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Silk-based batteries for medical implants

Researchers from the University of Wollongong (Australia; www.uow.edu.au), led by professor Gordon Wallace and Caiyun Wang, built a battery with electrodes and a solid electrolyte out of silk. Previous attempts at making such biodegradable, dissolvable batteries used natural, biocompatible materials…

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Nanorod arrays as photocatalysts

Many ZnO@TiO2 core-shell nanorod arrays (the notation means ZnO is the core inside the TiO2 shell) with good photocatalytic activity have been designed and synthesized. There has been an increasing interest in the design and synthesis of those arrays to…

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Plasma oxidation for making carbon fibers

Carbon fibers, an increasingly essential component for lightweight materials, are typically made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) in a three-step process consisting of oxidation/stabilization, carbonization and surface treatment/sizing. 4M Industrial Oxidation, LLC (Knoxville, Tenn.; www.4mio.com) intends to commercialize a technology to produce…

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Using sulfur to store solar energy

An international group of researchers, coordinated by the Institute of Solar Research of the German Aerospace Center e.V. (DLR; Cologne, Germany; www.dlr.de), is developing a sulfur-based storage system for solar power. Large-scale chemical storage of solar power and its overnight…

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Chementator Briefs

Efficient distillation Last month, Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, www.toyo-eng.co.jp) and Koch-Glitsch, LP (Wichita, Kan.; www.koch-glitsch.com) announced a new partnership to distribute Toyo’s energy-saving distillation system, SuperHIDiC, to new global markets in Europe and the Middle East. SuperHIDiC provides energy…

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A hyperstable zeolite catalyst for methanol-to-olefin conversion

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Kawasaki City; Japan; www.nedo.go.jp), in partnership with Japan Technological Research Assn. of Artificial Photosynthetic Chemical Process (ARPChem) members, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, has developed a hyperstable…

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Enhanced perovskites

Researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan; www.unist.ac.kr) have found a new way to increase the energy efficiency of metal-air batteries — which are next-generation energy devices — by adding the conducting polymer polypyrrole (pPy). According…

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Harvesting agricultural fertilizers from wastewater sludge

Recovery of the essential plant nutrient phosphorus from wastewater can be an effective way to reduce runoff into waterways while avoiding the need to obtain the element from mined minerals. While phosphorus recovery from wastewater effluent performs well, it is…

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Microwave-based emulsion technology featured in scaleup of sucrose esters

Construction has been completed on a 1,000-ton/yr facility to produce surfactants — mainly sucrose esters for use as additives in dairy products and beverages. The plant will be operated by TMT Co. — a joint venture (JV) established by Microwave…

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A catalyst for making H2 from methanol

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) running on hydrogen are an attractive proposition, particularly as a power source for motor vehicles. In situ release of the required H2 from a stable liquid ensures its safe storage and transportation before use.…