Category Archives: Energy
How lithium ions move in substituted ceramic solid electrolytes
From electric vehicles to storing wind and solar energy produced during off-peak hours, rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are the best option that we currently have tu support our technological future. But if we want them to be truly environmentally-friendly and […]
The unexpected role of glycolaldehyde in photocatalytic cofactor regeneration using triethanolamine
Nature is a source of inspiration for scientists. If the efficiency of natural processes efficiency has been honed by billions of years of evolution, it seems reasonable that the best way to achieve some process is to try and mimic […]
Biogasoline production and integration into current petrorefinery process
Planes, ships, trucks and (most) cars run on different fractions of crude oil, composed of carbon chains of different length: Diesel (C10-C22), kerosene (C8-C16) and gasoline (C5-C12). Despite […]
The costs of going green
A tax on carbon emissions is an efficient way to make firms and consumers internalize the environmental costs due to climate change. However, there are many other aspects to consider in a transition from a fossil-fueled economy to a cleaner […]
Chemicals and fuels from plant waste
Both the depletion of fossil fuels and the environmental concerns are a powerful drive for the development of sustainable routes to commodity chemicals. Lignocellulose, comprised of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose, is the ideal candidate, but its inherent complexity hampers its […]
Accurate simulation of aqueous-based electrochemical setups
Following the need for new and renewable sources of energy worldwide, fuel cells using electrocatalysts can be thought of as viable options. Catalyst materials modify and increase the rate of chemical reactions without itself undergoing any permanent change. An electrocatalyst […]
Ab initio modeling the chemical storage of alternative energy
Author: Carles Martí is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJD-TCCM) at University of Perugia
Nowadays, mostly everybody has heard about global warming, a problem that humanity faces and that can drastically change our climate in the upcoming years. This is caused by […]
Mimicking Nature’s light-harvesting efficiency: the case of sulphur-bridged terthiophene dimers
In nature, light harvesting organisms make extensive use of energy and electron transfer between adjacent molecules. Thus, in the photosynthetic cell of an algae, bacterium, or plant, there are light-sensitive molecules called chromophores, which contain a π-conjugated system (a system […]
Effects of defects and water on perovskite solar cells
The German mineralogist Gustav Rose (1798 – 1873) made important contributions in the fields of petrology and crystallography. He was the first to use a reflective goniometer in Germany and developed a particular interest in the relationship between the crystalline […]
Porphyrin complexes for high efficiency solar cells
As the search for renewable energy sources has intensified, the discovery of efficient and cheap technologies for exploiting the energy from the sunlight has emerged as a key challenge.
Higher efficiency plays an increasingly important role in making competitive […]