University of Southampton

Printing large batteries

170 years ago, Faraday appreciated the different electrical properties of nano gold over bulk metal in electrical devices, so applying nanotechnology to these things is scarcely new. However, the huge sums now being applied to improvement of lithium traction batteries in particular are now leading to work on a much larger scale and thin film technology, nanotechnology and printing are in increasingly important part of this.

Lithium vehicle traction batteries and harvesting

The conference of about 40 people "Lithium Battery Technology and System Development" in London 9 March 2010 was concerned with "breaking barriers for electric vehicles".

Research into future generation energy harvesting

Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Co-Director of the ECS Pervasive Systems Centre, is leading a new £1.6M project, funded by the EPSRC, which will develop ultra energy-efficient electronic systems for emerging applications including mobile digital health and autonomous wireless monitoring in environmental and industrial settings.

Microfluidic fuel cells

Microfluidic fuel cells could provide the necessary energy to continuously power remote sensors, mobile phones and laptops according to an Electronics and Computer Science student who recently graduated from the University of Southampton.

Printed Electronics uses more inorganics and composites

Printed electronics is using more inorganics and composites in the quest for higher performance, lower costs, finer feature size, stretchability and creation of radically new components such as memristors, supercabatteries and metamaterials.

Huge increase in printed electronics toolkit

This year has already seen a huge increase in the choice of electronic components that can be printed or are compatible with printing in that they are thin, flexible and can support further printed circuitry on top.

Energy Harvesting and Storage Conference - Day Two

The second day of the IDTechEx conference on Energy Harvesting and Storage in Cambridge UK was dedicated to the technology roadmap.

University receives £6 million funding for Metamaterials

EPSRC, the UK Government's leading funding agency for research and training in engineering and the physical sciences has announced a new six-year program on nanostructured photonic metamaterials, to be established at the University of Southampton in England.

Visit to Plasma Quest

IDTechEx visited Professor Michael Thwaites at RF sputtering company Plasma Quest in Hampshire in the UK.

Plants inspire new generation of solar cells

The ability of plants to turn sunlight into energy through photosynthesis has been successfully mimicked by scientists at the University of Southampton to produce a new generation of solar cells.

Plants inspire new generation of solar cells

The ability of plants to turn sunlight into energy through photosynthesis has been successfully mimicked by scientists at the University of Southampton to produce a new generation of solar cells.

Printing piezo energy harvesters

Vibration energy harvesting is receiving a considerable amount of interest as a means for powering wireless sensor nodes. It is the simple notion that mechanical vibration can be transformed into useful electrical power.

Highlights from the Energy Harvesting Technology Event, London

Raghu Das, CEO at IDTechEx reports on the Energy Harvesting Technology event which looked at the use of technologies to generate electricity from the environment which can be used to power electronics and electrics.