Tag: climate change

Approved! The EU INFINITE-CELL project

Approved! The EU INFINITE-CELL project

A large EU-sponsored research project on tandem solar cells in which HZB is participating begins in November 2017.

The goal is to combine thin-film semiconductors made of silicon and kesterites into especially cost-effective tandem cells having efficiencies of over 20 per cent. Several large research institutions from Europe, Morocco, the Republic of South Africa, and Belarus will be working on the project, as well as two partners from industry.

“We not only have detailed experience with kesterite thin films, but also a wide spectrum of analytical methods at our disposal to characterise absorber materials very thoroughly”, explains Prof. Susan Schorr. The FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE RECERCA DE L’ENERGIA DE CATALUNYA (IREC), Spain – a long-term collaborating partner of the HZB, is coordinating the entire project. The project begins with a kick-off workshop in Brussels in November 2017.

>Read More on the Bessy II (HZB) website

Atmosphere in X-ray light

Atmosphere in X-ray light

Light from the particle accelerator helps to understand ozone decomposition

A new experimental chamber coupled to the Swiss Light Source (SLS), a large-scale research facility of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, allows researchers to recreate atmospheric processes in the laboratory through unprecedented precision analysis involving X-rays.

In their first experiments, researchers detailed how bromine molecules are formed in the air. These play an essential role in the decomposition of ozone in the lower layers of the atmosphere. With their results, the researchers have also made an important contribution to models designed to explain and predict changes in climate and air composition. In the future, the experimental setup will be available to researchers in all scientific fields and those particularly concerned with the chemistry of the atmosphere or other topics in energy and environmental research.

>Read More on the PSI website

Image: In the experimental chamber, a very thin vertical jet of water can be seen, which flows downward in the middle of the picture from a small tube. During the experiment, the chamber contains a gas mixture including ozone, which reacts on the surface with bromide in the water and produces bromine. As an intermediate step in the process, a short-lived compound of bromide and ozone is made, which was detected for the first time ever with the help of X-ray light from SLS. For this proof, the X-ray light knocked electrons out of the compound, and these made their way to the detector through an opening in the cone (to the left in this photo). (Photo: Paul Scherrer Institute/Mahir Dzambegovic)

Researchers develop technique to reuse carbon dioxide and methane, slowing climate change

Researchers develop technique to reuse carbon dioxide and methane, slowing climate change

Reusing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane waste emissions from industrial sources is closer to reality.

And this  thanks to recent findings from a project conducted at the Canadian Light Source and the University of Saskatchewan. CO2 and methane are the most significant greenhouse gases resulting from human activity, says Dr. Hui Wang, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.

Capturing CO2 and methane emissions from industrial sources and reusing them could reduce the threat on the world’s ecosystem by slowing climate change, says Dr. Wang, the principal researcher of a paper published in Catalyst Today.

CO2 and methane can be triggered to undergo chemical reactions with each other to create synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used to synthesize a variety of liquid fuels or ammonia.

This reaction between CO2 and methane, also called ‘dry reforming of methane’, has not been fully scaled-up for commercial use due to lack of an inexpensive and industrially viable catalyst. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions.

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Solar hydrogen production by artificial leafs

Solar hydrogen production by artificial leafs

Scientists analysed how a special treatment improves cheap metal oxide photoelectrodes

Metal oxides are promising candidates for cheap and stable photoelectrodes for solar water splitting, producing hydrogen with sunlight. Unfortunately, metal oxides are not highly efficient in this job. A known remedy is a treatment with heat and hydrogen. An international collaboration has now discovered why this treatment works so well, paving the way to more efficient and cheap devices for solar hydrogen production.

The fossil fuel age is bound to end, for several strong reasons. As an alternative to fossil fuels, hydrogen seems very attractive. The gas has a huge energy density, it can be stored or processed further, e. g. to methane, or directly provide clean electricity via a fuel cell. If it is produced using sunlight alone, hydrogen is completely renewable with zero carbon emissions.

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Direct and Efficient Utilization of Solid-phase Iron by Diatoms

Direct and Efficient Utilization of Solid-phase Iron by Diatoms

A research team indicates that diatoms, can directly uptake iron from insoluble iron sediments, and thereby potentially affect atmospheric carbon dioxide level.

A research team from Columbia University indicates that diatoms, photosynthetic marine organisms responsible for as much as 20% of photosynthesis in the world’s oceans, can directly uptake iron from insoluble iron sediments, and thereby potentially affect atmospheric carbon dioxide level. Although iron is often present in the ocean, usually there is insufficient iron for diatoms and other organisms to grow quickly unless this iron is dissolved and in a form that can be used readily. This research establishes that iron from mineral phases can be quite bioavailable, and that the diatoms can use most forms of iron, but appear to have a preference for a specific form of iron, ferrous iron, in the mineral phases. This research is applicable to a wide variety of questions in earth and ocean sciences, including basic biology of nutrient acquisition, the coupling of physical and geological processes such as glaciers to climate and geoengineering.

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Picture: Glacial striations seen near Upsala Glacier, Argentina, where scientists collected glacial samples. This physical scraping produces sediments and dust that can fertilize plankton when it is delivered to the ocean.
Photo by Michael Kaplan/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory