Research Highlights and Insights

Late last year, the Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS Fall 24) was held in École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) at the SwissTech Convention Center. It often takes place twice a year in Spain, so this edition was extra special. The Swiss Tech Convention Centre is home to 300 m2 of dye sensitized solar cells integrat…

Tiny copper ‘nano-flowers’ have been attached to an artificial leaf to produce clean fuels and chemicals that are the backbone of modern energy and manufacturing. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley, developed a practical way to make hydrocarbons – molecules made of carbon and hydrogen – powe…

National targets for solar and wind power will see reliance on natural gas plummet, reducing electricity price volatility across Europe, with major beneficiaries including the UK and Ireland, the Nordics, and the Netherlands. Hitting the current national 2030 quotas for solar and wind energy could reduce the volatility of electricity markets by an …

Syngas, a mixture of H2 and CO, is a key industrial intermediate in the production of liquid fuels through the Fischer-Tropsch process. Research results demonstrate that thermal evaporation can contribute significantly towards solvent-free, scalable and reproducible manufacturing of perovskite-based artificial leaves. The report describes the insig…

Nuclear power was once considered cheap because of its very low fuel costs. That has not been the case in the West, since the end of the building spree in the 1980s, which was triggered by the reactor accident in the US at Three Mile Island. Capital costs have increased in part to improve safety. Also, the very large reactors that are now being bui…

Sotiris Georgiopoulos, Director of Distribution System Operator, UK Power Network, joined the organisation in 2005 as a graduate engineer. He has worked in engineering, construction and innovation. For the last decade he has championed innovative ways to plan and operate our networks such as flexible connections and the development of flexibility m…

To achieve the national target of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, the UK will have to transition from fossil fuel cars to greener alternative fuel vehicles. However, despite electric vehicle sales increasing significantly over the past decade, their overall share in the market remains low. Filip Mandys and Shivani Taneja (Bennett Institute for Publ…

Students from the Cambridge University Energy Technology Society (CUETS) attended the British Institute of Energy Economics Conference, titled Delivering the Energy Transition: Pace over Perfection, on 18th September 2024. By Hari Kukreja   Throughout the day we heard from policymakers, regulators and industry leaders, over three key panel sessions…

The UK Government’s policy to scrap Winter Fuel Payments could disproportionately affect low-income pensioners in England, new analysis suggests. But the same study argues that the energy inefficiency of homes and challenges involved in downsizing will have an even more harmful effect this winter.   The study, published in Energy Research & Social …

As technology evolves rapidly and the transition to clean energy accelerates, the world is increasingly relying on critical minerals (CM) for the future: lithium, cobalt, and graphite are needed for electric car batteries; silicon and tin for electronics; and rare earth elements for electric cars and wind turbines. Consequently, the demand for thes…

Researchers have developed soft, stretchable ‘jelly batteries’ that could be used for wearable devices or soft robotics, or even implanted in the brain to deliver drugs or treat conditions such as epilepsy. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, took their inspiration from electric eels, which stun their prey with modified muscle cells …

Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean energy infrastructure often located in global biodiversity hotspots, a study has found. New research has found that 4,642 species of vertebrate are threatened by mineral extraction around the world through …

Researchers have developed a low-cost, energy-efficient method for making materials that can capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. Researchers from the University of Cambridge used a method similar to charging a battery to instead charge activated charcoal, which is often used in household water filters. By charging the charcoal ‘sponge’ wi…

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to produce very low-emission concrete at scale – an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero. The method, which the researchers say is “an absolute miracle”, uses the electrically-powered arc furnaces used for steel recycling to simultaneously recycle …

Transitioning to a sustainable energy system, which involves the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies (RETs) such as wind, solar, and biomass, is essential for reducing carbon emissions, meeting global energy demands, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. However, while these technologies are beneficial on a large scale, the…