Electricity

Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES) are a new kind of technology to harvest wind energy. The expensive and heavy tower and rotor of a conventional wind turbine are here substituted by a light tether and an aircraft (flexible giant kites or…

An update on recently reported research on porous carbon fibers shows how this material can be used in an industrial setting, marking an important step from the theoretical to application. Guoliang "Greg" Liu, an assistant professor of…

Coal-fired power plants produce more than just the carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming. When burning coal, they also release particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury -- thus damaging the health of many…

Rutgers and other physicists have discovered an exotic form of electrons that spin like planets and could lead to advances in lighting, solar cells, lasers and electronic displays. It's called a "chiral surface exciton," and it consists of…

Current lithium ion battery technology will probably not be able to handle the coming decades' huge demand for energy. It is estimated that by 2050, electricity will make up 50% of the world's energy mix. Today that rate is 18%. But…

Rice University scientists have taken the next step toward the deployment of powerful, rechargeable lithium metal batteries by making them safer and simpler to manufacture. The Rice lab of chemist James Tour made test cells with a coat of…

Switching magnetic domains in magnetic memories requires normally magnetic fields which are generated by electrical currents, hence requiring large amounts of electrical power. Now, teams from France, Spain and Germany have demonstrated the…

A research team at Osaka University has developed an improved method for producing microscope images that can spot speedy electrons zipping through nanomaterials used in solar panels. By applying laser light to the device at just the right…

In a finding that runs counter to a common assumption in physics, researchers at the University of Michigan ran a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed in order to cool another device mere nanometers away. The approach could…

A wave energy technology is being developed that could help generate low-cost electricity for thousands of houses. The device costs less than conventional designs, has fewer moving parts, and is made of durable materials. It is designed to…