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MIT researchers boost efficiency of carbon capture and conversion systems

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Researchers at MIT have developed a method that could significantly boost the performance of carbon capture and conversion systems that use catalytic surfaces to enhance the rates of carbon-sequestering electrochemical reactions. through the MIT Energy Initiative, and a NSERC PGS-D postgraduate scholarship from Canada. 2020.100318.

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MIT researchers use genetically modified virus to template nanotubes that improve solar-cell efficiency by nearly one-third

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Researchers at MIT led by Drs. Using the nanocomposites as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells, they achieved a power conversion efficiency in the solar cells of 10.6%, up from 8%—an increase of almost one-third. This new method used to enhance solar cell performance is quite different, Belcher says.

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Researchers from MIT and Sun Catalytix develop an artificial leaf for solar water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen

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The traces are for solar cells of 7.7% Researchers led by MIT professor Daniel Nocera have produced an “artificial leaf”—a solar water-splitting cell producing hydrogen and oxygen that operates in near-neutral pH conditions, both with and without connecting wires. solar-to-fuels systems. illumination.

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MIT team proposes process to recycle lead-acid batteries to fabricate solar cells

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Researchers at MIT have devised an environmentally-responsible process to recycle materials from discarded automotive lead-acid batteries to fabricate efficient organolead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs)—a promising new large-scale and cost-competitive photovoltaic technology. Po-Yen Chen, Jifa Qi, Matthew T.

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MIT researchers develop optimized sulfidation separation process for rare earth and other key metals

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New processing methods developed by MIT researchers could help ease looming shortages of the essential metals that power everything from phones to automotive batteries by making it easier to separate these rare metals from mining ores and recycled materials. —Antoine Allanore.

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MIT and Harvard team develop material that stores sun’s heat

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Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have developed a material that can absorb the sun’s heat and store that energy in chemical form, ready to be released again on demand. for heating buildings, cooking, or powering heat-based industrial processes—this could provide an opportunity for the expansion of solar power into new realms.

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MIT team outlines path to low-cost solar-to-fuels devices; the artificial leaf

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A team of researchers at MIT has described a framework for efficiently coupling the power output of a series-connected string of single-band-gap solar cells to an electrochemical process that produces storable fuels. Watson Research Center) and former MIT graduate student Casandra Cox (now at Harvard). —Winkler et al.

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