Newswise: Doe Science News Source

Chemists Explain the Molecular Workings of Promising Fuel Cell Electrolyte

Researchers from New York University and the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart reveal how protons move in phosphoric acid in a Nature Chemistry study that sheds new light on the workings of a promising fuel cell electrolyte.

Metal Oxides Hold the Key to Cheap, Green Energy

Harnessing the energy of sunlight can be as simple as tuning the optical and electronic properties of metal oxides at the atomic level to make an artificial crystal or super-lattice 'sandwich,' says a Binghamton University researcher in a new study published in the journal Physical Review B.

Energy: The Tipping point for U.S. - China Relations, Study Finds

Energy could very well become the tipping point that sours or improves relations between the Chinese and the United States, according to recent research in the Asian Politics and Policy journal this month. The study, which examines strategies employed by the Chinese to procure energy from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, signals that while the United States should not fear China's actions, it's best to keep a close watch on what the Chinese are doing.

ORNL Process Improves Catalytic Rate of Enzymes by 3,000 Percent

Light of specific wavelengths can be used to boost an enzyme's function by as much as 30 fold, potentially establishing a path to less expensive biofuels, detergents and a host of other products.

Technique Reveals Structure of Printable Electronics

An innovative X-ray technique has given North Carolina State University researchers and their collaborators new insight into how organic polymers can be used in printable electronics such as transistors and solar cells.

Research Finds Bright Future for Alternative Energy with Greener Solar Cells

Research to green alternative energy technologies has led to a dye-sensitized solar cell that uses a bacteria and dye to generate energy. It is also friendlier to the environment and living organisms.

Study Helps Assess Nanotech Impact on Sustainable Growth

Georgia Tech researchers are helping assess the economic impact of nanotechnology on green and sustainable growth. Their work will help evaluate the multi-billion-dollar public and private investment being made each year in research and development on nanotechnology.

Butterfly Wings' "Art of Blackness" Could Boost Production of Green Fuels

Butterfly wings may rank among the most delicate structures in nature, but they have given researchers powerful inspiration for new technology that doubles production of hydrogen gas -- a green fuel of the future -- from water and sunlight. The researchers presented their findings here today at the American Chemical Society's (ACS') 243rd National Meeting & Exposition.

Nuclear Power Plants Can Produce Hydrogen to Fuel the "Hydrogen Economy"

The long-sought technology for enabling the fabled "hydrogen economy" -- an era based on hydrogen fuel that replaces gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels, easing concerns about foreign oil and air pollution -- has been available for decades and could begin commercial production of hydrogen in this decade, a scientist reported here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.

Polycrystalline Diamond Drill Bits Open Up Options for Geothermal Energy

Nearly two-thirds of the oil we use comes from wells drilled using polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits, originally developed nearly 30 years ago to lower the cost of geothermal drilling. Sandia and the U.S. Navy recently brought the technology fullcircle, showing how geothermal drillers might use the original PDC technology, incorporating decades of subsequent improvements by the oil and gas industry.

Implanted Biofuel Cell Operating in Living Snail

Researchers at Clarkson University have implanted a biofuel cell in a living snail. This is the first incidence of an implanted biofuel cell continuously operating in a snail and producing electrical power over a long period of time using the snail's physiologically produced glucose as a fuel.

The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) Releases Findings of Two-Year Study that Identifies Potentially Game-Changing Advances in Energy Materials

Specific advances in materials and manufacturing can deliver significant energy, environmental, and economic impacts to U.S. businesses in as soon as two to ten years, according to a new study coordinated by The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) on behalf of the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office.

Meeting Biofuel Production Targets Could Change Agricultural Landscape

Almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. would have to be devoted to raising corn for ethanol production in order to meet current biofuel production targets with existing technology, a new study has found. An alternative, according to a study in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, would be to convert 60 percent of existing rangeland to biofuels.

Chemists Aid Study of Mutated Plants That May Be Better for Biofuels

A new study says genetic mutations in plants could make it easier to break down plant cellulose to the sugars that are fermented into biofuels. The researchers' findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

ORNL Tool Puts Spotlight on Nation's Electricity Generation Capacity

A technology developed at ORNL could streamline and strengthen the process for siting power plants while potentially enhancing the nation's energy security.

'Mini-Cellulose' Molecule Unlocks Chemistry of Biofuel

A team of chemical engineers at UMass Amherst has discovered a small molecule that behaves like cellulose when converted to biofuel. Studying this 'mini-cellulose' molecule reveals the chemical reactions that take place in wood and prairie grasses during high-temperature conversion to biofuel.

ORNL Explores Proteins in Yellowstone Bacteria for Biofuel Inspiration

Studies of bacteria first found in Yellowstone's hot springs are furthering efforts at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center toward commercially viable ethanol production from crops such as switchgrass.

Researchers Develop Method to Examine Batteries--From the Inside

Researchers at Cambridge University, Stony Brook University, and New York University have developed methodology, based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to examine batteries without destroying them. Their technique creates the possibility of improving battery performance and safety by serving as a diagnostic of its internal workings.

Biosolar Breakthrough Promises Cheap, Easy Green Electricity

Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term "power plant" on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers have developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy.

Researchers' Refinement Increases Solar Concentrator Efficiency

A team of UC Merced professors and students discovered that changing the shape of a solar concentrator significantly increases its efficiency, bringing its use closer to reality

The Great Gas Hydrate Escape

Computer simulations revealing how methane and hydrogen pack into gas hydrates could enlighten alternative fuel production and carbon dioxide storage industries.

Petrochemical Output from Biomass Boosted by 40 Percent

Chemical engineers at UMass Amherst, using a catalytic fast pyrolysis process that transforms renewable non-food biomass into petrochemicals, have developed a new catalyst that boosts the yield for five key "building blocks of the chemical industry" by 40 percent compared to previous methods.

Study Shows Sugarcane Ethanol Production Causes Air Pollution