University of California, Riverside

Making batteries with portabello mushrooms

Can portabello mushrooms stop cell phone batteries from degrading over time?

Hydrogen fuel cell technology for maritime applications

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration has announced that it is providing $500,000 to support a feasibility study for the design, construction, and operation of a high-speed passenger ferry powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology and a hydrogen refueling station.

TransPower heavy-duty electric vehicle technologies

Transportation Power Inc has announced results of independent laboratory testing at the University of California, Riverside.

Glass coating improves battery performance

Lithium-sulfur batteries have been a hot topic in battery research because of their ability to produce up to 10 times more energy than conventional batteries.

New paper-like material could boost batteries

Researchers have developed a novel paper-like material for lithium-ion batteries. It has the potential to boost by several times the specific energy, or amount of energy that can be delivered per unit weight of the battery.

Self-powered intelligent keyboard

By analyzing such parameters as the force applied by key presses and the time interval between them, a new self-powered non-mechanical intelligent keyboard could provide a stronger layer of security for computer users.

Cutting electric vehicle energy use 51 percent

Researchers have shown that a vehicle navigation tool they created can cut electric vehicle energy use up to 51 percent.

Using sand to improve battery performance

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have created a lithium ion battery that outperforms the current industry standard by three times. The key material: sand. Yes, sand.

Charging portable electronics in ten minutes

Researchers have developed a three-dimensional, silicon-decorated, cone-shaped carbon-nanotube cluster architecture for lithium ion battery anodes that could enable charging of portable electronics in 10 minutes, instead of hours.

Silly Putty material inspires better lithium-ion batteries

Using a material found in Silly Putty and surgical tubing, a group of researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a new way to make lithium-ion batteries that will last three times longer between charges compared to the current industry standard.

Novel supercapacitor architecture provides two times more energy

Researchers have developed a novel nanometer scale ruthenium oxide anchored nanocarbon graphene foam architecture that improves the performance of supercapacitors, a development that could mean faster acceleration in electric vehicles and longer battery life in portable electronics.

Silly putty material inspires better batteries

Using a material found in Silly Putty and surgical tubing, a group of researchers have developed a new way to make lithium-ion batteries that will last three times longer between charges compared to the current industry standard.

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.

Pigments used to prototype light-harvesting antennas

A ring of protein and pigments, half synthetic and half natural, can be used to quickly prototype light-harvesting antennas that absorb more sunlight than fully natural ones.

New 'electronic nose' nano-sensor being developed

The "electronic nose" sensor will be further refined to detect deadly pathogens including toxic pesticides in the global food supply chain, according to a recently signed product development and distribution agreement.

Biomimicry could improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries

Scientist is using the teeth of a marine snail found off the coast of California to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.

Hybrid construction vehicle emissions to be analyzed

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside's Center for Environmental Research and Technology have received a $2 million contract for a first-of-its-kind study of hybrid construction vehicles.

Triple-mode transistors show potential

Rice researchers introduce graphene-based amplifiers

Improvements to solar cells come from moths and cicadas

Peng Jiang, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, is drawing inspiration from the eyes of moths and the wings of cicadas to create unusual new anti-reflective and water-repellant coatings — coatings that appear to have potential to make solar cells both more efficient and self-cleaning.

First step towards strain-based graphene engineering

Researchers report the first direct observation and controlled creation of one- and two-dimensional ripples in graphene sheets. Using simple thermal manipulation, the researchers produced the ripples, and controlled their orientation, wavelength and amplitude.