LED flashlights seem to get brighter every few years. Fortunately, the price also seems to be coming down on these super-bright devices that are power-efficient. What's more amazing about LED...
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The addition to quantum dots to solar cells could lead to a tripling in efficiency, boosting from the usual 10% up to 40% or 60% (with concentrators). Silicon nanocrystals (quantum dots) are able to...
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by george elvin on December 16, 2006
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed what they call the first photoconducting nanostructures, nanocables that convert light into electricity. The cables, 16 nanometers in diameter...
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by george elvin on November 17, 2006
In every solar cell, light energy is converted to electricity. But even the most advanced solar cells can harness only a small percentage of the available sunlight energy. The majority of the energy...
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by george elvin on July 23, 2006
David Carroll, director of the Center for Nanotechnology at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, talks to Earth & Sky about living off the grid with flexible solar cells. "You can go to...
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by george elvin on July 12, 2006
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created small bacteria-powered batteries by causing tiny microbes to sprout electrically conductive nanowires...
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by george elvin on June 27, 2006
Nanoscale capsules that stabilize extremely dangerous compounds normally prone to igniting or exploding can safely generate more than enough hydrogen gas to beat U.S. Department of Energy goals for...
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by george elvin on May 25, 2006
MIT researchers are applying new technologies to radically improve an old concept -- thermophotovoltaic (TPV) conversion of light into electricity, according to an MIT news release. Rather than using...
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by george elvin on May 15, 2006
With gas process topping $3 a gallon, alternative fuels like hydrogen are getting noticed. Although hydrogen may be a way off as an everyday fuel, nanotechnology is helping bring the day closer when...
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by george elvin on April 21, 2006
I've run several posts lately about nanotech advances that are having a big impact on battery design. Now researchers at MIT have devised a way to use genetically engineered viruses as...
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by george elvin on April 19, 2006
A new class of devices aims to convert energy created from body movement to power future nanoscale components, according to Foxnews.com. These so-called "nanogenerators" would be less bulky...
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by george elvin on April 18, 2006
Ultracapacitors "have the potential to provide an energy storage device ten times more powerful than even the latest batteries in hybrid cars," says MIT's Technology Review. A new line...
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by george elvin on April 15, 2006
Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed nanotechnology out of tiny nanowires that generate electricity when they vibrate, according to a report at All New Headlines. Imagine the mechanics and...
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by george elvin on March 28, 2006
EETimes reports that the market for thin-film and organic photovoltaics (PV) is projected to be worth over $2.3 billion by 2011, according to NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm. Honda Motor Co.,...
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by george elvin on December 07, 2005
Researchers at Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials are working to create flexible, or " conformal, " organic solar cells that can be wrapped...
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