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New battery management system makes electric car batteries safer and more durable

Just as an orchestra needs a conductor, a battery management system (BMS) controls the power storage of an electric vehicle. However, until now, monitoring has been based only on the voltages, currents and temperatures of the individual battery cells. Their aging or possible damage can only be checked externally using complex calculations.

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Solar tower plants gain open operational database, aiming to boost storage-friendly renewable power

Solar power towers can play an important role in the energy transition. They convert sunlight into heat that can be stored or used to generate electricity. Until now, however, data to test new methods for more efficient and reliable systems have been lacking. In a world first, researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are now publishing freely accessible operational data from the JΓΌlich Solar Tower test power plant. This provides a foundation for developing new AI methods and digital twins. The results are published in Nature Energy.

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Microwave-based method to upcycle old lithium-ion cathodes

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from phones and electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage and earbuds, but their cathodesβ€”the part of batteries denoted by a plus signβ€”are expensive to make and rely on minerals sourced from a limited number of countries, including lithium and cobalt. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, is responsible for mining about 70% of the world's cobalt.

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Battery-free artificial photosynthesis keeps solar fuel production stable under shifting sunlight

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an artificial photosynthesis system capable of producing solar fuels more stably by integrating a self-regulating chemical component directly into the electrolyzer itself. The new device doesn't rely on a battery-powered control method, removing an expensive component of such systems. The study is published in EES Solar.

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New strategy enhances oxygen reduction in zinc-air batteries

Batteries are undergoing rapid advances. For example, modern zinc-air batteries have the remarkable ability to use oxygen as energyβ€”but that oxygen isn't stored in the battery itself. Zinc-air batteries take in surrounding oxygen to undergo a reaction to discharge energy called the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). While this convenient strategy is promising, the slow speed of the ORR limits the practicality of these batteries.

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This specially-designed jacket pulls drinking water from thin air

Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a jacket that harvests drinking water directly from the air. The technology could benefit anyone who spends a lot of time in areas without easy access to drinking water, from hobbyist hikers, campers and runners to agricultural workers, emergency responders and soldiers. The advance in fabric technology comes alongside a new benchmark for atmospheric water harvesting.

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New water-based material could store solar energy, power reactions in darkness, then recharge

Northwestern University scientists have developed a new liquid material that charges like a battery, transforms like a living organism and then resets itself in open air. Traditionally, harvesting energy, storing it and using it require separate materials or devices. The new platform merges all three functions into a single material, opening the door for adaptive, clean, renewable systems that don't require plastics or metals.

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Food waste beads could boost direct air capture by 10% to 50%

In order to stabilize global warming at less than 1.5Β°C in the long term, there is a need not only for a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions but also for technologies to remove and store hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This is also the underlying basis of the scenarios set out in the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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Self-regenerating catalyst overcomes key durability challenge in hydrogen energy

Imagine a catalyst that can heal itself after being damaged. A POSTECH-led research team has developed an electrocatalyst that regenerates its own metallic surface after oxidation, much like how a wound heals naturally. This breakthrough addresses one of the most critical challenges in hydrogen energy technology: the irreversible degradation of catalysts during operation.

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Fast-tracking efficiency in light water reactor fuels

Coupling a power uprate with burnup extensionβ€”or how long fuel can produce power before being replacedβ€”allows fuel to operate at a higher power for longer periods. Fuels with accident-tolerant and higher-burnup capabilities allow reactor operators to do both, effectively producing more power, more effectively, at a lower cost.

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Fuel costs alone won't spark Australia's EV transition

As Australian motorists continue to grapple with rising fuel prices and electric vehicle (EV) sales steadily increase across the country, new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found that petrol costs alone are not the primary factor shaping drivers' decisions to switch to electric vehicles.

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