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Environment-friendly compound shows promise for solar cell use

A team of engineers, material scientists, and physicists demonstrated how a new material - a lead-free chalcogenide perovskite - that hadn't previously been considered for use in solar cells could provide a safer and more effective option than others that are commonly considered.

Apr 24th, 2020

Water replaces toxins: Green production of plastics

Although organic plastics are not harmful to the environment themselves, toxic substances are often used during their synthesis. Now there is another way.

Apr 21st, 2020

Faster-degrading plastic could promise cleaner seas

To address plastic pollution plaguing the world's seas and waterways, chemists have developed a new polymer that can degrade by ultraviolet radiation.

Apr 20th, 2020

Physicists develop approach to increase performance of solar energy

Experimental condensed matter physicists have developed an approach to circumvent a major loss process that currently limits the efficiency of commercial solar cells.

Apr 20th, 2020

A unique heat storage technology gathers steam

Many processes that generate electricity also produce heat, a potent energy resource that often goes untapped everywhere from factories to vehicles to power plants. An innovative system currently being developed can quickly store heat and release it for use when needed, surpassing conventional storage options in both flexibility and efficiency.

Apr 8th, 2020

Insects as food and feed: research and innovation drive growing field

As the global food supply faces the dual challenge of climate change and a growing human population, innovative minds are turning to a novel source for potential solutions: insects.

Apr 8th, 2020

Toward biorecycling: A microbe could help degrade polyurethane-based plastics

A strain of an extremophile group of bacteria is capable of ingesting toxic organic compounds as its sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy.

Mar 27th, 2020

A new low-cost solar technology for environmental cooling

Researchers propose a new technology for space cooling. No electricity is needed, but rather salty water possibly produced exploiting solar radiation.

Mar 24th, 2020

Upcycling scrap rubber tyres to aerogels

Researchers achieved a major technological breakthrough by converting waste rubber tyres into super-light aerogels that have a wide range of applications. This is the first time that aerogels are made from waste rubber tyres.

Mar 18th, 2020

3 Billion tons less CO2 with photonics

Photonics technologies can contribute to 3 billion tons less carbon dioxide by 2030.

Mar 2nd, 2020

Motley crew: Rust and light a possible answer to the conundrum of hydrogen fuel production

Scientists identify a new and efficient way of producing hydrogen from organic waste solution using a catalyst derived from - of all things - rust.

Feb 27th, 2020

New machine learning method could supercharge battery development for electric vehicles

Using artificial intelligence, a research team has slashed battery testing times - a key barrier to longer-lasting, faster-charging batteries for electric vehicles - by nearly fifteenfold.

Feb 24th, 2020

Improving innovation: Assessing the environmental impacts of emerging technology

A new special issue of Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology addresses this gap with cutting edge research that advances methods, tests new approaches against emerging technologies, and assesses novel technologies for transportation, infrastructure, energy, and materials.

Feb 21st, 2020

'Wood' you like to recycle concrete?

Researchers have developed a new procedure for recycling concrete with the addition of discarded wood. They found that the correct proportion of inputs can yield a new building material with a bending strength superior to that of the original concrete.