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• New solar reactor uses thermal energy storage to run day or night

  Scientists designed and fabricated a new solar reactor, named CONTISOL, that runs on air and uses concentrated solar power (CSP) and thermal energy storage to make any solar fuel, day or night. details>>

• Researchers create two-in-one power source with solar-powered transistor

  Researchers developed a novel concept of transistor technology, featuring a two-in-one power source plus a transistor device that operates on solar energy. details>>

• Rotated at a perfect angle graphene can be an insulator or superconductor

  Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have discovered that graphene can be tuned as both an electrical insulator and as a superconductor. details>>

• Lasers could be the next big breakthrough in wireless charging

  Researchers created a system for charging smartphones using a laser array with one man charging beam and four safeguard beams and a receiver on the back of the phone that could charge the device from across the room. details>>

• Pencil and paper used to convert heat into electricity

  Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, a German research center, have demonstrated that a normal pencil, photocopy paper, and conductive paint are all the materials needed to produce a thermoelectric effect, converting heat into electricity. details>>

• Technology uses daily temperature swings to produce electricity

  Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. have developed a new thermal resonator that uses the swings in ambient temperature that occur in the change from day to night to produce electricity. details>>

• Harnessing background room heat to create thermoelectric energy

  Researchers from the University of Tsukuba (Japan) have developed a thermoelectric, thin-film system from two redox materials that harnesses small energy differences at low temperatures, according to a report from the university. details>>

• Researchers discover a hidden state of electronic order in layered material

  A team of researchers from the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, N.Y.) have used high-intensity pulses of infrared light to detect a hidden state of electronic order in a layered material composed of lanthanum, barium, copper, and oxygen (LBCO) at higher temperatures than previously indicated. details>>

• Researchers develop architecture for vaporizable electronics

  Engineers from Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Honeywell Aerospace recently announced the development of a new, transient architecture with a silicon-dioxide microchip attached to a polycarbonate shell that has microscopic cavities filled with rubidium and sodium biflouride, which are thermally-reactive and can decompose the chip. details>>

• Scientists create insulating aerogel from cotton waste

  Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering have created a fast, cheap, and environmentally-friendly method for converting cotton-based fabric waste into a highly-compressible and ultralight cotton aerogel with high thermal insulation properties. details>>