Optofluidics could improve energy applications
September 13, 2011 By Anne Ju
A bioreactor with an open pond like this one, which uses photosynthesis to make fuels, could be improved with the use of optofluidic technologies. (Cellana)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to manipulate light and fluids on a single chip, broadly called "optofluidics," has led to such technologies as liquid-crystal displays and liquid-filled optical fibers for fast data transfer. Optofluidics is now also on the cusp of improving such green technologies as solar-powered bioreactors, say Cornell researchers.
The biggest challenge, says Cornell's David Erickson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is how to upscale optofluidic chips, which are built at nanometer scales, to deliver enough energy to make a difference. These challenges and opportunities are detailed in a Nature Photonics Review article by Erickson and two colleagues, published online Sept. 11.
"Over the last five years or so, we have developed many new technologies to precisely deliver light and fluids and biology to the same place at the same time," Erickson said. "It's these new tools that we want to apply to the area of energy."
For example, photobioreactors are large-scale systems that use microorganisms such as algae or cyanobacteria, to convert light and carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels. Photobioreactors employ photosynthesis for energy conversion, and Erickson envisions using an optofluidic chip to optimize how light and chemicals are distributed in the reactor.
In such systems as open-air ponds that harvest algae and collect sunlight, the light is scattered haphazardly, and the top layer gets more exposure. Optofluidic technologies, such as plasmonic nanoparticles or photonic waveguides, could more directly target the microorganisms and lead to greater energy output.
Similarly, the paper also describes how optofluidic devices could be used to improve photocatalytic systems, in which light energy splits water into the components hydrogen and oxygen, or converts carbon dioxide and water into hydrocarbon fuels. Other applications include optofluidic chips in solar collectors.
Erickson authored the review with Demetri Psaltis of Ecole Polytechnique Federal Lausanne, Switzerland, and David Sinton of the University of Toronto. His research is supported by the Academic Venture Fund of Cornell's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the National Science Foundation. Erickson is also a member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.
Provided by
Cornell University
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
4 comments
-
Water flow question
4 hours ago
-
[Drift velocity] Factors affecting velocity
6 hours ago
-
does cold gasoline have less energy
7 hours ago
-
distribution of molecules throughout the atmosphere
9 hours ago
-
The Global Positioning System !
10 hours ago
-
A Question relating Power
11 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - General Physics
More news stories
Is a classical electrodynamics law incompatible with special relativity?
(Phys.org) -- The laws of classical electromagnetism that were developed in the 19th century are the same laws that scientists use today. They include Maxwell’s four equations along with the Lorentz la ...
May 24, 2012 |
4.7 / 5 (17) |
43
|
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed
(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon – ...
May 25, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (22) |
51
|
Lying in wait for WIMPs: Researchers seek to dramatically increase sensitivity of Large Underground Xenon detector
Although it's invisible, dark matter accounts for at least 80 percent of the matter in the universe. No one knows what it is, but most scientists would bet on weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.
May 23, 2012 |
4 / 5 (7) |
15
|
Hawaii lab turns laser-powered bubbles into microrobots
(Phys.org) -- A team of scientists from the University of Hawaii are working on microrobots created from bubbles of air in a saline solution. The bubbles take on their title of “robots” as a laser ...
May 23, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
2
|
Sound increases the efficiency of boiling
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a 17-percent increase in boiling efficiency by using an acoustic field to enhance heat transfer. The acoustic field does this by efficiently removing vapor bubbles ...
May 24, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
2
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
Almost half of new vets seek disability
(AP) -- America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases – and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if – it will be an expensive undertaking.
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Sep 13, 2011
Rank: not rated yet