An alternative fermentation technology to recover valuable precursors for biodiesel from low grade biomass
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Biological formation of caproate and caprylate from acetate: fuel and chemical production from low grade biomass
Kirsten J. J. Steinbusch, Hubertus V. M. Hamelers, Caroline M. Plugge and Cees J. N. Buisman
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00282H
Palani Balaya, Assistant Professor of Engineering, National University of Singapore, is a lead author of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His research interests surround nano-ionic systems, such as solar energy conversion and lithium ion batteries.
Read his recent Energy Environmental Science article now:
Mesoporous TiO2 with high packing density for superior lithium storage
Kuppan Saravanan, Krishnamoorthy Ananthanarayanan and Palani Balaya
Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 9392010, 3, 939-948
Read the interview: A sunny outlook
Annegret Stark
Institute for Technical Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry
The combination of the concept of an integrated biorefinery with ionic liquid technology is critically assessed, and potentials for further research and development are identified.
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Ionic liquids in the biorefinery: a critical assessment of their potential
Annegret Stark
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00246A
This article critically assesses the state of the art on the example of four case studies, focussing on the carbohydrate fraction, and identifies a number of opportunities for further research and development. The next decades promise to be exiting times for biomass processing technology development in general. Time will show in which processes ionic liquids can excel.
In this work, the authors calcualte how sheet resistance impacts the power conversion efficiency in solar cells.
The transparent conductor (TC) layer in thin film solar cell modules has a significant impact on power conversion efficiency – reflection, absorption, resistive losses and lost active area all need to be taken into account.
Read more…
Transparent electrode requirements for thin film solar cell modules
Michael W. Rowell and Michael D. McGehee
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00373E
Energy & Environmental Science free content alert
Web Collection: Supercapacitors
This Collection of reviews and articles, includes contributions from leading scientists like George Chen, Yuri Gogotsi and Rodney Ruoff.
These high quality Energy & Environmental Science articles will be available for free for a month, read the collection now!
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HOT Communication – continuous carbide-derived carbon film
It is demonstrated that continuous carbide-derived carbon (CDC) films can be synthesized on various substrates and show high volumetric capacitance.
Continuous carbide-derived carbon films with high volumetric capacitance
Min Heon, Samuel Lofland, James Applegate, Robert Nolte, Emma Cortes, Jeffrey D. Hettinger, Pierre-Louis Taberna, Patrice Simon, Peihua Huang, Magali Brunet and Yury Gogotsi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00404A
This work has demonstrated that the electrocatalytic activity of the solid oxide fuel cell cathode can be improved by tailoring the surface crystal facet of micro-crystals. The knowledge obtained will facilitate the goal to improve energy efficiency and to reduce emissions.
Single crystalline La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 microcubes as cathode of solid oxide fuel cell
Mingjia Zhi, Guangwen Zhou, Zhanglian Hong, Jin Wang, Randall Gemmen, Kirk Gerdes, Ayyakkannu Manivannan, Dongling Ma and Nianqiang Wu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00300J
An Energy & Environmental Science article on photovoltaics has been featured in the New Scientist.
The article by Brian Korgel and colleagues at The University of Texas at Austin describes a new nanocrystal photovoltaic device which can be sprayed on to a surface – making it very useful for flexible materials such as clothes or beach towels!
Read the paper now:
Spray-deposited CuInSe2 nanocrystal photovoltaics
Vahid A. Akhavan, Brian W. Goodfellow, Matthew G. Panthani, Dariya K. Reid, Danny J. Hellebusch, Takuji Adachi and Brian A. Korgel
Energy Environ. Sci. , 2010, 3, 1600-1606
Or read the New Scientist news item
Energy & Environmental Science November covers
The outside front cover of issue 11 features the Perspective article by F. W. Lee et al. where they discuss if smokeless biomass pyrolysis is a possible arsenal for global carbon capture and sequestration at the gigaton scale.
Sustainability: the capacity of smokeless biomass pyrolysis for energy production, global carbon capture and sequestration
James Weifu Lee, Bob Hawkins, Danny M. Day and Donald C. Reicosky
Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 1695-1705
The inside front cover highlights Juan Carlos Ruiz-Morales and colleagues article where they review cost-effective methods of microstructural control of materials for energy and environmental applications – from an “eye-scale” down to the micrometre scale.
Engineering of materials for solid oxide fuel cells and other energy and environmental applications
Juan Carlos Ruiz-Morales, David Marrero-López, María Gálvez-Sánchez, Jesús Canales-Vázquez, Cristian Savaniu and Stanislav N. Savvin
Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 1670-1681
HOT Review article – read it now
Improving hydrogenase O2 tolerance is a major contemporary challenge to allow the implementation of a sustainable hydrogen economy, as hydrogenases catalyze the conversion between 2H+ + 2e– and H2.
In this Review Christophe Léger and colleagues explore different methods to improve the O2-tolerance of the O2-sensitive [Ni–Fe] hydrogenase.
Towards engineering O2-tolerance in [Ni–Fe] hydrogenases
Pierre-Pol Liebgott, Sébastien Dementin, Christophe Léger and Marc Rousset
Energy Environ. Sci., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00093K
