Collaborate Disseminate
Flexible electronics could open up some interesting possibilities in bendy displays, wearable devices or solar energy, but developing flexible energy storage devices to power them is another challenge entirely. Scientists in China have demonstrated a c… Continue reading Accordion-inspired supercapacitor blends flexibility and high capacity
The idea of using human movement to generate electricity is something we’ve seen applied to many areas, including footwear, roads and, just this week, motion-powered mesh that heals injured tendons. Among these possibilities is flooring that can genera… Continue reading Nanogenerator wooden flooring powers lightbulbs with footsteps
Plugging a phone in at night could one day seem quaint – eventually widespread wireless charging could keep our devices juiced up indefinitely. A new breakthrough has been made in that direction, as researchers in Japan have developed a system that can… Continue reading Wireless charging room takes plugs out of the picture
Engineers at Northwestern University have developed a new thermoelectric material that may be the most efficient one yet. The new and improved polycrystalline form of purified tin selenide has all the right properties to make it a practical material fo… Continue reading Extremely efficient thermoelectric material recycles waste heat
Engineers at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have developed a new type of thermoelectric generator that produces an electric current through a temperature gradient. By absorbing heat from the Sun on one surface and emitting it f… Continue reading Thermoelectric generator contrasts heat of Sun and cold of space
The electric power grid, as it exists today, was designed about a century ago to accommodate large, dispersed power plants owned and controlled by the utilities themselves. At the time …read more Continue reading Emulating a Power Grid
Engineers at MIT have developed a device that generates electricity using a completely new mechanism. “Particles” made of carbon nanotubes are dunked in an organic solvent, which induces a current to potentially power small robots or drive chemical rea… Continue reading Two-faced carbon nanotube particles generate electricity in MIT device
California is set to be home to two new compressed-air energy storage facilities – each claiming the crown for the world’s largest non-hydro energy storage system. Developed by Hydrostor, the facilities will have an output of 500 MW and be capable of s… Continue reading World’s largest compressed air grid “batteries” will store up to 10GWh
Concrete is pretty useful, which is why it’s the most widely used construction material in the world. But it could be argued that it doesn’t really do anything. Now, engineers have made concrete that can conduct electricity and produce heat, by mixing … Continue reading Dash of nanocarbon black makes conductive, heat-generating concrete
Last month, large parts of the southern United States experienced their coldest temperatures since the 1899 Blizzard. Some of us set new all-time lows, and I was right in the …read more Continue reading Ask Hackaday: How Do You Prepare?