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A new North Carolina State University study, performed in collaboration with battery testing researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, shows that extremely short pulses from a high-powered laser can cause tiny defects in lithium-ion battery materials—defects that can enhance battery performance.

The technique, called nanosecond pulsed laser annealing, lasts for only 100 nanoseconds and is generated by the same type of laser used in modern-day eye surgeries. Researchers tested the technique on graphite, a material widely used in lithium-ion battery anodes, or positive electrodes. They tested the technique in batches of 10 pulses and 80 pulses and compared the differences in current capacity; power is calculated by multiplying voltage by current.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in portable electronic devices and electric cars. With further improvements, these batteries could have a major impact on transportation and as storage devices for renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

In a new Nature Energy study, engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that charge quickly—as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown—quickly and uniformly—on a surprising surface. The trick is to use a crystal growing surface that lithium officially doesn’t “like.” From these seed crystals grow dense layers of uniform lithium metal. Uniform layers of lithium metal are of great interest to battery researchers because they lack battery-performance-degrading spikes called dendrites. The formation of these dendrites in battery anodes is a longstanding roadblock to fast-charging ultra-energy-dense lithium-metal batteries.

This new approach, led by University of California San Diego engineers, enables charging of lithium-metal batteries in about an hour, a speed that is competitive against today’s lithium-ion batteries. The UC San Diego engineers, in collaboration with UC Irvine imaging researchers, published this advance aimed at developing fast-charging lithium-metal batteries on Feb. 9, 2023, in Nature Energy.

To grow lithium metal crystals, the researchers replaced the ubiquitous copper surfaces on the negative side (the anode) of lithium-metal batteries with a lithiophobic nanocomposite surface made of lithium fluoride (LiF) and iron (Fe). Using this lithiophobic surface for lithium deposition, lithium crystal seeds formed, and from these seeds grew dense lithium layers—even at high charging rates. The result was long-cycle-life lithium-metal batteries that can be charged quickly.

Scientists have found a clever way to generate hydrogen straight from salty seawater. This could be another step towards a clean energy future, if renewables power the process.

The new device makes a few chemical modifications to existing technologies, making it possible to extract hydrogen from untreated, unpurified seawater – which could alleviate concerns about using precious water supplies.

“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen… to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyzer,” explains chemical engineer Shizhang Qiao of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

The future is bright!

Abandoned mine shafts like this one can be turned into giant storage batteries.

The technology uses the vertical drop in abandoned mine shafts to generate zero-emission electricity.

We’ve got a new kind of ice on the block – medium-density amorphous ice (MDA).

It’s amorphous, which means that the water molecules are in a disorganised form instead of being neatly ordered like they are in the ordinary, crystalline ice you find floating in your Scotch on the rocks…

Amorphous ice is super rare on Earth, but scientists think that it might be the main type found in the frigid environment of outer space – because ice wouldn’t have enough thermal energy there to form crystals.

The offshore wind farm is expected to lower China’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1.36 million tonnes and claims to provide more than 1.6 billion kilowatts of power annually.

China claims to have begun the construction of its first extensive offshore wind farm using 16-megawatt turbines on Saturday.

This represents a significant change from the smaller, less effective turbines that China’s offshore wind farms have often employed, claimed a report on Sunday by China Global Television Network (CGTN), a state-run media.

“If this technology finds an application in power generation, we may owe the hypersonic weapons a big ‘thank you,’” says a researcher.

A team of researchers from Beijing has created a generator “capable” of converting hot gas at hypersonic speeds into a powerful electric current.

The researchers claimed that the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) generator yielded more than ten times the power generated in previous experiments.

Continue reading “China: New hypersonic generator ‘capable’ of powering future weapons” »

Permanent color poster-size electronic display is a reality but it comes at steep price.