Stanford scientists develop microbial battery
25 September, 2013 by Tom Abate*Stanford researchers have developed a microbial battery that generates electricity from sewage using naturally occluding ‘wired microbes’ as mini power plants, producing electricity as they digest plant and animal waste.
Australia-European collaboration advancing electromaterials science
17 September, 2013Australia-based researchers are in Ireland this week to team up with European collaborators who have helped drive the exciting developments in graphene, medical bionics, artificial muscles and next-generation solar cells at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).
Panasonic's solar cells to support Tokai Uni solar car team
30 August, 2013Panasonic will provide technological support to the Tokai University Solar Car Team as it competes in the World Solar Challenge (WSR), held in Australia from 6 to 13 October 2013. The company will be supplying high-efficiency HIT solar cells with high electricity output and high-capacity lithium-ion batteries.
RECOM RAC series 1-10 W AC/DC power supplies with ultrawide input voltage range
29 August, 2013 | Supplied by: RECOM Asia Pte LtdRECOM Electronic has provided a claimed innovation in low-power AC/DC converters; all the models from 1-10 W in the RAC series accept AC input voltages down to 80 VAC. Thus, the wide-range 80-265 VAC input or ultrawide-range 80-305 VAC input converters are compatible with all mains voltages worldwide.
Rechargeable flow battery for solar and wind power
23 August, 2013MIT researchers have developed a palm-sized rechargeable flow battery prototype that generates three times as much power per square centimetre as other membraneless systems.
3D graphene for solar power
23 August, 2013 by Marcia GoodrichMichigan Technological University scientists have developed 3D graphene, an inexpensive material that could replace the platinum in solar cells without degrading their efficiency.
Battery-free wireless devices
14 August, 2013University of Washington engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power. The devices exchange information by reflecting or absorbing pre-existing radio signals. The new communication technique, which the researchers call “ambient backscatter”, takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already surround us around the clock.
High-temperature capacitor for electric vehicles
12 August, 2013Scientists have developed a new capacitor that can operate close to normal efficiency at over 200°C, significantly higher than any other capacitor on the market. It also offers a high energy density - the measure of how much energy it can store.
Graphene-based supercapacitors for portable electronics
05 August, 2013Monash University researchers have developed a completely new strategy to engineer graphene-based supercapacitors (SC), making them viable for widespread use in renewable energy storage, portable electronics and electric vehicles.
FTU power solutions in the electric power industry
04 August, 2013 | Supplied by: DLPC Pty LtdIn the electric power industry, equipment such as RTUs (remote terminal units), DTUs (data transfer units), FTUs (feeder terminal units) and TTUs (distribution transformer supervisory terminal units) are switch monitoring devices installed in the substation close to the feed breakers.
BMW i3 and power electronics
31 July, 2013The BMW Group has debuted the series version of its electric vehicle BMW i3, simultaneously in New York, London and Beijing. The BMW i3, the group’s first pure electric series produced model, features a number of technological innovations, such as a carbon-fibre passenger cell and a chassis made of aluminium.
Hybrid cloud to save battery life
26 July, 2013Romanian computer scientists have developed a new system that is said to boost phone battery life by booting power-consuming computational tasks to an on-the-fly ad hoc cloud in which smartphones are both clients and computing resources.
Nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets for energy conservation
24 July, 2013Researchers have announced a simple, low-cost and eco-friendly method of creating nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets (NGnPs), which could be used in dye-sensitised solar cells and fuel cells.
Graphene ‘onion rings’ have delicious potential
23 July, 2013Concentric hexagons of graphene grown in a furnace at Rice University represent the first time anyone has synthesised graphene nanoribbons on metal from the bottom up - atom by atom.
Bacteria batteries to produce electricity
22 July, 2013An increasing demand for sources of alternative energy, environmental pollution caused by conventional batteries and the phasing out of nuclear energy in Germany has encouraged Bielefeld students to develop a bio-battery (microbial fuel cell - MFC), which directly transforms bacteria into energy.
