The standard solar cell uses silicon oxide, which is expensive and environmentally toxic. One of the promising alternatives is the so-called “Grätzel cell”, a cheaper, cleaner alternative based on more abundant titanium oxide. However, they don’t last long because this type of dye-sensitized cell uses an electrolyte made (more…)

Can you envisage a future where photovoltaic panels are ubiquitous, embedded in fabrics and cars, and making the environment around you smarter?

Portuguese researchers at the Center for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials are working to make this high-tech future powered with renewable (more…)

Electric vehicles offer a green transportation alternative. There have been great advances in the sector after the launch of popular models such as Nissan’s LEAF, which recently won the car the of year award at the Tokyo Motor Show.

However, electric car battery technology is one (more…)

Yesterday, Science Magazine hosted a debate about the application of nanotechnology to the development of solar cells. There are hopes that nanotechnology can bring solar power’s prices down to fossil fuel price level.

On the discussion panel were Alan Heeger, a (more…)

Modern electronics as we know them, from televisions to computers, depend on conducting materials that can control electronic properties. As technology shrinks down to pocket sized communications devices and microchips that can fit on the head of a pin, nano-sized conducting (more…)

Wendy Jameson’s life slogan is “Fear Mediocrity: don’t be afraid to be bold”; a motto that Wendy and her partner in Colnatec, Scott Grimshaw (whom she met on Twitter), established. Wendy has always been an individual who stands out from the crowd and takes risks each and every day, the epitome of an (more…)

One of the biggest challenges for the solar power industry is to boost the power-conversion efficiency of solar cells. In response to that, a duo of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Research) researchers have found a little helper in a virus called M13.

Graduate students Xiangnan Dang and Hyunjung Yi (more…)

Bing Energy, a company that manufactures components for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), which recently entered a partnership with Florida State University (FSU), has been subcontracted by the University of Central Florida (UCF) to develop a low-cost and high-efficiency 500 W portable PEMFC system. (more…)

Stanford University scientists have created a tiny electrode that can harness an electric current from a single algae cell, a breakthrough they hope will one day lead to the creation of an inexpensive source of renewable energy.

The nanoelectrode, made of gold and specifically designed to probe inside cells, is so sharp that it is able to penetrate the algae cell membrane without killing the cell.

And once inside the cell, it can intercept electrons just after they are energized by sunlight by the photosynthesis process.

Researchers hope it is the first step toward developing a “high efficiency” form of bioelectricity. (more…)

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have created a synthetic “gene” they say can capture carbon dioxide emissions.

Omar M. Yaghi, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has developed thousands of so-called crystal sponges that absorb gases and have proven effective in the lab at storing CO2.

The synthetic crystals, which code information in a “DNA-like manner,” have nanoscale-sized pores that Yaghi says allow molecules to go in and out.

(more…)