How Nanotechnology can be used to store and create energy

We need to produce energy, and nanotechnology is becoming more and more involved in the creation of it. Here are some of the ways nanotechnology has been used to produce energy and how it could be used to produce energy in the future.

Storing Hydrogen in fuel cell powered cars

To increase the binding energy of hydrogen to a surface level of a fuel tank, researchers are using and producing graphene layers. This way, there can be a higher amount of storage in your car and a lighter weight fuel tank.

You can use these nanotube sheets to wrap around a hot pipe in your car, such as the exhaust, to generate the energy from the heat of the hot pipe which would usually be wasted.

Generating steam from sunlight

Researchers have demonstrated that sunlight, concentrated on nanoparticles, can produce steam with high energy efficiency. A ‘solar steam device’ could be used in developing countries where there is no electricity to purify water and to disinfect dental instruments.

The potential practicality of this nanoscience could be a useful tool in order to prevent less suffering in countries with unfiltered, diseased water and therefore improve the quality of life for people in developing countries.

Increased electricity generated by windmills

Using an epoxy containing carbon nanotubes can enable the creation of stronger and lower weight blades. This enables the production of longer blades, therefore increasing the amount of energy produced from each windmill.

The improved blade design through nanotechnology makes windmills more efficient, meaning that we can become more reliant on windmills to produce a larger amount of our energy rather than fossil fuels.

High efficiency light bulbs

High efficiency light bulbs can be produced through a nano engineered polymer matrix. The new bulbs are not only shatterproof, but also operate at twice the efficiency of compact, fluorescent light bulbs.

This will more efficient light bulbs help to conserve energy and electricity, and across multiple households and buildings across the world this could have a major impact on the amount of energy that we save.

Go to our news page to see more stories and find out more information about the possibilities of Nanotechnology.