Material Science
Can large-scale solar power storage become a reality?
An unexpected finding by a team of engineers could lead to a revolutionary change in how we produce, store and consume energy.
The solar energy of the past? REUTERS/Stringer
The recent crash in oil prices notwithstanding, an economy based on fossil fuels seems unsustainable. Supplies of oil, coal and similar fuels are finite, and even if new sources are found, global warming must be considered. Limitless solar power remains the Holy Grail, but among other obstacles to widespread adoption, society needs ways to store solar energy and deliver power when the sun isn't shining.
Last modified Fri, 26 Feb, 2016 at 14:50
The University of the Future: Learning across the Lifespan
4:30 - 7:00 pm, Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Huang Engineering, Mackenzie Room Map
RSVP here - Required
Last modified Tue, 23 Feb, 2016 at 15:07
9:30 amMeet "Hedgehog": Your tour guide to asteroids, comets and other things that whirl around the solar system
A team of engineers builds a cube-like rover for exploration in some of the most extreme conditions in space.
Your best guess is that the landscape is as inhospitable as it gets: an irregular range of sharp boulders and loose rubble piles strewn among jagged crevasses and deep troughs of dust. But then again, it’s just a guess because no one’s ever actually seen this landscape up close. Now imagine that you need to send a robot across that landscape, from a perch at the lip of a steep crater to the edge of an ice-encrusted hole 1,000 meters away. And imagine that gravity is a tiny fraction of what we have on Earth.
Last modified Thu, 18 Feb, 2016 at 9:27
A group of scholars look to early 20th century radio technology to help improve Internet security
A new study shows how harnessing the quantum properties of light can create a transmission technology impervious to eavesdropping.
Imagine communicating with your bank, the IRS or your doctor by way of an Internet that was perfectly secure. Your most private data would be protected with absolute certainty and, better yet, if any bad actor were to try to eavesdrop you would know immediately. Such is the promise of secure quantum communication.
Last modified Thu, 18 Feb, 2016 at 9:31
Oleg D. Sherby, professor of materials science and engineering, dies at 90
Hailed for the discovery of superplastic steel, Sherby was a professor at Stanford for 30 years. He was known on campus for his affable manner and for organizing volleyball matches and poker games.
Oleg Dimitri Sherby, a professor emeritus at Stanford best known for his discovery of superplastic steel, died Nov. 9 at his home in Menlo Park. He was 90 years old.
Last modified Wed, 13 Jan, 2016 at 11:24
New Stanford battery shuts down at high temperatures and restarts when it cools
Stanford researchers have invented a lithium-ion battery that turns on and off depending on the temperature. The new technology could prevent battery fires that have plagued laptops, hoverboards and other electronic devices.
Stanford researchers have developed the first lithium-ion battery that shuts down before overheating, then restarts immediately when the temperature cools.
Last modified Wed, 3 Feb, 2016 at 8:09
Stanford-led skyscraper-style chip design could boost electronic performance by factor of a thousand
In modern computer systems, processor and memory chips are laid out like single-story structures in a suburb. But suburban layouts waste time and energy. A new skyscraper-like design, based on materials more advanced than silicon, provides the next computing platform.
For decades, engineers have designed computer systems with processors and memory chips laid out like single-story structures in a suburb. Wires connect these chips like streets, carrying digital traffic between the processors that compute data and the memory chips that store it.
But suburban-style layouts create long commutes and regular traffic jams in electronic circuits, wasting time and energy.
Last modified Fri, 11 Dec, 2015 at 9:20
New Battery Design Could Help Solar and Wind Energy Power the Grid
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have designed a low-cost, long-life battery that could enable solar and wind energy to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have designed a low-cost, long-life battery that could enable solar and wind energy to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.
Last modified Fri, 3 May, 2013 at 14:12
Materials Scientists Make Solar Energy Chip 100 Times More Efficient
Scientists working at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) have improved an innovative solar-energy device to be about 100 times more efficient than its previous design in converting the sun's light and heat into electricity.
In a report last week in Nature Communications, the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) described how they improved a solar-energy device's efficiency from a few hundredths of a percent to nearly 2 percent, and said they expect to achieve at least another 10-fold gain in the future.
Last modified Thu, 28 Mar, 2013 at 12:10
