China’s latest tool can sever communication and power cables located deep in the oceans, giving it the power to disrupt global infrastructure.
Category: energy – Page 2
A full Dyson swarm could unlock near-limitless energy—but also turn Earth into an unlivable furnace, warns a new study.
A new technology has been developed that enables the manufacturing of thin films, which typically require complex processes, using only water and oil in just one minute. Professor Kang Hee Ku and her research team from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST announced their novel process for creating catalytic thin films using oil droplets dispersed in water.
The developed technology involves a process in which nanomaterial precursors attached to the surface of oil droplets float to the surface of the water, where they assemble into a thin film. When hydrogen peroxide is added, it decomposes due to the thin film precursors, producing gas bubbles that cause the precursors to be lifted and assembled on the water surface within one minute.
This process allows for precise control of the thin film thickness, adjustable from 350 μm, and enables the synthesis of thin films covering an area of up to 100 cm² using various raw materials. The resulting thin films exhibit a porous structure with a high surface area, featuring exceptional mechanical strength and flexibility.
Deep ultraviolet (DUV) lasers, known for their high photon energy and short wavelengths, are essential in various fields such as semiconductor lithography, high-resolution spectroscopy, precision material processing, and quantum technology. These lasers offer increased coherence and reduced power consumption compared to excimer or gas discharge lasers, enabling the development of more compact systems.
As reported in Advanced Photonics Nexus, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made a significant advancement by developing a compact, solid-state laser system capable of generating 193-nm coherent light.
This wavelength is crucial for photolithography, a process used to etch intricate patterns onto silicon wafers, forming the backbone of modern electronic devices.
Scientists have developed a model that predicts a massive boost in OLED brightness using polaritons—hybrid light-matter states.
By fine-tuning the number of molecules involved, they achieved a staggering 10-million-fold improvement in efficiency. This discovery could transform OLED technology, making displays brighter and more power-efficient than ever.
A bright new future for oleds?
Advanced transmission technologies could sidestep permitting challenges and clear the bottleneck holding up hundreds of gigawatts’ worth of renewable-energy projects.
In recent years, researchers have been trying to develop increasingly advanced battery technologies that can be charged faster and store more energy, while also remaining safe and stable over time. Lithium-metal batteries (LMBs), which contain a lithium-metal-based anode, have been found to be promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), which are currently the most widely used rechargeable batteries.
A key advantage of LMBs is that they can store significantly more energy than LiBs, which could be advantageous for electric vehicles and other large or advanced electronics. Despite their potential, these batteries have so far proved to be less stable and safe than LiBs, while also charging relatively slowly; limitations that have so far prevented their widespread adoption.
A research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and other institutes recently designed new electrolytes based on symmetric organic salts, which could help to boost the performance of LMBs. Their newly designed electrolytes, introduced in a paper in Nature Energy, were found to improve the stability and charging speed of LMBs, preventing the formation of dendrites (lithium deposits that cause a battery’s performance to decline over time).
Redox reactions form the basis of many fundamental processes of life. Without them, neither cellular respiration nor photosynthesis could take place. Redox reactions also play a crucial role in applications in the domains of chemistry, biochemistry, and the use of light for energy generation. Understanding the fundamental principles of these reactions is therefore important for driving forward new technologies.
Using an innovative method based on high pressures, a team led by LMU chemist Professor Ivana Ivanović-Burmazović and Professor Dirk Guldi from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg has managed for the first time to differentiate two related reaction mechanisms. The research is published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
Italian zero emission bus manufacturer Rampini’s division H2EUPower announces the launch of a series of hydrogen fuel cell…
Where can you find lasers, electric guitars, and racks full of novel batteries, all in the same giant room? This week, the answer was the 2025 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit just outside Washington, DC.
Energy innovation can take many forms, and the variety in energy research was on display at the summit. ARPA-E, part of the US Department of Energy, provides funding for high-risk, high-reward research projects. The summit gathers projects the agency has funded, along with investors, policymakers, and journalists.
Hundreds of projects were exhibited in a massive hall during the conference, featuring demonstrations and research results. Here are four of the most interesting innovations MIT Technology Review spotted on site.
From laser steel to fuel made from rocks, we look inside the 2025 ARPA-E energy technology conference.