Levulinic acid is a biomass-derived compound that can be obtained inexpensively in high yields from a variety of waste cellulose-containing materials. It has been identified as a top biomass-derived c...
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Hydrogen is one of the most promising alternative energy sources and is expected to have enormous growth potential due to recent advances in technology.  Currently, hydrogen gases are produced by...
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Recently, significant advances have been made in using heterogeneous catalysts for converting biomass-derived compounds to chemicals and fuels.  One such compound, levulinic acid, can be inexpens...
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Increasing demand of petrochemical resources to produce the energy and chemical materials required by industrialized societies with growing populations combined with a diminishing supply has resulted ...
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Although a battery can store significant amounts of energy, it cannot deliver it quickly. But a battery can be used to charge a capacitor, which then can provide much power all at once. Supercapacit...
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Drinking water must be treated to remove organic contaminants, such as pathogenic microorganisms, and inorganic contaminants, such as heavy metals.
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Functionalized substrates have commercial applications ranging from biosensors to energy conversion devices such as solar cells.  Biosensors rapidly detect the presence of target biomolecules bas...
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To remove the substantial heat generated by today’s most powerful microprocessors, many high-performance and personal computers use liquid cooling, rather than air cooling, technology. Research ...
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Currently, most schemes for detecting bioagents or other biological molecules are based on relatively complex electronic, photonic and/or electrochemical methods, or on more elegant biomolecular metho...
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Alkanes produced from carbohydrates could provide a renewable source of transportation fuel to complement the rapidly growing production of bio-diesel from vegetable oils and animal fats.
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Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity through the interaction of photons and electrons within a photoconducting material. To create a photovoltaic cell, a photoconducting mater...
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Some experts in the oil industry and geological fields believe global oil reserves will reach peak production within the next twenty years.  They believe that the annual supply of petroleum-based...
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Because potential biological attacks against civilian populations have become an important issue for homeland security, practical and efficient biosensors are needed. However, no currently available b...
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A UW-Madison researcher previously developed an inexpensive, real-time wireless microsensor for detecting biological agents in water supply networks and other aqueous environments, such as the milk su...
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Wind-powered generators are an increasing source of power for many countries. However, before their use can become widespread, they must be able to work effectively with the existing utility grid. V...
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Distributed energy resources (DER), the combination of distributed power generators, energy storage devices and renewable sources of energy, are frequently located at customer sites where the energy r...
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Metal oxides presently are used in the manufacture of electrochemical capacitors, which are found in almost every electrical device. However, these materials are expensive and tend to undergo redox re...
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Although electrochemically active materials with high density and surface area have many potential uses in electrocatalysts, batteries, fuel cells and sensors, creating these materials can be challeng...
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