Solar splitting

One of the great problems that face humanity at the moment is global warming and climate change. It is well known that humans are releasing more and more CO2 into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.

Graph of CO2 emissions and where they are released from

Pie chart showing where we get our energy from

In response to this up and coming crises, new research and accompanying companies have begun to develop new energy technologies, which they hope will become the successor of fossil fuels. These new renewable energy sources consist mainly of Hydroelectric power. 8 of the 9% of energy used by Americans comes from hydroelectricity.  

The last 1% of energy sources include solar and wind. Both have received much press, but it is clear that they have yet to take hold. However, there have been several recent advancements in solar technology, that may  help the platform become a major contributor to our energy reservoir. 

Solar panels and other solar technologies have yet to take of. One reason for this reluctance is the cost for the infrastructure. However, the prices of solar panels have dropped dramatically in the last several decades. This is a good sign for the industry, as it will obviously solicit a positive response from consumers.

Unfortunately, there remains another problem which holds solar panels back. This is that solar panels cannot produce energy at night. It has to thus store excess energy  in expensive batteries. However, a team at Stanford has made a recent development that may make an alternate form of energy storage possible.

The development is based off of the principle that water requires energy to be broken apart into its bare components, hydrogen and oxygen, and that energy  is released when the two fuse to make water. Water is classically separated by putting two electrodes of different charges into the water, causing the water to break apart. This has long been established, but the separation of water has always required much energy.

A team at Stanford has managed to decrease this energy, in a way that might help accelerate solar panel integration into society. For several years, people have been trying to harness the principle mentioned above by using solar energy to separate the water, and then when there is no sunlight, to use the created hydrogen  and oxygen to recreate pure water and release energy. However, up until now, the separation has required too much energy.

The Experiment at Standford which uses a 1.5 volt AAA battery to
Separate water into H and O2

In the past, there has been a major problem: Silicon degrades when it comes into contact with water. Thus, the option to use light energy to charge electrodes and separate water with just sunlight was not an option (both because of the amount of energy required and because of the silicon degradation. The problem was originally solved by teams who coated silicon electrodes in iridium or other expensive materials. However, this solution was expensive. 

The team at Stanford used a simple nickel nanolayer to solve this problem. The nanolayer (which is inexpensive and which doesn't corrode over longer periods than the iridium covered electrodes ) allows the silicon to absorb light and to not degrade in the water.

Using lithium, the team was also able to prolong the lifespan of the electrodes  to up to 80 hours without any corrosion.

Diagram of the experiment done at stanford

Thus, this development may be able to cheapen the creation of hydrogen fuel by solar energy, and help solar panels come into the mass market. Click Here to Read More

MRAM: Improved by Nanowires

In all our digital devices, there are two main main places of memory storage, the virtual memory (on the computer's disk) and the Random Access Memory (RAM)

The memory on the disk is what is saved on your computer's permanent memory. The Random Access memory is the memory used up by what you are doing on the computer. A file is on the disk, and the actual unsaved word document you are typing on is in the RAM.

Researchers and companies alike are beginning to look at MRAM for the future of memory. MRAM stands for Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory. Unlike traditional RAM, this type of memory uses magnets, rather than electrical charges to make it work. Researchers have begun to use multilayer nanowires to enhance memory so much that there would be no boot up time for computers, and one would not have to save a document constantly for fear that it would be lost due to a power failure.

It may also let us charge our mobile devices weekly, rather than daily.

As the memory does not run on electricity, it promises a large amount of memory, without consuming power. This technology was originally invented in the 90s, but did not come to widespread use because it was hard to fabricate, and because the memory only last for a year. However, researchers have discovered that by layering 20nm of magnetic nanowires, they are able to harness the speed and energy effeciency of the technology.

Though still in research phases with funding from major companies such as Toshiba and IBM, MRAM shows promise for the future of Random Access Memory.
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