Invisibly small carbon nanotubes aligned as fibers and sewn into fabrics become a thermoelectric generator that can turn heat from the sun or other sources into energy.
Nanophysics
Aug 16, 2021
1
2894
Near-field light is invisible light at the subwavelength scale. Harnessed for a variety of practical applications, such as wireless power transfer, near-field light has an increasingly significant role in the development ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 14, 2021
0
9
Researchers have demonstrated "giant flexoelectricity" in soft elastomers that could improve robot movement range and make self-powered pacemakers a real possibility. In a paper published this month in the Proceedings of ...
Materials Science
Jun 2, 2021
0
22
If you have witnessed the rainbow pattern that dances on the surface of a CD or DVD, then you have seen diffraction at work. The disk acts as a diffraction grating, an optical element that disperses light into various colors ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 2, 2021
0
16
Thermoelectric power generators that make electrical power from waste heat would be a useful tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if it weren't for a most vexing problem: The need to make electrical contacts to their hot ...
Materials Science
May 26, 2021
3
1191
The International Energy Agency says immediate action is needed to reshape the world's energy sector in order to meet ambitious climate goals by 2050, including ending investments in new coal mines, oil and gas wells.
Environment
May 18, 2021
3
5
Hydrogen as a clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels is part of a sustainable-energy future, and very much already here. However, lingering concerns about flammability have limited widespread use of hydrogen as a power ...
Analytical Chemistry
Apr 29, 2021
0
251
A wide variety of portable and wearable electronics have become a large part of our daily lives, so a group of Stanford University researchers wondered if these could be powered by harvesting electricity from the waste heat ...
Nanophysics
Apr 27, 2021
0
23
Researchers discovered, while exploring the photomechanical properties of diarylethene, that under irradiation with UV light the crystal of the compound peels off into micrometer sized crystals at a world's fastest speed ...
Analytical Chemistry
Apr 19, 2021
1
14
Nitrogen dioxide, an air pollutant emitted by fossil fuel-powered cars and gas-burning stoves is not only bad for the climate—it's bad for our health. Long-term exposure to NO2 has been linked to increased heart disease, ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 29, 2021
0
37
