Archive for September 2008

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Video of the week: New approach to solar concentrators

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Researchers at MIT (see post below) have developed a novel way to concentrate sunlight for solar cells that doesn’t involve mirrors and tracking mechanisms. They use a system of glass and coatings to guide and collect light at the edges of the pane where solar cells can be positioned. Team leader Marco Baldo explains their innovation.

Double-duty windows harvest solar energy

Diagram illustrates how a cost effective solar concentrator might make existing solar panels more efficient. MIT says its dye-based concentrator would function without the use of tracking or cooling systems and, thus, reduce overall solar costs, compared to other concentrator technologies. Dye molecules coated on glass absorb sunlight and re-emit it at a different wavelengths. Light is trapped and transported within the glass until it is captured by solar cells at the edge. Some light passes through the concentrator and can be absorbed by lower voltage solar cells underneath. Alternatively, the partially transmissive concentrator can function as a window. Note: graphic is not to scale. (Credit: NSF)

(Credit: NSF)

What if your house’s windows offered double-duty performance by not only letting in sunlight but also harvesting its energy to efficiently and cost-effectively power your home? That’s the concept behind the organic solar concentrator, a new kind of solar powering device, recently developed by MIT researchers and reported on in Science. “Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges,” explains Marc Baldo, project leader and MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. (more…)

NanoDynamics gets DOE boost for 400-watt SOFC

NanoDynamic's Revolution SOFCs (Photo: NanoDynamics)

NanoDynamic's Revolution SOFCs (Photo: NanoDynamics)

Buffalo, New York’s NanoDynamics Energy is at the receiving end of a nice DOE grant to continue development a 400-watt solid oxide fuel cell fuel by hydrogen, methane gas and related biogases. The $2.4 million contract allows NanoDynamics to scale-up their technologies from previous 20-watt+ prototypes SOFCs running on biogas, and develop efficient manufacturing techniques. (more…)

ORNL confirms Spaniards’ ionic conductivity ’superhighway’ that may boost SOFCs

Model of ion-conducting super-lattice (graphic: ORNL)

Model of ion-conducting super-lattice (Graphic: ORNL)

Investigators at the Oak Ridge National Lab have confirmed startling characteristics in a solid electrolyte material we reported on several weeks ago, one that should allow solid oxide fuel cells to operate at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than what is currently possible and boost the practicality of solid-oxide fuel cells. To recap, a research team at Spain’s Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid produced a new solid electrolyte that has open pathways, or voids, that permit oxygen ions to speedily move from cathode to anode. Previous materials offered only small, time-consuming pathways that required high temperatures to operate. (more…)

Iranian research getting noticed

Iran isn’t necessarily known for being a leader in ceramic and related material science, but some recent announcements suggest they shouldn’t be ignored either. For example, one group has successfully produced a sulfonic acid nano-catalyst with the ability to be recycled more than 20 times. They envision this material to be a replacement in industrial settings for normal sulfonic acid that, although potent, is usually passed over because of its strong corrosive effects on metal. Suflonic acid can be recycle, but it that requires several additional neutralizing steps. (more…)

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