Show Notes 25 August 2023
Story 1: The same metal found on hot rods and Harleys could revolutionize solar panels – Chromium is showing immense promise as a cheap, plentiful alternative to metals used in smartphone screens and solar cells.
Source: Popular Science Story by Andrew Paul
Link: https://www.popsci.com/technology/chromium-solar-panel-metal/
- Some of the most expensive and difficult-to-source materials found in smartphone screens and solar cells may soon be phased out for a cheaper, exponentially more common substitute – in specific chromium.
- Whenever a company’s refrigerator, tool, or other item is advertised as “stainless steel,” they have chromium to thank. Manufacturers have long valued the hard, shiny metal’s anticorrosive properties, and adding it into steel allows it to resist degradation and tarnishing.
- Meanwhile, electroplating a thin layer of chromium on top of another metal produces what is commonly known as chrome plating—think Harley-Davidson motorcycles, or hot-rod cars.
- Fun fact – chrome can reflect as much as 70 percent of the visible spectrum light, as well as 90 percent of infrared radiation.
- Here’s the news – a team at Switzerland’s University of Basel department of chemistry recently published in the journal Nature Chemistry the results of their experiments to carefully substitute chromium into catalysts and luminescent materials as an alternative to the traditional “noble metal” components osmium and ruthenium.
- Time out, what is a Nobel Metal? A noble metal is ordinarily regarded as a metallic chemical element that is generally resistant to corrosion and is usually found in nature in its raw form. Gold, platinum, and the other platinum group metals (including ruthenium and osmium) are most often so classified. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_metal
- Side note, how ruthenium is used in solar cells – In dye-sensitized solar cells, a ruthenium dye is one of the key components for high power conversion efficiencies. Source: https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/technical-documents/technical-article/materials-science-and-engineering/photovoltaics-and-solar-cells/dye-solar-cells
- Side note, general uses for osmium – It is the densest of all the elements and is twice as dense as lead. Osmium has only a few uses. It is used to produce very hard alloys for fountain pen tips, instrument pivots, needles, and electrical contacts. It is also used in the chemical industry as a catalyst. Source: https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/76/osmium
- Here’s why chromium is so attractive as a substitute for osmium and ruthenium:
- Chromium is 20,000 times more common within the Earth’s crust than either osmium and ruthenium noble metals—both of which are nearly as rare as gold or platinum.
- The net result of the University of Basel research is the potential for chromium to be a fraction of the cost alternative material solution for applications such as smartphone screens and solar panels.
- Although previous research into noble metal alternatives for smartphones and solar panels investigated the potential of using iron and copper with some success. But, according to the University of Basel team, chromium initially appears to perform much better than either option.
- That said, the lead researcher for the project concedes that “it seems unclear which metal will ultimately win the race when it comes to future applications in luminescent materials and artificial photosynthesis.”
Story 2: Borrowing a page from plants, engineers create solar “leaves” that produce electricity and clean water
Source: Anthropocene Magazine Story by Prachi Patel
A new bio-inspired solar leaf design with increased harvesting efficiency
Source: Imperial College London Story by Bryony Ravate
Link: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/246833/bio-inspired-solar-leaf-design-with-increased/
- Solar panels usually only convert about 10 to 25 percent of sunlight into electricity. The rest of the energy gets converted to waste heat, which brings down their performance. They are typically cooled passively using air or actively water, with water cooling requiring complicated piping and pumps.
- Taking inspiration from the natural design of leaves, chemical engineers at Imperial College London have made solar panels that can cool themselves down with water without using any energy, which boosts their performance.
- The “solar leaves”, reported in the journal Nature Communications, keep cool by about 26 °C [79.8 degrees Fahrenheit] when exposed to direct sunlight on a clear day. This leads to a 13.6 percent increase in the efficiency with which they convert solar energy to electricity.
- What’s more, the devices also capture clean water vapor to produce liters of freshwater every day.
- Here is how they developed the “solar leaves” inspired by nature – The Imperial College London chemical engineering team made a passive, energy-free cooling system by borrowing a page from plants. Plants derive a host of vital benefits from water by sending water from the soil up to their leaves through various tubular structures.
- Side note: One key use of water in plants is to have water evaporated on the leaves in a process called transpiration, which keeps plants from overheating.
- Natural capillary forces and osmotic pressure drive the flow of water in a plant. Veins in the leaves then distribute water through the structure so it can evaporate on the leaf surface. This whole process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from leaves is called transpiration.
- The Imperial College London researchers made a similar transpiration system for their solar cells. They pasted bundles of bamboo fibers on a steel wire mesh, and coated it with a water-absorbing hydrogel. They attached this 1mm-thick layer to the back of a 10 cm x 10 cm solar cell, and put the ends of the bamboo fibers into a water tank.
- The bamboo fiber bundles act as veins, siphoning water up from the tank to the hydrogel layer, which soaks it up and spreads it all over the underside of the solar cells. There, the water evaporates, drawing heat away from the solar cell. The researchers collect the water vapors using a collection chamber they place under the transpiration layer.
- Under full sun, the solar leaf device had 14.5 percent efficiency, while a regular solar cell had an efficiency of 13.2 percent. And the small test solar leaf device produced over a liter of water every hour.
- Per the team’s projections, 8.5 terawatts of installed solar panels using their solar leaf structure design could produce over 40 billion cubic meters of freshwater each year to, as the researchers noted, “significantly relieving the stress of global water scarcity.”
- Reality check, 8.5 terawatts of solar panels is a lot! Remember, a terawatt equals one million megawatts. Below is a photo of a 8.5 megawatt solar farm in Africa.
Story 3: These high-tech tiles generate energy from our footsteps – and they could change how we power our cities
Source: The Cool Down Story buy Becca Inglis
Link: https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/pavegen-tiles-walk-kinetic-energy-step/
Note: This story appeared earlier this year, but I think the idea is so fascinating I wanted to highlight it – especially given a recent installation of these innovative tiles in Washington, D.C.
And check out this video highlighting the installation in Washington, D.C.: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Pavegen+tiles&&view=detail&mid=515C003B98A2AD665FA5515C003B98A2AD665FA5&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DPavegen%2Btiles%26FORM%3DHDRSC4 Note: this video automatically rolls over to a more in-depth explanation of the technology.
Okay, here’s the scoop:
- A U.K. tech company called Pavegen has invented a way to generate renewable energy from people’s footsteps.
- Each time a person steps on a Pavegen tile it releases 3-5 joules of electric charge, which is enough to power a light bulb for a few seconds.
- These tiles use electromagnetic induction – which is all about how certain materials release an electric charge when they are compressed. The Pavegen tiles use copper coils and magnets then help to create a charge through induction.
- Side note on electromagnetic induction – Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk Maxwell mathematically described it as Faraday’s law of induction. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction
- The company says that Pavegen tiles could be a more practical solution for generating energy than wind or solar power, because there is massive amount of space available in cities to lay the tiles and millions of people to walk on them.
- Pavegen tiles can be placed wherever there is floor [or flat] space, be that indoors or on a city street.
- The floor tiles are also not weather- or daylight-dependent, and they can be used to tap a consistent source of foot traffic in busy urban areas, like airports, bus stops, schools, clothing stores, etc.
- Pavegen tiles could even be used to help power cities’ LED lighting. The company estimates that on Oxford Street in London, which sees anywhere between 138,000 and 500,000 visitors a day, pedestrians could generate around 3,200 watt-hours — enough to help power applications such as LED street furniture lights through the night and public mobile phone charging stations through the day.
- In addition to helping to power cities, the company has developed a way to link its groundbreaking electricity generating tiles tech with data collection, which retail outfits could use to help incentivize and reward the walkers who have generated electricity.
- In a store, for example, customers might earn a digital currency for every step, which they can use to make purchases or donate to a charity.
- Sensors can also collect valuable figures about foot traffic and peak walking times.
Story 4: Scientists just made intriguing progress toward regenerating human teeth
Source: Futurism Story by Victor Tangermann
- An international, multidisciplinary team of researchers [including team members at the University of Washington] has taken a fascinating step toward a possible future in which we could regenerate human teeth with the use of stem cells.
- As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Developmental Cell, the researchers created organoids, which are three-dimensional scaffolds of stem cells that mimic the functions of organs. The organoids then secrete proteins that eventually turn into dental enamel, the hard material that protects teeth from decay or damage.
- Side note on organoids – An organoid is a self-organized 3D tissue that is typically derived from stem cells (pluripotent, fetal or adult), and which mimics the key functional, structural and biological complexity of an organ. Source: https://www.stemcell.com/technical-resources/area-of-interest/organoid-research.html
- According to one of the professors of restorative dentistry at the University of Washington, “This is a critical first step to our long-term goal to develop stem cell-based treatments to repair damaged teeth and regenerate those that are lost.”
- Enamel is formed in the body by ameloblasts, cells that secrete enamel-building proteins. But once teeth are fully formed, these ameloblasts die off, leaving the body with no way to fix or regenerate damaged enamel.
- The researchers recovered special genetic instructions for assembling these enamel-building proteins through a technique called “single-cell combinatorial indexing RNA sequencing.”
- Optional Geek Out: Single cell combinatorial indexing RNA sequencing (sci-RNA-seq) is a powerful method for recovering gene expression data from an exponentially scalable number of individual cells or nuclei. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9839601/
- They then used a computer program to retrace how genes can turn stem cells into enamel-building ameloblasts.
- After a substantial amount of trial and error, the researchers were able to turn human stem cells into enamel-building ameloblasts by activating genetic pathways using that blueprint.
- The researchers found that they could coax different cell types to organize themselves into the organoids, which came to resemble the early stages of tooth formation.
- If successful, the discovery could change the way we repair teeth. For instance, dentists could fill cavities using lab-grown enamel.
- Lead author of the research paper, and professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, believes we could eventually even take this a step further by filling cavities with “living fillings” that could grow over time and self-repair.
Honorable Mentions:
World’s first wind-powered freighter sets off on maiden voyage this week!
Source: BBC News Story by Tom Singleton
Link: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/pioneering-wind-powered-cargo-ship-sets-sail/ar-AA1fxS5J
- A cargo ship fitted with giant, British-designed special wind-powered sails has set out on its maiden voyage.
- Shipping firm Cargill, which has chartered the vessel, hopes the technology will help the industry chart a course towards a greener future.
- Using the wing-sized rigid WindWings sails aims to cut fuel consumption and therefore shipping’s carbon footprint.
- It is estimated the industry is responsible for about 2.1% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
- The Pyxis Ocean’s first journey will be from China to Brazil – and will provide the first test real-world test of the wind-wing technology.
- Folded down when the ship is in port, they are opened when it is at sea. They stand 123ft (37.5m) tall and are built of the same material as wind turbines, to make them durable.
- Enabling a vessel to be blown along by the wind, rather than rely solely on its engine, could hopefully eventually reduce a cargo ship’s lifetime emissions by 30%.
From Sci-Fi to reality: Flying cars powered by NASA tech in the works
Source: Jerusalem Post
- Flying cars may no longer be a far-off futuristic dream, thanks to a new wingless flying vehicle created by Applied eVTOL Concepts using proven NASA tech.
- Applied eVTOL Concepts, a company that specializes in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles, recently presented plans for the Epiphany Transporter, a wingless, flying vehicle that they imagine could carry passengers directly to their destinations at high speed.