Tech

Scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new probe that could lead to a better photoelectrochemical cell.

A paper on the discovery, 'Semiconductor interfacial carrier dynamics via photoinduced electric fields,' was published in Science Magazine.

Ye Yang and Jing Gu are lead authors of the paper. NREL colleagues, James Young, Elisa Miller, John Turner, Nathan Neale and Matthew Beard also contributed to the research.

Analysts at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are providing, for the first time, a method for measuring the economic potential of renewable energy across the United States.

A study applying this new method found that renewable energy generation is economically viable in many parts of the United States largely due to rapidly declining technology costs.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- An engineer and an ophthalmologist are developing a portable sensor that can quickly and inexpensively determine whether an eye injury is mild or severe. The device, called OcuCheck, measures levels of vitamin C in the fluids that coat or leak from the eye. The sensor could speed efforts to determine the extent of eye injuries at accident sites, in rural areas lacking ophthalmology specialists or on the battlefield, the researchers said.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) needs to modify its regulations and planning in order to strengthen preparedness for accidental spills of diluted bitumen from pipelines, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 8, 2015 - The train to Tsukuba, Japan often carries workers with briefcases and travelers with overnight bags, but recently a group of scientists took an unusual bit of luggage on board: a suitcase with an ultrahigh vacuum chamber to store air-sensitive clusters of platinum metal.

The clusters are of special interest because they're expected to improve catalytic activities such as automotive exhaust reactions and electrochemical reactions.

PITTSBURGH--A team of chemical engineers at the University of Pittsburgh recently identified the two main factors for determining the optimal catalyst for turning atmospheric CO2 into liquid fuel. The results of the study, which appeared in the journal ACS Catalysis, will streamline the search for an inexpensive yet highly effective new catalyst.

Scientists operating out of IBS' Center for Nanoparticle Research have reported highly durable and active intermetallic platinum-iron (PtFe) nanoparticles (NPs) coated with nitrogen (N) doped carbon shell. Precision sized face centered tetragonal (fct) PtFe NPs, only a few nanometers thick, are formed by thermal annealing at 700oC, resulting in a carbon outer layer which protects the NPs from detachment and dissolution throughout the harsh fuel cell operating conditions.

Between Basel and Rotterdam, the Rhine has one of the highest microplastics pollution so far measured in rivers, with the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area showing peak numbers of up to four times the average. Among investigated rivers, the Rhine is thus among those most heavily polluted with microplastics. This is reported by researchers from the University of Basel, who evaluated, for the first time, the plastic concentration at the surface of one of the big European rivers. Their results have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University scientists have found that three computer vision methods commonly used to reconstruct 3-D scenes produce superior results in capturing facial details when they are performed simultaneously, rather than independently.

Argonne, IL. --- Cast iron can be modified through the manufacturing process to optimize its mechanical and physical properties, such as strength and durability.

This makes it a material of choice for use in the transportation and machinery industries, which rely on cast iron's resistance to wear, deformation, and rusting to design high-performance bridges, tools, and engine parts.

While community gardens provide benefits including urban green space, opportunities for recreation, art expression, social gathering, and improved diets, urban gardening may also increase the opportunity for exposure to common urban soil contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

North Carolina State University research shows that bacteria in the gut of German cockroaches play a major role in how the cockroaches gather together, or aggregate. The findings could lead to more efficient roach baits and traps.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NC State entomologists show that roach gut bacteria produce a wide variety of fatty acids that contribute to production of pheromones in roach feces. These fecal pheromones serve as a type of welcoming scent that attracts other roaches.

Despite global economic growth in 2015, worldwide emissions from fossil fuels are projected to decline by 0.6% this year.

A report released today by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) has found that emissions of carbon dioxide in 2015 will break the rapid emissions growth of the past decade.

"The major contributor to this change has been decreased coal consumption in China", Executive-Director of the GCP and co-author of the report CSIRO's, Dr Pep Canadell says.

Using a new procedure researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig Maximillians University of Munich (LMU) can now produce extremely thin and robust, yet highly porous semiconductor layers. A very promising material - for small, light-weight, flexible solar cells, for example, or electrodes improving the performance of rechargeable batteries.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Scientists looking for ways to stimulate the growth of neurons can spend hours painstakingly analyzing microscope images of cells growing in petri dishes. A new algorithm developed by Brown University researchers automates that process and analyzes images more accurately than previous automated approaches.

The algorithm and an initial round of testing are described in Nature Scientific Reports.