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Categories: Energy: Technology, Environmental: Wildfires
Published Wildfires in 2021 emitted a record-breaking amount of carbon dioxide
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires, which have been gradually increasing since 2000, spiked drastically to a record high in 2021, according to an international team of researchers.
Published Extreme fast charging capability in lithium-ion batteries
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Lithium-ion batteries dominate among energy storage devices and are the battery of choice for the electric vehicle industry. Improving battery performance is a constant impetus to current research in this field. Towards this end, a group of researchers has synthesized a lithium borate-type aqueous polyelectrolyte binder for graphite anodes. Their new binder helped improve Li-ion diffusion and lower impedance compared to conventional batteries.
Published Experts demand fire safety policy change over health impact of widely used flame retardants
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Leading environmental health experts have called for a comprehensive review of the UK's fire safety regulations, with a focus on the environmental and health risks of current chemical flame retardants.
Published Corralling ions improves viability of next generation solar cells
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Researchers have discovered that channeling ions into defined pathways in perovskite materials improves the stability and operational performance of perovskite solar cells. The finding paves the way for a new generation of lighter, more flexible, and more efficient solar cell technologies suitable for practical use.
Published New method creates material that could create the next generation of solar cells
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Perovskites, a family of materials with unique electric properties, show promise for use in a variety fields, including next-generation solar cells. A team of scientists has now created a new process to fabricate large perovskite devices that is more cost- and time-effective than previously possible and that they said may accelerate future materials discovery.
Published A new chip for decoding data transmissions demonstrates record-breaking energy efficiency
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A new chip called ORBGRAND can decode any code applied to data transmitted over the internet with maximum accuracy and between 10 and 100 times more energy efficiency than other methods.
Published Heterostructures support predictions of counterpropagating charged edge modes at the v=2/3 fractional quantum Hall state
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Original source 
Researchers have tested models of edge conduction with a device built on top of the semiconductor heterostructure which consists of gold gates that come close together. Voltage is applied on the gates to direct the edge states through the middle of the point contact, where they are close enough that quantum tunneling can occur between the edge states on opposite sides the sample. Changes in the electrical current flowing through the device are used to test the theorists' predictions.
Published New design for lithium-air battery could offer much longer driving range compared with the lithium-ion battery
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Scientists have built and tested for a thousand cycles a lithium-air battery design that could one day be powering cars, domestic airplanes, long-haul trucks and more. Its energy storage capacity greatly surpasses that possible with lithium-ion batteries.
Published Ramping up domestic graphite production could aid the green energy transition
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Given the growing importance of graphite in energy storage technologies, a team of esearchers has conducted a study exploring ways to reduce reliance on imports of the in high-demand mineral, which powers everything from electric vehicles (EVs) to cell phones.
Published First transient electronic bandage speeds healing by 30%
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Researchers have developed a small, flexible, stretchable bandage that accelerates healing by delivering electrotherapy directly to the wound site. The bandage also actively monitors the healing process and then harmlessly dissolves -- electrodes and all -- into the body after it is no longer needed.
Published New technology turns smartphones into RFID readers, saving costs and reducing waste
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Imagine you can open your fridge, open an app on your phone and immediately know which items are expiring within a few days. This is one of the applications that a new technology would enable.
Published Study offers details on using electric fields to tune thermal properties of ferroelectric materials
(via sciencedaily.com) 
New research sheds light on how electric fields can be used to alter the thermal properties of ferroelectric materials, allowing engineers to manipulate the flow of heat through the materials. Ferroelectric materials are used in a wide variety of applications, from ultrasound devices to memory storage technologies.
Published A fifth of California's Sierra Nevada conifer forests are stranded in habitats that have grown too warm for them
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Researchers created maps showing where warmer weather has left trees in conditions that don't suit them, making them more prone to being replaced by other species. The findings could help inform long-term wildfire and ecosystem management in these 'zombie forests.'
Published Nanoparticles self-assemble to harvest solar energy
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Researchers design a solar harvester with enhanced energy conversion capabilities. The device employs a quasiperiodic nanoscale pattern, meaning most of it is an alternating and consistent pattern, while the remaining portion contains random defects that do not affect its performance. The fabrication process makes use of self-assembling nanoparticles, which form an organized material structure based on their interactions with nearby particles without any external instructions. Thermal energy harvested by the device can be transformed to electricity using thermoelectric materials.
Published Scientists engineer a 'self-charging' electrostatic face mask for prolonged air filtration, reducing the environmental burden
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Researchers have engineered an electrostatic face mask that can 'self-charge' through the user's breathing and continuously replenish its electrostatic charge as the user wears and breathes through the mask. This significantly increase the filtering performance in prolonged use of the mask for up to 60 hours, compared to four hours for a conventional surgical mask. This also benefits the environment.
Published New ultrafast water disinfection method is more environmentally friendly
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Researchers have found a way to use small shocks of electricity to disinfect water, reducing energy consumption, cost, and environmental impact. The technology could be integrated into the electric grid or even powered by batteries.
Published Physicists solve durability issue in next-generation solar cells
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Physicists jumped a major hurdle standing in the way of the commercialization of solar cells created with halide perovskites as a lower-cost, higher-efficiency replacement for silicon when generating electricity from the sun.
Published New technique maps large-scale impacts of fire-induced permafrost thaw in Alaska
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Researchers have developed a machine learning-based ensemble approach to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement across the entire Tanana Flats in Alaska, which encompasses more than 3 million acres. They linked airborne repeat lidar data to time-series Landsat products (satellite images) to delineate thaw settlement patterns across six large fires that have occurred since 2000. The six fires resulted in a loss of nearly 99,000 acres of evergreen forest from 2000 to 2014 among nearly 155,000 acres of fire-influenced forests with varying degrees of burn severity. This novel approach helped to explain about 65 percent of the variance in lidar-detected elevation change.
Published Atom-thin walls could smash size, memory barriers in next-gen devices
(via sciencedaily.com) 
For all of the still-indistinguishable-from-magic wizardry packed into the three pounds of the adult human brain, it obeys the same rule as the other living tissue it controls: Oxygen is a must. So it was with a touch of irony that a scientists offered his explanation for a technological wonder -- movable, data-covered walls mere atoms wide -- that may eventually help computers behave more like a brain. 'There was unambiguous evidence that oxygen vacancies are responsible for this,' Tsymbal said.
Published Chiral phonons create spin current without needing magnetic materials
(via sciencedaily.com) 
Researchers chiral phonons to convert wasted heat into spin information -- without needing magnetic materials. The finding could lead to new classes of less expensive, energy-efficient spintronic devices for use in applications ranging from computational memory to power grids.