Team unveils catalyst that can break problematic C-F bonds

Rice University engineers have created a light-powered catalyst that can break the strong chemical bonds in fluorocarbons, a group of synthetic materials that includes persistent environmental pollutants.

New nanoscale solar cells could revolutionize solar industry

University of Maryland Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor Jeremy Munday and graduate students Yunlu Xu and Tao Gong have designed a new type of nanoscale solar cell that they predict could ...

Self-cooling solar cells boost power, last longer

Scientists may have overcome one of the major hurdles in developing high-efficiency, long-lasting solar cells—keeping them cool, even in the blistering heat of the noonday Sun.

Hot electrons send carbon dioxide back to the future

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major driver of global warming, but this gas could also serve as a valuable resource. Researchers at KAUST have developed an efficient catalyst that uses light energy to convert CO2 and ...

The sun is a star when it comes to sustainable energy

At a national scientific meeting last week where biofuels - principally ethanol - were uniformly trashed as an environmental train wreck, one bright, carbon-free light gleamed in our energy future: the sun.

New coating could enable major boost in solar-cell efficiency

Throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity: Called the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, it ...

MASSIVE advances in aerodynamics

Engineers are closer to understanding, and therefore manipulating, invisible aerodynamic drag forces, that cause an estimated 50 per cent of transportation fuel to be lost before we can use it.

Breakthrough in converting heat waste to electricity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Northwestern University have placed nanocrystals of rock salt into lead telluride, creating a material that can harness electricity from heat-generating items such as vehicle exhaust systems, ...

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