{"id":1445,"date":"2022-01-03T00:27:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T23:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/?post_type=unit&#038;p=1445"},"modified":"2022-01-03T00:27:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T23:27:19","slug":"nanotechnology-in-the-energy-sector","status":"publish","type":"unit","link":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/unit\/nanotechnology-in-the-energy-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanotechnology in the energy sector"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1451 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-768x432.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-460x259.jpg 460w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920-310x174.jpg 310w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/windmill-4550711_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The demand for energy is growing throughout the world as populations and industrial activities grow. We all need to use energy to drive our cars, warm our houses, power our electronics and to produce the food we eat and the goods we buy. The traditional energy sources that we have relied upon of coal, gas and oil still provide the majority of the global energy production. However, there are two main reasons why these sources of energy are not sustainable in the future. Firstly, these fossil fuels are a finite resource and will eventually run out. Secondly, burning fossil fuels leads to climate change and there is a need to reduce the amount of carbon that we release into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>Nanotechnology is already playing a role in all areas of the energy supply chain and there are also hopes that it will help us better harness cleaner energy, store energy more efficiently and to use the energy we generate more effectively. Nanotechnology is a broad field and so there is not one solution for energy, but rather a range of possibilities of what can be used across the whole of the energy value chain. The energy value chain stretches from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Energy capture- or being able to exploit different energy sources;<\/li>\n<li>Energy conversion- converting energy from one form to another, e.g. from wind (kinetic energy to electricity);<\/li>\n<li>Energy distribution- moving energy from one place to another such as a country\u2019s electricity supply grid;<\/li>\n<li>Energy storage- being able to keep energy for when it is needed, like a battery;<\/li>\n<li>Energy utilisation- so how nanotechnology can help us use the energy more efficiently, for example by better insulating our homes or reducing the weight of cars so that they use less fuel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are many different nanotechnologies that can be applied across the whole energy value chain as illustrated below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-big wp-image-1455\" src=\"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-768x665.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-768x665.png 768w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-460x398.png 460w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-600x519.png 600w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-120x104.png 120w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7-310x268.png 310w, https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Obrazek7.png 861w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background: #00D1C2; border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px;\" width=\"100%\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Example<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid black; padding: 10px; text-align: center;\" width=\"100%\"><strong>Solar Cells<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Solar cells are currently made from semiconductor materials and manage to achieve around 10-15% efficiency, meaning that they do not convert as much as the sun\u2019s energy to electricity as is desired. Nanoscale silicon particles have been used to reduce the amount of sunlight that the solar cell will reflect, and the new design allows the light to be guided better and absorbed on the solar cell and not reflected away and thus improving the efficiency of the panel. Even the most used material for producing solar panels is the crystalline silicon at present, new promising alternatives are emerging like perovskite for example. Nanostructured perovskite solar cells are remarkably more efficient compared to the existing silicon ones, but still some technological issues have to be solved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wind Turbines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wind turbines are used to harness wind and convert it into electricity as a good renewable source of energy. The turbine blades need to be both strong and lightweight so that they can withstand the huge forces that they are exposed to, whilst still being light enough to turn efficiently. The edges of turbine blades can be protected by making them from a graphene composite. This improves the durability of the edges and prevents them from being damaged and thus reducing their aerodynamic efficiency. This helps reduce the chances of damage occurring and thus saves on the cost of maintenance or having to replace the full blade.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vibebp_attr":"","_vibebp_dimensions":"","_vibebp_responsive_height":"","_vibebp_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"module-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1445","unit","type-unit","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/unit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1445\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"module-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module-tag?post=1445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}