In California, Polyera Corporation has achieved a certified world-record 5.2% efficient fully-polymeric organic solar cell in an inverted bulk heterojunction architecture combining their new ActivInk(R) PV2400 donor and NV2400 acceptor materials. These results significantly improve upon previously reported records of less than 3% for fully-polymeric cells. The device performance was certified by Newport Corporation’s PV […]
In the UK, a researcher at the University of Surrey has devised a way to cheaply and efficiently produce electricity using DDGS in a fuel cell environment by tricking bacteria into working harder to get at their food source, the ethanol byproduct.
In Illinois, researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of South Carolina working at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities at Argonne including the Advanced Photon Source (APS), have been successful in synthesizing and characterizing monodisperse gold-core silver-shell nanoparticles utilizing a bio-template that has potential as a water soluble […]
In Georgia, researchers at the University of Georgia found that the gene GXMT1 is responsible for directing a key step in the development of the plant polymer xylan, a major barrier to breaking down the cell wall in woody biomass that has inhibited biofuel production.
In California, the heads of a two-year NASA project aimed at cultivating microalgae from wastewater, using floating photobioreactors have reported that “algal productivity in prototype floating photobioreactors using secondary wastewater effluent ranged from 4 to nearly 30 g biomass m2 per day,” while noting lipid levels of 5 to 30 percent and concluded that “Additional […]
In Virginia, the National Science Foundation has announced 15 Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation grants for fiscal year 2012, awarding nearly $30 million to 68 investigators at 26 institutions. Over the next four years, teams of researchers will work in three emerging areas. One set of research teams will investigate the large-scale use of […]
In Michigan, Michigan State University will lead a 5-year, $4.81 million project funded by the National Science Foundation that will bring together 15 of its own researchers as well as others from Mexico, Argentina and Brazil to determine how to produce sustainable biofuels and what policies need to be in place to ensure their sustainability.
In Massachusetts, researchers at MIT have been genetically modifying a soil bacterium called Ralstonia eutropha thanks to ARPA-E funding trying to get the organism to use a stream of carbon dioxide as its source of carbon, so that it could be used to make fuel out of emissions.
In Canada, researchers from the Queen’s University have teamed with researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel to study a natural multi-enzyme complex called cellulusome that could lead to reduction in costs for breaking down feedstocks for use in second generation biofuel production.
In Georgia, researchers from the University of Georgia and the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) have developed a DNA transformation technology for organisms in the Caldicellulosiruptor group, that can utilize biomass even at temperatures higher than 160 Fahrenheit. The team is working with a group of bacteria that can use biomass for growth and will use […]
