News – Page 18 – EES Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Excellent thermoelectrics research from Energy & Environmental Science

08 Aug 2012

We would like to share with you a selection of high impact articles, published in Energy & Environmental Science covering a wide range of thermoelectrics research.

On behalf of Editor-in-Chief Nate Lewis (Caltech), we invite you to submit your best research to Energy & Environmental Science.

With an Impact Factor of 9.61 and ranked #1 in its field, Energy & Environmental Science is the ideal place to publish your research.

Sign up to receive our free table-of-contents e-alert at www.rsc.org/alerts and be among the first to read our newest articles.

Read this high-impact thermoelectrics research today:

Reviews

Perspectives on thermoelectrics: from fundamentals to device applications
M. Zebarjadi, K. Esfarjani, M. S. Dresselhaus, Z. F. Ren and G. Chen
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02497C

Resonant levels in bulk thermoelectric semiconductors
Joseph P. Heremans, Bartlomiej Wiendlocha and Audrey M. Chamoire
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02612G

Prospects for polymer-based thermoelectrics: state of the art and theoretical analysis
Theodore O. Poehler and Howard E. Katz
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22124A

Original research

Low effective mass leading to high thermoelectric performance
Yanzhong Pei, Aaron D. LaLonde, Heng Wang and G. Jeffrey Snyder
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21536E

High thermoelectric figure of merit in nanostructured p-type PbTe–MTe (M = Ca, Ba)
Kanishka Biswas, Jiaqing He, Guoyu Wang, Shih-Han Lo, Ctirad Uher, Vinayak P. Dravid and Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02297K

Flexible carbon nanotube papers with improved thermoelectric properties
Weiyun Zhao, Shufen Fan, Ni Xiao, Dayong Liu, Yee Yan Tay, Cui Yu, Daohao Sim, Huey Hoon Hng, Qichun Zhang, Freddy Boey, Jan Ma, Xinbing Zhao, Hua Zhang and Qingyu Yan
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01931G

Enhancement of thermoelectric figure-of-merit by resonant states of aluminium doping in lead selenide
Qinyong Zhang, Hui Wang, Weishu Liu, Hengzhi Wang, Bo Yu, Qian Zhang, Zhiting Tian, George Ni, Sangyeop Lee, Keivan Esfarjani, Gang Chen and Zhifeng Ren
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02465E

High thermoelectric figure of merit zT>1 in Ba heavily doped BiCuSeO oxyselenides
Li-Dong Zhao, Jing Li, Jiehe Sui, Yanling Pei, Celine Barreteau, David Berardan, Nita Dragoe, Wei Cai and Jiaqing He
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22622G

Combining alloy scattering of phonons and resonant electronic levels to reach a high thermoelectric figure of merit in PbTeSe and PbTeS alloys
Christopher M. Jaworski, Bartlomiej Wiendlocha, Vladimir Jovovic and Joseph P. Heremans
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01895G

High thermoelectric figure of merit in heavy hole dominated PbTe
Yanzhong Pei, Aaron LaLonde, Shiho Iwanaga and G. Jeffrey Snyder
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00456A

A novel high-performance photovoltaic–thermoelectric hybrid device
Ning Wang, Li Han, Hongcai He, Nam-Hee Park and Kunihito Koumoto
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01646F

Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Te₃ based thermopower wave sources
Sumeet Walia, Rodney Weber, Sharath Sriram, Madhu Bhaskaran, Kay Latham, Serge Zhuiykov and Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01370J

Recrystallization induced in situ nanostructures in bulk bismuth antimony tellurides: a simple top down route and improved thermoelectric properties
Jun-Jie Shen, Tie-Jun Zhu, Xin-Bing Zhao, Sheng-Nan Zhang, Sheng-Hui Yang and Zhen-Zhong Yin
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00012D

You can find even more great thermoelectric research in our Energy & Environmental Science thermoelectrics web collection.

Comments Off on Excellent thermoelectrics research from Energy & Environmental Science

New research on capacitive desalination

06 Aug 2012

Desalination is currently a very topical area of research; with the world’s ever increasing population and demand for fresh drinking water. As a result, research in this area is moving fast, with new technologies being developed all the time.

EES has just published papers from two separate groups on the latest developments in capacitive deonization/desalination. Capacitive desalination (CD) is a promising new desalination technique, relative to reverse osmosis (RO), as it can operate at low (sub-osmotic) pressures and has the potential to use less energy when desalinating brackish water (from estuaries and coastal marsland).

The first paper demonstrates an alternative architecture to traditional CD cells, where the feed flows directly through the electrodes along the direction of the primary electric field (flow-through electrode (FTE) capacitive desalination). This novel set-up has resulted in a significant reduction in desalination time and improved salt concentration reductions; with a mean sorption rate of nearly 1 mg NaCl per g aerogel per min, that’s up to 10 times higher than that demonstrated by the typical CD cell:

Capacitive desalination with flow-through electrodes
Matthew E. Suss , Theodore F. Baumann , William L. Bourcier , Christopher M. Spadaccini , Klint A. Rose , Juan G. Santiago and Michael Stadermann
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21498A

The second paper discusses membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI), which is based on applying a cell voltage between two oppositely placed porous electrodes, with a spacer channel that transports the water to be desalinated. Current MCDI devices operate at a constant cell voltage, resulting in an effluent stream of desalinated water of which the salt concentration varies with time. In this paper, van der Wal and colleagues propose a different operational mode for MCDI, whereby desalination is driven by a constant electrical current, which leads to a constant salt concentration in the desalinated stream over long periods of time. This is shown to significantly reduce energy consumption, which would be essential for the economic viability of membrane-based desalination techniques:

Energy consumption and constant current operation in membrane capacitive deionization
R. Zhao , P. M. Biesheuvel and A. van der Wal
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21737F

You can read more about desalination in the recent Chemistry World article: Keeping the tap on and other related articles.

Comments Off on New research on capacitive desalination

EES Issue 8 now online!

03 Aug 2012

The latest issue of Energy & Environmental Science is now online. You can read the full issue here.

The outside front cover features an article on Introducing structural colour in DSCs by using photonic crystals: interplay between conversion efficiency and optical properties by Daniele Colonna, Silvia Colodrero, Henrik Lindström, Aldo Di Carlo and Hernán Míguez.

Modeling geminate pair dissociation in organic solar cells: high power conversion efficiencies achieved with moderate optical bandgaps is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Jonathan D. Servaites, Brett M. Savoie, Joseph B. Brink, Tobin J. Marks and Mark A. Ratner.

Issue 8 contains the following Review, Perspective and Minireview articles:

Review articles

Morphology characterization in organic and hybrid solar cells
Wei Chen, Maxim P. Nikiforov and Seth B. Darling
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8045-8074
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22056C
A review on nanomaterials for environmental remediation
Mya Mya Khin, A. Sreekumaran Nair, V. Jagadeesh Babu, Rajendiran Murugan and Seeram Ramakrishna
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8075-8109
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21818F

Perspectives

Prospects for polymer-based thermoelectrics: state of the art and theoretical analysis
Theodore O. Poehler and Howard E. Katz
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8110-8115
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22124A
Future carbon dioxide removal via biomass energy constrained by agricultural efficiency and dietary trends
Thomas W. R. Powell and Timothy M. Lenton
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8116-8133
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21592F
Catalytic water oxidation at single metal sites
Rui Cao, Wenzhen Lai and Pingwu Du
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8134-8157
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21494F
Overcoming efficiency challenges in organic solar cells: rational development of conjugated polymers
Hae Jung Son, Bridget Carsten, In Hwan Jung and Luping Yu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8158-8170
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21608F

Minireviews

Formic acid as a hydrogen source – recent developments and future trends
Martin Grasemann and Gábor Laurenczy
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8171-8181
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21928J
Graphene as a counter electrode material for dye-sensitized solar cells
Hui Wang and Yun Hang Hu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 8182-8188
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21905K

Fancy submitting an article to Energy & Environmental Science? Then why not submit to us today!

Comments Off on EES Issue 8 now online!

Nanogenerators show sensitive wind-speed detection

27 Jul 2012

Researchers working in the US and China have reported a composite zinc oxide–poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanogenerator (NG) which can convert energy from an air flow into electricity with no need for additional battery power. The system shows improved power density and sensitivity compared to previously reported NGs, with a lower limit of flow detection of 0.6m s^-1 and is environmentally friendly. The system has potential applications in gas pipeline monitoring.

Nanogenerator as an active sensor for vortex capture and ambient wind-velocity detection
Rui Zhang, Long Lin, Qingshen Jing, Wenzhuo Wu, Yan Zhang, Zongxia Jiao, Liang Yan, Ray P. S. Han and Zhong Lin Wang
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22354F

Comments Off on Nanogenerators show sensitive wind-speed detection

How the Fukushima nuclear disaster affected health across the world

18 Jul 2012

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was badly damaged in the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami which occurred off the east coast of Japan in March last year. The resulting meltdown of nuclear fuel rods and explosions at the plant caused the leakage of nuclear material.

In this fascinating Energy & Environmental Science article John E. Ten Hoeve and Mark Z. Jacobson working at Stanford University report a detailed analysis of the effects of this accident on the health of the population worldwide. They estimate that the accident resulted in 130 cancer-related mortalities (with a lower confidence limit of 15 and upper limit of 1100) and 180 (24–1800) cancer-related morbidities worldwide.

The authors also modelled a hypothetical accident at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California, USA, predicting that such an event could result in a ~25% higher morality level due to the meteorological conditions found there.

In his Opinion article commenting on the results, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Burton Richter comments that “My rough analysis finds that health effects, including mortality, would have been much worse with fossil fuel used to generate the same amount of electricity as was nuclear generated.” A surprising conclusion perhaps and something policy makers will no doubt be thinking hard about in the months and years to come.

Read this Energy & Environmental Science article in full today along with the accompanying Opinion and response:

Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident
John E. Ten Hoeve and Mark Z. Jacobson
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22019A

Opinion on “Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident” by J. E. Ten Hoeve and M. Z. Jacobson, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22019a
Burton Richter
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22658H

Reply to the ‘Opinion on “Worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident”’ by B. Richter, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, DOI:10.1039/c2ee22658h
John E. Ten Hoeve and Mark Z. Jacobson
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22659F

Table of contents image

Comments Off on How the Fukushima nuclear disaster affected health across the world

At the cutting edge of naval research

13 Jul 2012

Jeffrey W. Long is a research chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC, US

Jeffrey W. Long

What does your role entail?

I do experimental work as part of a group. Our group primarily focuses on materials discovery for power/energy applications, particularly electrochemical systems – batteries, electrochemical capacitors (ECs, also known as supercapacitors) and to a lesser extent, fuel cells.

What are latest developments in your field?

The electrochemical capacitor field is becoming much more popular. These are devices that charge and discharge much more quickly than batteries, typically on the order of a few seconds. They don’t have quite as much energy, but you don’t always need high energy density for particular applications. Sometimes, you need that rapid switching between charge and discharge states. Over the past 10 years, this has become a much more popular technology and we’ve been contributing to that by developing new materials that enable that kind of process.

Visit Chemistry World to read the full interview.

Comments Off on At the cutting edge of naval research

EES Poster Prizes: IGEC-DCCE

12 Jul 2012

EES are delighted to announce Tao Liu, (Insitute of Chemical Physics, China) and Abdelaziz Emad Atabani, (University of Malaya, Malaya) as Poster Prize winners at the 7th International Green Energy & 1st DNL Conference on Clean Energy (IGEC-DCCE) which took place at Dalian, China in May 2012.

Attendees of the The 7th International Green Energy Conference & The 1st DNL Conference on Clean Energy (IGEC-DCCE)

Sign up to receive our free table-of-contents e-alert at www.rsc.org/alerts and be among the first to read our newest articles.

Comments Off on EES Poster Prizes: IGEC-DCCE

Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer themed issue 7 now online!

12 Jul 2012

Energy & Environmental Science’s issue 7 is now online and includes a collection of articles on the theme of Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer, Guest Edited by Marc Robert and Dr Elodie Anxolabéhère-Mallart (Université Paris Diderot). You can read the full themed issue here.

PCET

Issue 7’s themed collection contains articles of interest such as the Editorial by Marc Robert Proton-coupled electron transfer and the following feature Perspectives:

Perspectives

Proton-coupled electron transfer: classification scheme and guide to theoretical methods
Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03361E
The role of proton coupled electron transfer in water oxidation
Christopher J. Gagliardi, Aaron K. Vannucci, Javier J. Concepcion, Zuofeng Chen and Thomas J. Meyer
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03311A
Electrochemical approach to proton-coupled electron transfers: recent advances
Jean-Michel Savéant
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03241D

The outside front cover features a Communication on the Pyrolytic conversion of cellulose to fuels: levoglucosan deoxygenation via elimination and cyclization within molten biomass by Matthew S. Mettler, Alex D. Paulsen, Dionisios G. Vlachos and Paul J. Dauenhauer.

Towards solution processed all-carbon solar cells: a perspective is the Perspective highlighted on the inside front cover by Vincent C. Tung, Jen-Hsien Huang, Jaemyung Kim, Alexander J. Smith, Chih-Wei Chu and Jiaxing Huang.

Issue 7 also includes other articles of from the journal’s broad scope including these Review and Perspective articles:

Air as the renewable carbon source of the future: an overview of CO₂ capture from the atmosphere
Alain Goeppert, Miklos Czaun, G. K. Surya Prakash and George A. Olah
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21586A
Electrical energy storage for transportation—approaching the limits of, and going beyond, lithium-ion batteries
Michael M. Thackeray, Christopher Wolverton and Eric D. Isaacs
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21892E
Post-processing pathways in carbon capture and storage by mineral carbonation (CCSM) towards the introduction of carbon neutral materials
Aimaro Sanna, Matthew R. Hall and Mercedes Maroto-Valer
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03455G
Top ten fundamental challenges of biomass pyrolysis for biofuels
Matthew S. Mettler, Dionisios G. Vlachos and Paul J. Dauenhauer
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21679E
Conjugated porous polymers for energy applications
Filipe Vilela , Kai Zhang and Markus Antonietti
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22002D

Keep up to date with our latest news: sign up for our e-alerts and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments Off on Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer themed issue 7 now online!

EES Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Top 10 most-read EES articles in June

Excellent thermoelectrics research from Energy & Environmental Science

New research on capacitive desalination

EES Issue 8 now online!

Nanogenerators show sensitive wind-speed detection

How the Fukushima nuclear disaster affected health across the world

At the cutting edge of naval research

EES Poster Prizes: IGEC-DCCE

Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer themed issue 7 now online!

Top 10 most-read EES articles in May

Links

Categories

Archives

Meta