Lifeboat Foundation

Groundbreaking research reveals new details about water vapor’s interaction with metals at an atomic level, with implications for corrosion management and clean-energy development.

When water vapor meets metal, the resulting corrosion can lead to mechanical problems that harm a machine’s performance. Through a process called passivation, it also can form a thin inert layer that acts as a barrier against further deterioration.

Either way, the exact chemical reaction is not well understood on an atomic level, but that is changing thanks to a technique called environmental transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which allows researchers to directly view molecules interacting on the tiniest possible scale.

South China University of Technology and Central South University published a paper confirming the discovery of a near-room-temperature superconducting component in LK99-type materials through sample testing. This is significant experimental support for LK99 room temperature superconductivity.

They have found significant hysteresis and memory effect of LFMA in samples of CSLA. The effect is sufficiently robust in magnetic field sweep and rotation and will lose memory in a long duration. The temperature dependence of LFMA intensity exhibits a phase transition at 250 K. The phase diagram of superconducting Meissner and vortex glass is then calculated in the framework of lattice gauge model. In the near future, they will continue to improve the quality of samples to realize full levitation and magnetic flux pinning by increasing active components. The application of a microwave power repository will be considered as well.

Most superconductors have got the low-field microwave absorption (LFMA) due to the presence of superconducting gap and the relevant superconducting vortices as excited states. More importantly, the derivative LFMA of superconductors is positively dependent of the magnetic field as the vortices are more induced under higher field. As a comparison, although the soft magnetism is also active under low field, the precession of spin moments will be suppressed so that the derivative LFMA of magnetic materials is normally negative. The sign of LFMA can be always corrected by the signal of radicals in our measurements. In this case, the signals below 500 Gauss are all positive, implying the presence of superconductivity.

“Electric water heaters offer a cheap way to store large amounts of energy, in the form of hot water. A heater with a 300-litre tank can store about as much energy as a second-generation Tesla Powerwall – at a fraction of the cost.”

Australia’s energy transition is well under way. Some 3 million households have rooftop solar and sales of medium-sized electric cars are surging. But as we work towards fully electric households powered by renewable energy, have we overlooked a key enabling technology, the humble electric water heater?

About half of Australian households use electric water heaters, while the rest use gas. So what’s so great about electric water heaters?

Less than a week after announcing a Power Day 2023 event to unveil new battery technologies, ZEEKR has officially introduced its own lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells developed in-house. While LFP batteries are generally categorized as less energy-dense, ZEEKR says its cells outperform many competitors.

While many companies have begun decelerating in 2023 as we enter the busy holiday season, ZEEKR has shown no signs of slowing down. In November, the Geely-owned automaker announced a new model called the 7, which made its public debut during the Guangzhou Auto Show. Since then, we’ve seen the company file for a US IPO and have confirmed plans for a new mass-market SUV to compete with the Tesla Model Y.

The ZEEKR 7 sedan will officially launch in China on December 27, followed by deliveries a few days later. Before then, however, ZEEKR promised a live event to debut new technology pertaining to EV batteries developed entirely in-house.

NASA’s Cassini probe has uncovered compelling evidence hinting at the potential existence of life on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.

Interestingly, a detailed review of Cassini’s data has revealed that the subsurface ocean hidden beneath the moon’s frozen surface is a rich source of chemical energy.

This disclosure strengthens the case for exploring the possibility of life within the ocean of this frozen celestial body.

Continue reading “Saturn’s icy moon hosts vital life source, key molecule, reveals NASA” »

According to a new study in Nature, China could be facing an impending wind turbine waste problem if it cannot find ways to deal with it.

While China has forged ahead with its renewable energy infrastructure, it must find ways to deal with the waste from older installations, study finds.

The judicious shaping of a tube of plasma by one laser enhances the properties of electron bunches accelerated by another.

The idea was first proposed in 1979: use a laser to separate a plasma’s electrons from its ions, thereby creating an electric field that accelerates electrons to giga-electron-volt (GeV) energies over a few micrometers. Turning that idea into useful devices requires bestowing electrons with not just high energy but also with a tight spread in energy. Now a team led by Simon Hooker of Oxford University, UK, has demonstrated a plasma-preparation technique that yields 1.2 GeV electrons with an energy spread of 4.5% [1]. Although that performance falls short of conventional accelerators, further improvement is possible.

In general, the more intense the laser and the denser the plasma, the greater the electron acceleration. But if the laser–plasma interaction is pushed up into the nonlinear regime, the acceleration becomes unruly. Working at lower intensities and densities requires sustaining the acceleration for longer. It also requires that the electrons in the lowest-density part of the plasma are accelerated first. That way, the exiting electrons form a tight bunch.

Quantum physics, the science of the very small, often challenges our common sense and intuition. But it also offers new possibilities for technological innovations that go beyond the limits of classical physics. One of these possibilities is the quantum battery, which uses quantum phenomena to store, transfer, and deliver energy more effectively than conventional batteries.

Quantum batteries

Quantum batteriesQuantum batteries are not yet ready for commercial use. Still, they can revolutionize fields that require low-power and portable energy sources, such as smart devices, sensors, and even electric vehicles.

Enceladus’ ice plumes may hold the building blocks of life. Researchers have shown unambiguous laboratory evidence that amino acids transported in the ice plumes of Saturn’s moon, Eceladus, can survive impact speeds of up to 4.2 km/s, supporting their detection during sampling by spacecraft.

As astrophysics technology and research continue to advance, one question persists: is there life elsewhere in the universe? The Milky Way galaxy alone has hundreds of billions of celestial bodies, but scientists often look for three crucial elements in their ongoing search: water, energy and organic material. Evidence indicates that Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is an ‘ocean world’ that contains all three, making it a prime target in the search for life.

During its 20-year mission, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovered that ice plumes spew from Enceladus’ surface at approximately 800 miles per hour (400 m/s). These plumes provide an excellent opportunity to collect samples and study the composition of Enceladus’ oceans and potential habitability.