Alternative Fuels News

March 2, 2026

Top Headlines

Green Hydrogen Has a Hidden Problem and Scientists May Have Fixed It

Feb. 26, 2026 Green hydrogen could be a game-changer for the clean energy transition—but right now, it’s too expensive and still relies on harmful “forever chemicals.” A new EU-backed project called SUPREME aims to fix that by reinventing how hydrogen is ...

Oxford Breakthrough Could Make Lithium-ion Batteries Charge Faster and Last Much Longer

Feb. 20, 2026 Oxford researchers have found a way to visualize one of the most hidden — yet critical — components inside lithium-ion batteries. By tagging polymer binders with traceable markers, they revealed ...

New Sodium Ion Battery Stores Twice the Energy and Desalinates Seawater

Feb. 19, 2026 A surprising breakthrough could help sodium-ion batteries rival lithium—and even turn seawater into drinking water. Scientists discovered that keeping water inside a key battery material, instead of removing it as traditionally done, dramatically ...

New Calcium-ion Battery Design Delivers High Performance Without Lithium

Feb. 13, 2026 Scientists at HKUST have unveiled a major leap forward in calcium-ion battery technology, potentially opening the door to safer, more sustainable energy storage for everything from renewable power grids to electric vehicles. By designing a novel ...

Silver Just Solved a Major Solid-state Battery Problem

Jan. 18, 2026 Solid-state batteries could store more energy and charge faster than today’s batteries, but they tend to crack and fail over time. Stanford researchers found that a nanoscale silver treatment can greatly strengthen the battery’s ceramic core. ...

This Simple Design Change Could Finally Fix Solid-state Batteries

Jan. 9, 2026 Scientists in South Korea have discovered a way to make all-solid-state batteries safer and more powerful using inexpensive materials. Instead of adding costly metals, they redesigned the battery’s internal structure to help lithium ions move ...

A Gold Catalyst Just Broke a Decade Old Green Chemistry Record

Dec. 29, 2025 A new catalyst design could transform how acetaldehyde is made from renewable bioethanol. Researchers found that a carefully balanced mix of gold, manganese, and copper creates a powerful synergy that boosts efficiency while lowering operating ...

Cheaper Than Lithium, Just as Powerful — Sodium Batteries Are Finally Catching Up

Oct. 17, 2025 Researchers discovered how to stabilize a high-performance sodium compound, giving sodium-based solid-state batteries the power and stability they’ve long lacked. The new material conducts ions far ...

Harvard’s Salt Trick Could Turn Billions of Tons of Hair Into Eco-friendly Materials

Sep. 17, 2025 Scientists at Harvard have discovered how salts like lithium bromide break down tough proteins such as keratin—not by attacking the proteins directly, but by altering the surrounding water ...

Why Recycling ‘Dead’ Batteries Could Save Billions and Slash Pollution

Aug. 19, 2025 Lithium battery recycling offers a powerful solution to rising demand, with discarded batteries still holding most of their valuable materials. Compared to mining, recycling slashes emissions and resource use while unlocking major economic ...

AI Just Found 5 Powerful Materials That Could Replace Lithium Batteries

Aug. 2, 2025 AI is helping scientists crack the code on next-gen batteries that could replace lithium-ion tech. By discovering novel porous materials, researchers may have paved the way for more powerful and sustainable energy storage using abundant elements ...

The Real-life Kryptonite Found in Serbia—and Why It Could Power the Future

July 28, 2025 Deep in Serbia's Jadar Valley, scientists discovered a mineral with an uncanny resemblance to Superman's Kryptonite both in composition and name. Dubbed jadarite, this dull white crystal lacks the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:26pm EST

Scientists Just Recreated the Universe’s First Molecule and Solved a 13-Billion-Year-Old Puzzle

Aug. 3, 2025 Long before stars lit up the sky, the universe was a hot, dense place where simple chemistry quietly set the stage for everything to come. Scientists ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

'Cold' Manufacturing Approach to Make Next-Gen Batteries

May 2, 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, ...

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

Apr. 30, 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 ...

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

Apr. 29, 2025 As global demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage surges, so does the need for affordable and sustainable battery technologies. A new study has introduced an innovative solution ...

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. Integrating the commonly time-consuming active materials ...

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

Apr. 18, 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 ...