The Elements of Innovation Discovered

Articles written by K. Warner


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  • Detail view of battery renderings in blue.

    QuantumScape ships Alpha-2 prototypes

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    On track for key goal in 2024, headed steadily onward in aims for 2025. Nextgen solid-state battery tech leader QuantumScape has started customer shipments of its Alpha-2 prototype battery cells, on target for its 2024 goal. Toward achieving its mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology, the company began shipping its A0 prototypes to potential automotive customers for qualification at the end of 2022. The company's new Alpha-2...

  • Rendering of nanotubes and bubbles.

    Nickel catalyst for faster H2 electrolysis

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    Introducing 3D nickel catalysts for faster and cheaper production of hydrogen from water. A team of researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea has developed a new three-dimensional nickel catalyst that shows promise for producing more hydrogen from water at lower costs. The production of hydrogen from water typically involves the use of platinum or other similar precious metals, which pushes up the costs of producing this...

  • India's deep-sea exploration vehicle, the Matsya 6000

    China, Russia, India vie for sea minerals

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    With the U.S. still out of undersea race to the bottom of international waters, India strives for greener way toward trillion-dollar resource. The United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) has approved 31 license applications for permission to explore international waters, with only two belonging to India from 2016. This is in comparison to China's five and Russia's four. Having never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which led...

  • Rendering of an astronaut holding a battery.

    Space battery pioneer gets first big order

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    Hitachi Zosen goes commercial; company sends its all-solid-state batteries into equipment manufacturing space. An as-of-yet undisclosed semiconductor equipment manufacturer has placed the first commercial order for 12 all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (coined AS-LiB) with a capacity of 140 milliampere-hour from battery pioneer Hitachi Zosen, with future orders on the way as part of a new product. A typical all-solid-state lithium battery can not only store nearly twice as...

  • An array of solar panels beneath a bright blue sky.

    Spain's largest solar redox flow battery

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    The Son Orlandis system is the first vanadium redox flow-based energy storage plant to be built by Endesa; the largest to be paired with solar in Europe. Spanish utility Endesa Enel Green Power España (the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal) has commissioned an energy storage system utilizing a 1.1-megawatt vanadium redox flow battery (VFRB) connected to the 3.34 MW Son Orlandis solar plant in Mallorca, Spain. In 2023, the Balearic...

  • Fans atop a modular direct air capture array.

    CarbonCapture secures cash injection

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    U.S. CO2 capture and storage startup raises $80 million from Amazon, Saudi Aramco, others. Though behind on production schedule, CarbonCapture's latest major funding round raised $80 million from Saudi Aramco and other big names such as Prime Movers Lab, Amazon, Siemens Financial Services, Idealab X, and Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures. The startup is now reframing its focus on a massive, industrial application of its modular carbon dioxide-capturing designs. CarbonCapture has...

  • Wireframe of a cargo ship and plane with Wright batteries.

    Developing the Wright aluminum battery

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 26, 2024

    DOE bankrolls ultra-lightweight, energy-dense aluminum battery and novel artificial intelligence electrolyte screening system. A collaboration between Wright Electric and Columbia University has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy via the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program for a groundbreaking ultra-energy-dense and lightweight aluminum battery brought about by a novel artificial intelligence electrolyte screening system. Founded i...

  • Rendering of bubbles with a floating hydrogen chemical symbol.

    DOE continues H2 funding with $750M

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 22, 2024

    The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy continues support of growing U.S. green hydrogen. The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a $750 million infusion into clean hydrogen to significantly reduce its cost, beat out China for global leadership in hydrogen, and develop American energy independence through expansion of the industry. Clean hydrogen adoption by some of the country's most energy-intensive and CO2-emitting sectors is an essential part of the green...

  • Rendering of a battery full of liquid color.

    Zero-waste, water-based organic redox flow

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 21, 2024

    Quino's first-of-a-kind continuous production organic flow battery process. Quino Energy is a start-up developing water-based redox flow batteries that can cost-effectively store up to 40 hours of electrical energy in organic molecules called quinones. The company upcycles coal and wood tar into these molecules, which are commonly used to make a large variety of natural dyes but also happen to be excellent battery reactants. Mid- to long-duration battery storage solutions...

  • Rendering of a carbon superstructure designed into a flower.

    Clean energy carbon superstructures

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 20, 2024

    Further research on versatile carbon superstructures constructed at nanoscale could revolutionize energy solutions and clean up carbon's image. Burning carbon may no longer be viewed as the popular energy source, but there is still plenty of work to be done in establishing all that sustainably generated power – work that carbon, by its nature, is well-suited to perform. Superstructured carbons (SSCs) are a unique category of cutting-edge nanomaterial that is fast moving out...

  • A natural gas flame burning above an exposed vent in the outdoors.

    Natural H2 may be prolific and accessible

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 20, 2024

    Hydrogen discovered in Albanian mine provides clues on where to find massive hydrogen flows. The world's largest natural flow of highly pure hydrogen gas has been quietly seeping through a nondescript pool deep within an Albanian chromium mine. Researchers reported the study in a paper published in the journal Science, noting that the investigation of similar deposits may reveal more major findings of this clean-burning resource across the globe. Naturally occurring hydrogen a...

  • Closeup of human eye with augmented reality contact lens.

    Smart contact lenses for augmented reality

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 20, 2024

    New light-bending nanomaterials may turn science fiction into science fact across AI computing, medical, and entertainment fields. Konstantin Novoselov, co-discoverer of graphene and 2010 Nobel laureate, is among a group of scientists behind a breakthrough that could open the way for even more revolutionary nanomaterial applications similar to graphene, from smart contact lenses to rapid disease detection. Although scientists had long understood that crystal graphene existed,...

  • Two angles of the Porsche Macan EV.

    Electric Porsches to be unveiled at SXSW

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 19, 2024

    The all-electric Taycan and Macan will take center stage at technology, arts, and culture festival in Austin, Texas. Returning to Austin for its third year at South by Southwest arts and tech festival, Porsche will spotlight three new all-electric options – the Taycan Turbo S, Macan 4 and Macan Turbo. Porsche is committed to increasing the sales of electric vehicles, stating that it expects to make more than 80% of its sales EVs by 2030. These well-publicized goals by such...

  • Rendering of blue and orange grid sandwiching carbon molecules.

    Geothermal for cheap U.S. CO2 capture

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 13, 2024

    Combining carbon-free energy with permanent storage of CO2 creates a more cost-effective self-sustaining loop. A research team at Ohio State University (OSU) has proposed the combination of carbon capture with geothermal energy in a cheap, novel method that could make capturing carbon dioxide from the air a viable option. Their system recycles some of the captured CO2 to transport geothermal energy in a closed loop that can make large-scale direct air capture cheaper and more...

  • Illustration of a futuristic building with honeycomb openings in a grassy field.

    The cost of catching runaway CO2 emissions

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 13, 2024

    Startup Clairity raises $6.75 million to scale carbon removal system, bringing active carbon capture closer to cheaper, universally adoptable solutions California-based climate tech startup Clairity Technology announced that it has raised $6.75 million to scale its energy-efficient and cost-effective direct air capture (DAC) solution for removing dilute CO2. DAC technology is a key carbon removal option in the transition to a net-zero energy system that works by extracting...

  • Lead author Tianyi Ma working with assistant on water batteries.

    Water Batteries: cheap, green, no fire

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 12, 2024

    A little rust might make batteries safer, easier to recycle, and a potential competitor to lithium-ion. By using water in place of the hazardous chemical electrolytes used in commercial batteries, an international team of scientists hailing from Australia to China has proposed a water-based battery technology, a safer and greener alternative to chemical-laden batteries marketed today. Lithium-ion batteries, used in everything from laptops and phones to electric vehicles,...

  • Artist's rendering of an infinity symbol made up of batteries.

    A one-stop, closed-loop U.S. battery supply

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 12, 2024

    With the money, permits and resources locked in, US Strategic Metals has positioned itself as a desperately needed sustainable domestic battery metals platform Intent on repairing the widening gap representing a nonexistent American electric battery industry, US Strategic Metals (USSM) has transformed from humble beginnings as a mine site cleanup and reclamation business to a one-stop green battery metals platform taking the first steps toward a secure domestic closed-loop...

  • Mary and Gary Freeman posing for a picture on their excavation site.

    A bit deeper into Maine lithium motherlode

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 12, 2024

    New rules would allow the testing needed to build an open-pit mine over the largest hard rock lithium deposit in the U.S. In a unanimous vote, the Board of Environmental Protection has amended Maine's prohibitive mining rules to allow for open-pit excavation of certain clean energy metals. The provisional amendment, still under final consideration, is the refinement of a state law adopted last July intended to restrict mining and processing resources containing polluting sulfi...

  • A car with an EV plug showing graphics indicating fast charge.

    Solid-state battery hits fast-charge goal

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 9, 2024

    Ampcera's solid-state battery tech surpasses DOE fast charging goal. Due to mounting charge anxiety over limited at-home charging options and prolonged urban charging station wait times, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium and U.S. Department of Energy have both set commercial manufacturers a goal of 80% battery ultrafast charge in 15 minutes – which Ampcera's all-solid-state (ASSB) battery tech has just blown past. Last year, Ampcera was awarded a $2.1 million...

  • Team of researchers presenting carbon graphics in a curve-screened theater.

    Waste carbon into battery-grade graphite

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 9, 2024

    A startup launched by students out of Curtin University's Accelerate program creates graphite from waste carbon. High-purity graphite is substantially sought-after for graphene production and is in heavy demand for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. A new technology developed through Curtin University's Accelerate program in Australia, coined RapidGraphite, transforms waste carbon into battery-grade graphite within seconds. The Accelerate program supports early-stage...

  • Student at work in North Carolina BATT CAVE research center.

    BMW deal grows Albemarle's innovation aims

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 9, 2024

    Long-term partnership will secure battery-grade lithium hydroxide for automaker and accelerate both companies' expansion into EV space. This week, Albemarle announced a long-term partnership with BMW to deliver battery-grade lithium hydroxide for the automaker's next generation of high-performance electric vehicles and to work together to develop technology for safer and more energy-dense batteries. "Albemarle is committed to building a more resilient world," said Albemarle...

  • The western hemisphere aglow at night.

    Will your home run on enhanced geothermal?

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 6, 2024

    The Biden administration's Investing in America Agenda will fund three projects to scale enhanced geothermal systems to power the equivalent of 65 million U.S. homes. The U.S. Department of Energy has high hopes for enhanced geothermal, a process by which manmade hydrothermal power is produced by using hydraulic fracturing techniques to split rock at depths much greater than naturally occurring geothermal wells and injecting water to generate steam, subsequently driving...

  • Puzzle pieces of Chinese and U.S. flags over a globe.

    Critical minerals cold war heats up

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Massive geothermal lithium reserves give U.S. leverage while superpowers employ protectionist measures around supply chains. There's a new international race, not into space or to establish military superiority, but to secure critical minerals in a worldwide resource grab for the feedstocks that will fuel a global green energy transition. While we're all on the same side – or, in this case, the same planet – the superpowers have been at odds with how to achieve net-zero...

  • Artist’s rendering of an x-ray of lungs with swirls of graphite.

    Graphene and your health

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Initial studies test graphene as an emerging biological contaminant – where microplastics and pharmaceuticals have fallen. Graphene, a truly revolutionizing nanomaterial with potential that is hard to overstate, may continue to be developed without acute risk to human health, research suggests. Science has discovered an emergence of contaminants as unanticipated drawbacks to technological development – notably microplastics and pharmaceuticals that have made their way...

  • Artist John Sabraw with reclaimed pigment on a steel table.

    Acid mine drainage to earth tone paints

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 16, 2024
    1

    Gamblin Artists Colors introduces oil paints pigmented with waste from acidic water draining from old coal mine. Paints throughout the ages have been uniquely colored by crushed gemstones, rare shellfish, and even powdered Egyptian mummies. With that same pioneering spirit, the Portland, Oregon-based Gamblin Artists Colors began recycling dry pigment dust collected by their Torit air filtration system during the 1990s and mixing it into a paint color they called Torrit Grey....

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