1. 12:27 21st Nov 2012

    Notes: 6

    Tags: TechnologyTechNanotechnologyNanotechScienceElectricityElectronicsWaste Heatmaterialsmetamaterials

    image: Download

    Researchers Nanoengineer Generators to Harvest Power From Temperature Changes [Researchers developed] so-called pyroelectric nanogenerators, which use polarization changes to harvest heat energy from temperature fluctuations. Normally output current is too low for commercial electronics, but by making one with lead zirconate titanate (PZT), the team was able to create a device that could charge a Li-ion coin battery to power a green LED for a few seconds. The researchers predict that by doubling the surface area, they could drive wireless sensors or LCDs using only environmental temperature changes from an engine or water pipe, for instance. (via Scientists use nanotechnology to harvest electricity from temperature fluctuations)

    Researchers Nanoengineer Generators to Harvest Power From Temperature Changes

    [Researchers developed] so-called pyroelectric nanogenerators, which use polarization changes to harvest heat energy from temperature fluctuations. Normally output current is too low for commercial electronics, but by making one with lead zirconate titanate (PZT), the team was able to create a device that could charge a Li-ion coin battery to power a green LED for a few seconds. The researchers predict that by doubling the surface area, they could drive wireless sensors or LCDs using only environmental temperature changes from an engine or water pipe, for instance.

    (via Scientists use nanotechnology to harvest electricity from temperature fluctuations)

     

  2. 13:26 14th Aug 2012

    Notes: 21

    Reblogged from laboratoryequipment

    Tags: sciencewatersewagepowerenergyfuelelectricitytechnologyTech

    New Fuel Cells Produce Energy Directly from Wastewater

    Engineers at Oregon State Univ. have made a breakthrough in the performance of microbial fuel cells that can produce electricity directly from wastewater, opening the door to a future in which waste treatment plants not only will power themselves, but will sell excess electricity.The new technology developed at OSU can now produce 10 to 50 more times the electricity, per volume, than most other approaches using microbial fuel cells and 100 times more electricity than some.

    Researchers say this could eventually change the way that wastewater is treated all over the world, replacing the widely used “activated sludge” process that has been in use for almost a century. The new approach would produce significant amounts of electricity while effectively cleaning the wastewater.
    (ht laboratoryequipment)

     

  3. 11:37 5th Jun 2012

    Notes: 54

    Tags: TechTechnologyMicrobesbiologyBiotechbiotechnologyScienceElectricityBio-electicity

    Bacteria Build Cooperative Electric Grids to Share Power Most organisms internally generate energy by coupling the addition of electrons to one molecule with their removal from another. But some microbes find themselves in circumstances where they must cooperate to generate the energy for life, swapping molecules or electrons with other species. Do these microbes enhance their energy management, and thus their ability to grow, by shuttling electrons back and forth to one another through conductive materials in their environment? Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on June 4 suggests the answer is yes; some bacteria do indeed build electricity-conducting grids in the wild. “Microbes use conductive minerals as electric wires for transferring electrons between each other,” says microbiologist Kazuya Watanabe of the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, part of the team that performed the research. This marks the first time anyone has provided “solid evidence” that different species transfer electrons to each other in that way, he adds. (via How Microbes Can Build Electric Grids: Scientific American)

    Bacteria Build Cooperative Electric Grids to Share Power

    Most organisms internally generate energy by coupling the addition of electrons to one molecule with their removal from another. But some microbes find themselves in circumstances where they must cooperate to generate the energy for life, swapping molecules or electrons with other species. Do these microbes enhance their energy management, and thus their ability to grow, by shuttling electrons back and forth to one another through conductive materials in their environment? Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on June 4 suggests the answer is yes; some bacteria do indeed build electricity-conducting grids in the wild.

    “Microbes use conductive minerals as electric wires for transferring electrons between each other,” says microbiologist Kazuya Watanabe of the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, part of the team that performed the research. This marks the first time anyone has provided “solid evidence” that different species transfer electrons to each other in that way, he adds.

    (via How Microbes Can Build Electric Grids: Scientific American)

     

  4. 14:10 16th May 2012

    Notes: 2

    Tags: TechnologyTechPowerWireless PowerTeslaElectricity

    image: Download

    120 Years Later, Tesla’s Vision of Wireless Power Draws Nearer Wireless charging may be all the rage these days, but actually beaming electricity — as sketched above by the man Tesla himself — still has some snags. North Carolina State U researchers have found a way to possibly vanquish the biggest problem: the difficulty of exactly matching resonant frequencies to amplify current. If external factors like temperature change the tuning of a transmitter even slightly then power drops will occur, but circuitry developed by the NC State scientists would allow receivers to detect these changes and automatically re-tune themselves to match. This could make for more potent car and device charging in the future and, if they stretch the distances a bit, maybe we’ll finally get the wire-free utopia Nikola dreamed up 120 years ago. (via Scientists tweak wireless power transfer, Tesla nods happily in his grave — Engadget)

    120 Years Later, Tesla’s Vision of Wireless Power Draws Nearer

    Wireless charging may be all the rage these days, but actually beaming electricity — as sketched above by the man Tesla himself — still has some snags. North Carolina State U researchers have found a way to possibly vanquish the biggest problem: the difficulty of exactly matching resonant frequencies to amplify current. If external factors like temperature change the tuning of a transmitter even slightly then power drops will occur, but circuitry developed by the NC State scientists would allow receivers to detect these changes and automatically re-tune themselves to match. This could make for more potent car and device charging in the future and, if they stretch the distances a bit, maybe we’ll finally get the wire-free utopia Nikola dreamed up 120 years ago.

    (via Scientists tweak wireless power transfer, Tesla nods happily in his grave — Engadget)