Metals Tech

Tech aimed at battling climate change and even pumping fresh water out of thin air attracted crowds as the annual CES gadget extravaganza showed its green side. With calls to fight climate change escalating, technology firms are finding ways to help, according to organizers of the Consumer Electronics Show, which wraps up in Las Vegas […]

An insight into preventing perovskite semiconductors from degrading quickly, discovered at the University of Michigan, could help enable solar cells estimated to be two to four times cheaper than today’s thin-film solar panels. The study is published in the journal Matter. Perovskites may also be combined with the silicon-based semiconductors that are prevalent in today’s […]

A Chinese startup has unveiled a new battery that it claims can generate electricity for 50 years with the need for charging or maintenance. Beijing-based Betavolt said its nuclear battery is the first in the world to realise the miniaturisation of atomic energy, placing 63 nuclear isotopes into a module smaller than a coin. The […]

Batteries are set for continued, noteworthy cost declines in the coming years as technology keeps improving and demand keeps rising, both in electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary applications, finds a new report from Energy Intelligence Research & Advisory. Some of the technological advances represent further improvements to current technology, but next-generation batteries are also on […]

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new lithium metal battery that can be charged and discharged at least 6,000 times—more than any other pouch battery cell—and can be recharged in a matter of minutes. The research not only describes a new way to make […]

A research group from the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC, Lithuania), together with partners from Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) set out to synthesize new material that could potentially complement silicon solar cell technologies and increase the overall efficiency of solar modules. Increased energy prices resulted in a rapid growth of the renewable […]

In Germany, there are about 3 million buildings that are contaminated with the toxic wood preservatives lindane and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Previous measures for minimizing contamination include insulating contaminated areas or disposing of treated wooden building materials as hazardous waste. However, these measures are neither sustainable nor cost-efficient. In the CycloPlasma project, researchers at the Fraunhofer […]

Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-­carbon technologies are our best options for warding off the accelerating threat of climate change. Access to rare earth elements, key ingredients in many of these technologies, will partly determine which countries will meet their goals for lowering emissions or increasing the proportion of electricity generated from non-fossil-fuel sources. But some nations, […]

Apple supplier TDK’s new breakthrough battery technology could lift iPhone’s battery capacity by 40% or more. TDK Corp. is fielding surging inquiries in Asia into a new lineup of smartphone batteries it hopes will become a game-changer in the quest to pack more power into ever-slimmer devices. In the first half of 2023, the company […]

Consumer interest in electric vehicles (EVs) is rising, but the lack of charging stations is a continuing concern to potential customers. No U.S. counties currently have a charging infrastructure that can deliver power equal to gasoline stations; many counties have no public EV charging infrastructure at all. To equal the power of the existing gasoline […]