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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
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ApocaDocuments (5) matching "technological innovation" from this week
[see full week] ~ [see all stories tagged "technological innovation"]
Sun, Feb 21, 2010
from Stanford, via PhysOrg:
Nanotechnology sparks energy storage on paper and cloth
By dipping ordinary paper or fabric in a special ink infused with nanoparticles, Stanford engineer Yi Cui has found a way to cheaply and efficiently manufacture lightweight paper batteries and supercapacitors (which, like batteries, store energy, but by electrostatic rather than chemical means), as well as stretchable, conductive textiles known as "eTextiles" -- capable of storing energy while retaining the mechanical properties of ordinary paper or fabric.... While electrical energy storage devices have come a long way since Alessandro Volta debuted the world's first electrical cell in 1800, the technology is facing yet another revolution. Current methods of manufacturing energy storage devices can be capital intensive and environmentally hazardous, and the end products have noticeable performance constraints -- conventional lithium ion batteries have a limited storage capacity and are costly to manufacture, while traditional capacitors provide high power but at the expense of energy storage capacity. ...


Let's be sure they can be nanorecycled, without nanoreleases of maxitoxins, k?

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Wed, Feb 17, 2010
from SolveClimate:
IBM Breakthrough Could Deliver Low-Cost Efficient Solar
The process is based on a slurry (or ink) made of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 in hydrazine, which can then be coated on any PV device. The final solution is comprised of both solid particles and liquid, both of which contain metal and chalcogen elements, which are the key to higher efficiencies. Getting these elements into both particle and liquid forms helps integrate them further into the final film, which boosts efficiency. The other benefit is that the solution can be applied via ultra high throughput printing or coating techniques, which means high-efficiency devices could be produced for low costs at a large scale: the holy grail for solar energy. ...


Then, let's build a million specialized inkjet printers and produce a paper-sized PV substrate, and then sell us the cartridges! Slap-on solar!

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Tue, Feb 16, 2010
from Science Daily:
Energy-Efficient Lighting Made Without Mercury
RTI International has developed a revolutionary lighting technology that is more energy efficient than the common incandescent light bulb and does not contain mercury, making it environmentally safer than the compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb.... When the two nanoscale technologies are combined, a high-efficiency lighting device is produced that is capable of generating in excess of 55 lumens of light output per electrical watt consumed. This efficiency is more than five times greater than that of traditional incandescent bulbs.... Additionally, RTI's technology produces an aesthetically pleasing light with better color rendering properties than is typically found in CFLs. The technology has demonstrated color rendering indices in excess of 90 for warm white, neutral white, and cool white illumination sources.... It is anticipated that commercial products containing this breakthrough will be available in three to five years. ...


Faster! Get the lead mercury out!

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Tue, Feb 16, 2010
from PhysOrg.com:
Researchers create highly absorbing, flexible solar cells with silicon wire arrays
Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology has created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells.... The silicon wire arrays created by Atwater and his colleagues are able to convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into electrons -- in technical terms, the wires have a near-perfect internal quantum efficiency. "High absorption plus good conversion makes for a high-quality solar cell," says Atwater. "It's an important advance."... The next steps, Atwater says, are to increase the operating voltage and the overall size of the solar cell. "The structures we've made are square centimeters in size," he explains. "We're now scaling up to make cells that will be hundreds of square centimeters—the size of a normal cell." ...


Make it quickly mass-producable, at $25 a square meter, and you just might save the world.

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Mon, Feb 15, 2010
from PhysOrg.com:
Nanoscale carbon fibre flat batteries
A nanoscale material developed in Britain could one day yield wafer-thin cellphones and light-weight, long-range electric cars powered by the roof, boot and doors, researchers have reported.... For now, the new technology -- a patented mix of carbon fibre and polymer resin that can charge and release electricity just like a regular battery -- has not gone beyond a successful laboratory experiment.... The new material -- while expensive to make -- is entirely synthetic, which means production would not be limited by availability of natural resources. Another plus: conventional batteries need chemical reactions to generate juice, a process which causes them to degrade over time and gradually lose the capacity to hold a charge. The carbon-polymer composite does not depend on chemistry, which not only means a longer life but a quicker charge as well. ...


A wee, sleekit, tim'rous batt'ry. However, the best laid plans gang aft agley.

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