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An interdisciplinary team of engineers from the University of Pennsylvania has made a discovery regarding the surface properties of graphene, the Nobel-prize winning material that consists of an atomically thin sheet of carbon atoms. On the macroscale, adding fluorine atoms to carbon-based materials makes for water-repellant, non-stick surfaces, such as Teflon. However, on the nanoscale, adding fluorine to graphene had

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A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to -228 °C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy. A chip, which contains nanoscale structures that enable electron cooling at room temperature, is pictured. The process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool

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Researchers have been trying to increase the efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells by lowering the temperatures at which they run. More efficient fuel cells might gain wider use in vehicles or as quiet, pollution-free, neighborhood electricity generating stations. A serendipitous finding has resulted in a semiconducting material that could enable fuel cells to operate at temperatures two-thirds lower than

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There is a massive amount of money that stands to be gained from the coming wave of plug-in hybrid, electric vehicles, as well as grid storage for solar and wind power. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake, which has some of the biggest companies in the world making plans to take over this quickly-growing market. ABB is one

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Last week an area outside of Reno, Nevada was chosen as the site of the first Tesla battery Gigafactory. In addition to bringing 6,500 much-needed jobs and a cutting-edge manufacturing facility to Nevada, Elon Musk has also promised to power the Gigafactory using only its own, green energy sources. Can it be done, and if so, how? It is no

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Government-owned companies in India are responding to the calls by the government to boost investment in renewable energy projects. Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), a big coal producer and power generator located in Southern India, has announced that it will invest ₹500 crore (US$82 million) to set up 25 MW solar photovoltaic and 55 MW wind power capacity. The company has

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Despite the devastation wreaked by the Fukushima meltdown in 2011, Japan wants to restart two nuclear reactors that were shut off in the wake of the disaster. According to the Guardian, Japan’s nuclear watchdog has said the reactors can be started up again, as long as the operator can convince the local communities they are safe. That might not be

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We take electricity for granted in the developed world, but did you know that 1.6 billion people – a full one quarter of the world’s population – don’t have access to reliable electricity? The consequences are far-reaching: The lack of electric lighting impacts children’s ability to do well in school and prevents people from working once the sun has set,

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You would hope that with all of the talk about climate change and all of the positive efforts that people are making that CO2 levels would at least be holding steady, if not dropping. But, no such luck. The rate at which CO2 levels have been climbing has not only increased, but from 2012-2013 they actually climbed faster than any

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A team of European researchers has become one of the first groups to successfully synthesize the 2D material germanene. Dubbed a ‘cousin of graphene’, the material, which is made up of just a single layer of germanium atoms, is expected to exhibit impressive electrical and optical properties and could be widely integrated across the electronics industry in the future.The material

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