This paper seeks to decry the notion of a single solution or “silver bullet” to replace petroleum products with renewable transport fuel.
23 November 2011
Members' Content
The opportunity to use solid-state thermoelectrics for waste heat recovery has reinvigorated the field of thermoelectrics in tackling the challenges of energy sustainability. While thermoelectric generators have decades of proven reliability in space, from the 1960s to the present, terrestrial uses have so far been limited to niche applications on Earth because of a relatively low material efficiency.
23 November 2011
Members' Content
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer great prospects for the most efficient and cost-effective utilization of a wide variety of fuels. However, their commercialization hinges on the rational design of low cost materials with exceptional functionalities.
23 November 2011
Members' Content
A review of the principles of electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM), and its application to the study of several Li-ion cathode and anode materials.
23 November 2011
Members' Content
The efficiency of solar cells made from a conjugated polymer blended with a fullerene derivative has risen from around 1 % to over 9 % in the last ten years, making organic photovoltaic technology a viable contender for commercialization.
10 October 2011
Over the last several years, a significant share of the scientific community has focused its attention on the hydrogen storage problem. Since 1997, when carbon nanotubes appeared to be a promising storage material, many theoretical and experimental groups have investigated the hydrogen storage capacity of these carbon nanostructures.
08 July 2011
We are facing accelerated global warming due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. A hydrogen-based economy is one potential approach toward maintaining our standard of living while lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Palladium is a unique material with a strong affinity to hydrogen owing to both its catalytic and hydrogen absorbing properties.
15 June 2011
Charged particles moving faster than light in a medium produce Cherenkov radiation. In traditional, positive index-of-refraction materials this radiation travels forward. Metamaterials, with negative indices of refraction, flip the radiation backward. Here we review recent advances in reversed Cherenkov radiation research, including the first demonstration of backward emission.
23 February 2011
Analysis of several field cases reveals that corrosion in molten fluorides is essentially due to the oxidation of metals by uranium fluoride and/or oxidizing impurities. The thermodynamics of this process are discussed with an emphasis on understanding the mass transfer in the systems, selecting appropriate metallic materials and designing effective purification methods.
30 November 2010
In today's light water reactors, starting approx. 4 years of operation cylindrical UO2 fuel pellets undergo a structural transformation at thier outermost radial regions. This poses the fascinating scientific challenge of fully understanding the microstructural mechanisms responsible for the formation of this new structure.
30 November 2010