Topic description and stories

Trash into treasure: making clean fuel from waste and sunlight

09 Oct 2024

Professor Erwin Reisner and his team are developing prototype devices that convert waste, water and air into practical fuels and chemicals.

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The cost of solar power: how low can we go?

08 Oct 2024

Professor Sam Stranks is developing next-generation solar cell technology, which could drive down renewable energy prices even further.

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Abstract orange swirls on a black background

A simple ‘twist’ improves the engine of clean fuel generation

24 Apr 2024

Researchers have found a way to super-charge the ‘engine’ of sustainable fuel generation – by giving the materials a little twist.

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Device for making solar fuels on the River Cam near the Bridge of Sighs

Solar-powered device produces clean water and clean fuel at the same time

13 Nov 2023

A floating, solar-powered device that can turn contaminated water or seawater into clean hydrogen fuel and purified water, anywhere in the world, has...

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Photo of New York

Cambridge Zero highlights University efforts at Climate Week NYC

06 Oct 2023

Cambridge Zero Director Professor Emily Shuckburgh took centre stage at the world's biggest climate event of its kind in New York to talk to global...

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Carbon capture from air and its photoelectrochemical conversion into fuel with simultaneous waste plastic conversion into chemicals.

Clean, sustainable fuels made ‘from thin air’ and plastic waste

19 Jun 2023

Researchers have demonstrated how carbon dioxide can be captured from industrial processes – or even directly from the air – and transformed into...

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A photoreactor with an artificial leaf working under solar irradiation

Driving on sunshine: clean, usable liquid fuels made from solar power

18 May 2023

Researchers have developed a solar-powered technology that converts carbon dioxide and water into liquid fuels that can be added directly to a car’s...

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Bismuth oxyiodide crystals

Sustainable solar cell material shown to be highly promising for medical imaging

10 May 2023

Using X-rays to see inside the human body has revolutionised non-invasive medical diagnostics. However, the dose of X-rays required for imaging is...

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Geometric abstract background with connected line and dots

AI tackles the challenge of materials structure prediction

27 Jul 2022

Researchers have designed a machine learning method that can predict the structure of new materials with five times the efficiency of the current...

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Solar panels

Secret to treating ‘Achilles’ heel’ of alternatives to silicon solar panels revealed

24 May 2022

A team of researchers from the UK and Japan has found that the tiny defects which limit the efficiency of perovskites – cheaper alternative materials...

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Exterior of Bath Abbey

Historic buildings could use solar panels to protect from rising energy costs

03 Feb 2022

Installing solar panels could help historic buildings beat the rising costs of energy, according to a new study.

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Artist's impression of formamidinium (FA)-based crystal

Templating approach stabilises ‘ideal’ material for alternative solar cells

23 Dec 2021

Researchers have developed a method to stabilise a promising material known as perovskite for cheap solar cells, without compromising its near-...

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