News tagged with electric energy

Mechanical motion rectifier leads to better energy harvesting

(Phys.org) -- Mechanical energy is all around us, whether in the form of a vehicle's vibrations, ocean waves, or vibrating train tracks. However, much of this energy is irregular and oscillatory - for example, road bumps ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 26 | with audio podcast report

Rational design can improve hydrogen fuel cell efficiency

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen fuel cells, in which the chemical energy of hydrogen is converted into electricity, offer the potential for a wide variety of applications, especially in transportation and power ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries get a boost from graphene

(PhysOrg.com) -- By wrapping tiny sulfur particles in graphene sheets, researchers from Stanford University have synthesized a promising cathode material for rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries that could ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (22) | comments 53 | with audio podcast feature

Energy harvesting skin generates power from air conditioners

(PhysOrg.com) -- Devices that harvest ambient energy from the surrounding environment have become popular since, for some applications, they eliminate the need for batteries that must constantly be replaced. ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 7 | with audio podcast feature

Scotland passes turbine test to harness tidal power

(Phys.org) -- An underwater turbine being used for harnessing tidal power to generate electricity for homes and businesses has successfully completed its testing period in the island of Eday, one of Orkney’s ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created May 20, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (18) | comments 41 | with audio podcast report

Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels

Taking their cue from the humble leaf, researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Satellite proposed to send solar power to Earth

(Phys.org) -- Artemis Innovation Management Solutions has been given some seed money by NASA to look deeper into a project the company first proposed last summer; namely, building a satellite that could collect ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (54) | comments 75 | with audio podcast report

Understanding photosynthesis: How plants use catalytic reactions to split oxygen from water

Splitting hydrogen and oxygen from water using conventional electrolysis techniques requires considerable amounts of electrical energy. But green plants produce oxygen from water efficiently using a catalytic ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Researchers find simple and cheap way to mass-produce graphene nanosheets

Mixing a little dry ice and a simple industrial process cheaply mass-produces high-quality graphene nanosheets, researchers in South Korea and Case Western Reserve University report.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (33) | comments 22 | with audio podcast

Graphene battery demonstrated to power an LED

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Hong Kong have reported, in ArXiv, their experiments to make a graphene battery that they say generates an electrical current by drawing on the ambient thermal energy in the sol ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (25) | comments 24 | with audio podcast report

Nanotrees harvest the sun's energy to turn water into hydrogen fuel

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Heart-powered pacemaker could one day eliminate battery-replacement surgery

A new power scheme for cardiac pacemakers turns to an unlikely source: vibrations from heartbeats themselves.

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Feb 12, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Record conductivity achieved in strained lattice organic semiconductor

(PhysOrg.com) -- Organic semiconductors could usher in an era of foldable smartphones, better high-definition television screens and clothing made of materials that can harvest energy from the sun needed to ...

Technology / Semiconductors

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Award-winning energy harvester brings practical applications closer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Although the idea of harvesting ambient energy from the environment and using it to generate electricity is alluring, most of the technology so far is capable of generating only very small ...

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 12 | with audio podcast report