Alternative Fuels News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

Ultra-Thin Lenses That Make Infrared Light Visible

June 2, 2025 — Physicists have developed a lens with 'magic' properties. Ultra-thin, it can transform infrared light into visible light by halving the wavelength of incident ...

Discovery Could Boost Solid-State Battery Performance

June 2, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that the mixing of small particles between two solid electrolytes can generate an effect called a 'space charge layer,' an accumulation of electric charge at the interface between the two materials. The finding could aid ...

Listening to Electrons Talk

May 29, 2025 — Researchers present new experimental and theoretical results for the bound electron g-factor in lithium-like tin which has a much higher nuclear charge than any previous measurement. The experimental accuracy reached a level of 0.5 parts per ...

EV Battery Recycling Key to Future Lithium Supplies

May 29, 2025 — Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries are crucial for the transition to electric vehicles, and global demand for lithium is set to grow rapidly over the next 25 years. A new analysis looks at how new mining operations and battery recycling ...

Cryogenic Hydrogen Storage and Delivery System for Next-Generation Aircraft

May 28, 2025 — Researchers have designed a liquid hydrogen storage and delivery system that could help make zero-emission aviation a reality. Their work outlines a scalable, integrated system that addresses several engineering challenges at once by enabling ...

New Fuel Cell Could Enable Electric Aviation

May 27, 2025 — Engineers developed a fuel cell that offers more than three times as much energy per pound compared to lithium-ion batteries. Powered by a reaction between sodium metal and air, the device could be lightweight enough to enable the electrification of ...

New Color-Changing Sensor Detects Alcohol With a Smartphone Snap

May 22, 2025 — Scientists developed a smartphone-compatible ethanol sensor using a metal-organic framework called Cu-MOF-74. The sensor visually detects ethanol concentrations across a wide range, with no electronics or lab tools required. This technology has ...

Scientific Breakthrough Brings CO2 'Breathing' Batteries Closer to Reality

May 20, 2025 — Scientists have made a breakthrough in eco-friendly batteries that not only store more energy but could also help tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Lithium-CO2 'breathing' batteries release power while capturing carbon dioxide, offering a greener ...

Cool Science: Researchers Craft Tiny Biological Tools Using Frozen Ethanol

May 20, 2025 — Imagine drawing on something as delicate as a living cell -- without damaging it. Researchers have made this groundbreaking discovery using an unexpected combination of tools: frozen ethanol, electron beams and purple-tinted microbes. By advancing a ...

World Record for Lithium-Ion Conductors

May 9, 2025 — A team partially replaced lithium in a lithium antimonide compound with the metal scandium. This creates specific gaps, so-called vacancies, in the crystal lattice of the conductor material. These gaps help the lithium ions to move more easily and ...

'Cold' Manufacturing Approach to Make Next-Gen Batteries

May 4, 2025 — Lithium-ion batteries have been a staple in device manufacturing for years, but the liquid electrolytes they rely on to function are quite unstable, leading to fire hazards and safety concerns. Now, researchers are pursuing a reliable alternative ...

Rapid Lithium Extraction Eliminates Use of Acid and High Heat, Scientists Report

May 2, 2025 — Lightweight lithium metal is a heavy-hitting critical mineral, serving as the key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power phones, laptops, electric vehicles and more. As ubiquitous as ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:35pm EDT

A New Shape for Energy Storage: Cone and Disc Carbon Structures Offer New Pathways for Sodium-Ion Batteries

May 1, 2025 — As global demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage surges, so does the need for affordable and sustainable battery technologies. A ...

Affordable Hydrogen Fuel Production Using Surface Reconstruction Strategy

Apr. 25, 2025 — Researchers found a strategy to create catalysts that make the production of hydrogen for clean fuel more efficient and ...

From Beam to Battery: Single-Step Laser Printing Supercharges High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Apr. 23, 2025 — A research team has developed an innovative single-step laser printing technique to accelerate the manufacturing of lithium-sulfur batteries. ...

'Faster Charging, Longer Lifespan': Next-Generation Battery Breakthrough

Apr. 19, 2025 — A research team develops high-power, high-energy-density anode using nano-sized tin particles and hard ...

Corn Leads to Improved Performance in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Apr. 15, 2025 — Researchers have demonstrated a way to use corn protein to improve the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries, a finding that holds promise for expanding the use of the high-energy, lighter-weight ...

A Step Toward Cleaner Iron Extraction Using Electricity

Apr. 9, 2025 — Iron and its alloys, such as steel and cast iron, dominate the modern world, and there's growing demand for iron-derived products. Traditionally, blast furnaces transform iron ore into purified ...

Serendipitous Discovery Could Lead to More Efficient Catalysts

Apr. 9, 2025 — Preparing catalysts by sending hot, steamy car exhaust over them could improve their efficiency and reduce the amount of rare and expensive metals required in vehicle catalytic converters and many ...

Mechanistic Understanding Could Enable Better Fast-Charging Batteries

Apr. 4, 2025 — An innovative new computational model developed by an engineer could lead to fast-charging lithium-ion batteries that are safer and ...

Runaway Battery Improves Safety

Apr. 3, 2025 — Overheating batteries are a serious risk, in the worst cases leading to fires and explosion. A team has now developed a simple, cost-effective method to test the safety of lithium-ion batteries, ...

Researchers Explore Using Soil for Heat Storage

Apr. 2, 2025 — When spring arrives and the heating season comes to an end, keeping warm becomes less of an issue. However, scientists remind us that it is not just a seasonal necessity -- heat is also a valuable ...

Microbial Cell Factories for Sustainable Chemical Production

Mar. 27, 2025 — In silico analysis of five industrial microorganisms identifies optimal strains and metabolic engineering strategies for producing 235 valuable ...

A Safe Nuclear Battery That Could Last a Lifetime

Mar. 26, 2025 — Lithium-ion batteries, used in consumer devices and electric vehicles, typically last hours or days between charges. However, with repeated use, they degrade and need to be charged more frequently. ...

Oxygen for Mars

Mar. 24, 2025 — To mitigate global climate change, emissions of the primary culprit, carbon dioxide, must be drastically reduced. A newly developed process helps solve this problem: CO2 is directly split ...

Producing Nuclear Fusion Fuel Is Banned in the US for Being Too Toxic, but These Researchers Found an Alternative

Mar. 20, 2025 — Lithium-6 is essential for producing nuclear fusion fuel, but isolating it from the much more common isotope, lithium-7, usually requires liquid mercury, which is extremely toxic. Now, researchers ...

New Study Challenges Assumptions About Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries

Mar. 19, 2025 — A recent study evaluating garnet-type solid electrolytes for lithium metal batteries finds that their expected energy density advantages may be overstated. The researchers posited that composite or ...

Eco-Friendly Method to Efficiently Convert Methane to Ethanol

Mar. 18, 2025 — In advancing sustainable energy solutions, an international collaborative team of scientists has achieved a significant milestone in low-carbon chemical conversion. In their recent publication in ...

Amino Acid Assists in Recycling Rechargeable Batteries

Mar. 11, 2025 — A new strategy for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries is based on a hydrometallurgical process in neutral solution. This allows for the extraction of lithium and other valuable metals in an ...

Researchers Develop Efficient Lithium Extraction Method, Setting Stage for Sustainable EV Battery Supply Chains

Feb. 28, 2025 — In the race to meet the growing global demand for lithium -- a critical component in batteries for electric vehicles -- a team of researchers has developed a breakthrough lithium extraction method ...

Eco Friendly, Inexpensive System for Storing High-Power Energy from Pine Biomass

Feb. 28, 2025 — Scientists have come up with a lithium ion capacitor using electrodes produced from wood particles that are discarded as waste in sawmills. This biomass is both readily available and sustainable, ...

Leading the Charge to Better Batteries

Feb. 27, 2025 — A research group has revealed fundamental insights into anode-free solid-state batteries, paving the way for efforts to improve their ...

Cracking the Code on Solid-State Batteries

Feb. 27, 2025 — Researchers are working to enhance battery safety and efficiency by developing solid-state alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. These batteries offer improved energy efficiency and safety, but a ...

New Method Developed to Dramatically Enhance Bioelectronic Sensors

Feb. 26, 2025 — In a breakthrough that could transform bioelectronic sensing, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a new method to dramatically enhance the sensitivity of enzymatic and microbial ...

Breakthrough in High-Performance Oxide-Ion Conductors Using Rubidium

Feb. 21, 2025 — Rubidium could be the next key player in oxide-ion conductors. Researchers have discovered a rare rubidium (Rb)-containing oxide-ion conductor with exceptionally high conductivity. Identified through ...

Chemists Find Greener Path to Making Key Industrial Chemical

Feb. 20, 2025 — Chemical engineers have discovered that adding nickel atoms to silver catalysts could revolutionize the production of ethylene oxide by eliminating the need for toxic chlorine while maintaining ...

Towards New Battery Tech: Chemists Demonstrate High-Performance Sodium-Ion Cathode

Feb. 19, 2025 — For decades, scientists have sought ways to counter our dependence on lithium-ion batteries. These traditional, rechargeable batteries energize today's most ubiquitous consumer electronics -- ...

New Process Gets Common Rocks to Trap Carbon Rapidly, Cheaply

Feb. 19, 2025 — Scientists have discovered how to turn common minerals into materials that spontaneously remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In the lab, the materials pull CO2 from the air thousands ...

Terabytes of Data in a Millimeter Crystal

Feb. 14, 2025 — Researchers have explored a 'quantum-inspired' technique to make the 'ones' and 'zeroes' for classical computer memory applications out of crystal defects, each the size ...

The Use of MRI to Directly Observe Metal-Ion Dissolution in Lithium Battery Cathodes

Feb. 14, 2025 — Over time, batteries break down. Studying this process in-depth with imaging techniques may help us improve the lifespan of ...

The 'Hydrogen Economy' May Be Relatively Small, but Critical

Feb. 13, 2025 — Researchers have quantified the role of the 'hydrogen economy' in making our society more sustainable. They present the results of extensive modelling of pathways to decarbonizing the ...

Engineers Discover Key Barrier to Longer-Lasting Batteries

Feb. 13, 2025 — Researchers have discovered why LiNiO2 batteries break down, and they are testing a solution that could remove a key barrier to widespread use of the material. The team plans first to manufacture ...