

Supercapacitors are increasing the range of electric vehicles in several ways and by doing so they are hugely increasing the addressable market for those vehicles. Typically, they last for the life of the vehicle regardless of how many cycles are endured.

Graphene Frontiers awarded grant for roll-to-roll graphene production

Graphene Frontiers, a company developed through the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Transfer, has been awarded a $744,600 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop roll-to-roll production of graphene, the "miracle material" at the heart of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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.

Organic polymers show sunny potential

The photovoltaic devices created are based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers.

ALABC UltraBattery hybrid surpasses 100,000 miles of fleet duty

Three years ago, the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) was asked to demonstrate the durability of lead-carbon batteries in the high-rate, partial state-of-charge operation of a hybrid electric vehicle.

Flexible electronics could transform electronic devices

Nearly everyone knows what the inside of a computer or a mobile phone looks like: A stiff circuit board, usually green, crammed with chips, resistors, capacitors and sockets, interconnected by a suburban sprawl of printed wiring. But what if our printed circuit board was not stiff, but flexible enough to bend or even fold?

Organic polymers show sunny potential

A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar energy devices.

Advancing bio-inspired micro-robotics technology

BAE Systems has been awarded $43 million to lead the Army Research Laboratory's (ARL) Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance for an additional five years to advance bio-inspired micro-robotics technology to extend the remote sensing capability of U.S. ground forces.

Nanoscale antennas boost solar energy harvesting

A novel fabrication technique developed could provide the breakthrough technology scientists have been looking for to vastly improve today's solar energy systems.

Longer battery life for electric locomotive

A leading cause of damage and death in lead-acid batteries is sulfation, a degradation of the battery caused by frequent charging and discharging that creates an accumulation of lead sulfate.

Flexible silicon solar-cell fabrics may be possible

For the first time, a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities has been developed that has been shown to be scalable to many meters in length.

Flexible silicon solar-cell fabrics may soon become possible

For the first time, a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities has been developed that has been shown to be scalable to many meters in length.

Self powered monitoring of nuclear reactors

Japan's Fukushima Dai'ichi nuclear disaster that occurred in 2011 as a result of the strongest earthquake on record in the country and the powerful tsunami waves it triggered, underscored the need for a method to monitor the status of nuclear fuel rods that doesn't rely on electrical power.

$18.5 million grant to develop self-powered health devices

Penn State, North Carolina State University, the University of Virginia and Florida International University will collaborate on a national nanotechnology research effort to create self-powered devices to help people monitor their health and understand how the surrounding environment affects it.

Nanotubes to boost dye-sensitized solar cells

A three-year grant from the National Science Foundation has set the team on a track to explore ways to make new photoelectric cells more efficient, durable and affordable.