Electricity

Making biofuel from algae is showing promise as a green energy source, but it does create large amounts of toxic wastewater. Now, researchers in Australia have found a way to clean up that wastewater, with a simple and scalable electrical process.

Scientists have long hoped to give plastic conductive properties by adding extra materials, and one team of researchers has now put forward a promising possibility its hoped could find uses in large touchscreens or window-mounted solar cells.

When it comes to regular photovoltaic panels, the fewer shadows that are cast upon them, the better. An experimental new device, however, actually generates electricity via the contrast between shadows and light on its surface.

Bacteria that produce their own electricity could be useful in batteries, but so far, attempts have been inefficient. A new “biohybrid” system is built around a hydrogel and can support the microbes while effectively collecting their energy.

We've already heard about so-called "fog harps" that use thin wires to collect airborne water droplets, providing drinking water. Well, an experimental new device also uses wires to capture water vapor, although it proceeds to generate electricity.

Rolls-Royce has announced that it plans to build, install, and operate up to 15 mini-nuclear reactors in Britain that can be mass-produced in factories and assembled on site, with the first set to go online in nine years.

Although it's possible to remove warts by freezing them, they often grow back, requiring multiple treatments. New research, however, suggests that ultra-short electrical pulses could be much more effective at eliminating warts and other skin lesions.

The biggest battery in the world is set to soon grow even bigger. The Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, built by Tesla and managed by renewable energy company Neoen, will be expanded by an extra 50 percent early next year.

Although titanium implants are strong and light, they're subject to colonization by harmful microbes. Infections of the surrounding tissue can result. Now, however, research suggests that electrifying the titanium may provide a solution.

Rather than trying to see dark matter, a new experimental design from Stockholm University listens for it instead, using an “axion radio.”

Following a second grid-connected project at Jaffa Port in Israel, Eco Wave Power is looking to get more from its energy harvesters by adding solar.

A new prototype device works like a kind of reverse solar panel, harvesting energy from the cold night sky to passively power an LED.