Chinese scientists designed a process that could convert plant scraps from agriculture and timber harvesting into quality jet fuel, which may help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from airplanes and rockets.The study published on Thursday in the journal Joule showed that a cheap, renewable and abundant polymer in the plant's cell walls can produce high-density aviation fuel."Our biofuel is important for mitigating CO2 emissions because it is derived from biomass and it has higher density compared with conventional aviation fuels," said the paper's co-author Li Ning, a research scientist at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences.The utilization of high-density aviation fuel can significantly increase the range and payload of aircraft without changing the volume of oil in the tank, according to the study.Li's team used wheatgrass cellulose in the lab to produce a mixture of C12 and C18 chemicals with a low freezing point and a density about 10 percent higher than that of conventional jet fuels.It can be used as either a wholesale replacement fuel or as an additive to improve the efficiency of other jet fuels, according to the study."The aircraft using this fuel can fly farther and carry more than those using conventional jet fuel, which can decrease the carbon dioxide emissions during the taking off and landing," said Li.Scientists expected the cheap, simple and energy-efficient process can be applied soon for commercial use. (By Xinhua)

Chinese researchers have developed a mass spectrometer that can rapidly detect illegal drugs on-site.Drugs identification is essential for drugs control, and law enforcement departments have an urgent need for the technology and equipment that can rapidly identify illegal drugs, including new ones.Developed by researchers from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan Police Officer Academy, and Drugs Analysis and Drugs Control Technology Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Public Security, the device realizes rapid on-site detection of illegal drugs in a complex matrix. The research was published in the journal Anal. Chem.The device can analyze 27 types of drugs. It can analyze the drugs in less than two seconds and the detection limits for all drugs are at the nanogram level.The device also adopted a temperature-regulated sampling strategy that can distinguish illegal drugs components in plant-based drugs samples and drinks containing illegal drugs.The device has been used in some frontier inspection stations in Yunnan Province to help combat drugs smuggling. They will keep improving the performance of the device based on the current application, according to the research team. (By Xinhua)

Chinese scientists have said they have come up with a more efficient luminescent solar concentrator (LSC), which can be made into "solar windows" that turn sunlight into electricity.Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics said they designed a "quantum-cutting" approach to double the efficiency of LSC devices. Their research was published in the December issue of Nano Letters.LSC, a less expensive photovoltaic technology, functions by collecting sunlight on a broad area, converting it into luminescence and directing it to solar cells at a narrow edge. The solar concentrator's semi-transparent appearance also allows for the creation of "solar windows" that can turn energy-consuming buildings into power-generation units.Wu Kaifeng, who leads the research team, told Xinhua that the quantum cutting approach held bright prospects for the application of solar windows."The idea of using windows to produce electric power is fascinating -- Just imagine a world in which all buildings are equipped with solar windows to power themselves. LSCs are exactly the type of solar windows to make such imagination come true," Wu said."So far, this technology has not been commercialized because the efficiency of LSCs is still too low," the researcher said.Traditional LSC designs are plagued by a low internal optical efficiency, usually below 60 percent, caused by a low emission rate of luminophores and a significant loss of energy to self-absorption, according to Wu.Wu's team used ytterbium-doped nanocrystals to make the new LSC based on the concept of quantum cutting, or cutting one photon into two while conserving the total energy. The new materials emit two near-infrared photons after absorbing one blue photon, achieving an internal optical efficiency of about 120 percent.LSC is believed to be a revolutionary new front of solar power technologies. Solar concentrators boast lower costs compared with silicon-based solar panels, which have reached up to the roof of our buildings, while opening up new windows of opportunity for better using building facades. (Xinhua)

Chinese researchers have developed high voltage planar integrated micro-supercapacitors with superior flexibility.The ultrahigh-voltage micro-supercapacitors were developed by a research group made up of scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Institute of Metal Research of the CAS.The boom of portable and wearable electronics has stimulated the urgent demand for miniature electrochemical energy storage devices with high flexibility and tailored performance. But the cost-effective and scalable fabrication of integrated micro-supercapacitors is yet to be achieved.With assistance from low-cost, industrially applicable technology, the researchers demonstrated fast and scalable fabrication of graphene-based planar integrated micro-supercapacitors with shape diversity, versatility and outstanding flexibility.The output voltage and capacitance of the integrated micro-supercapacitors are readily adjustable. To prove the validity of the concept, a tandem energy storage pack integrating 130 individual micro-supercapacitors in series can output a recorded voltage exceeding 100 volts, said the study published in the Energy and Environmental Science journal.This work holds great potential for scalable fabrication and fast integration of other planar microscale energy storage devices, such as hybrid micro-supercapacitors and micro-batteries. (Xinhua)

A team of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have invented a type of power source with high power and energy density.High power and energy density are the key issues in the development of electrochemical power sources to meet the growing demands from a wide range of applications.Most traditional power sources, however, can hardly possess both such features. Fuel cells are a promising new energy technology in the fields of portable power sources, automobile power supply and stationary electric power plants. The commercialization of fuel cells is hampered by relatively low specific power density.Meanwhile, the wide application of devices with high power density, such as supercapacitors, is also limited by insufficient specific energy density.It is of great importance to the future of energy research and application to develop alternative power sources with both high power and energy density.Based on previous studies of key electrode materials, direct methanol fuel cells and supercapacitors, the research team constructed the hybrid power system, achieving 80 percent more power density than direct methanol fuel cells.Such work can shed light on the development of the next generation of power sources for portable and vehicle applications, said Liang Zhenxing, professor at South China University of Technology.(Xinhua) 

Chinese researchers have successfully increased the scale of synthesizing liquid solar fuel, taking a step forward to boost the use and output of renewable energy in the country.Researchers with the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences divided the synthesis process of the liquid solar fuel into two steps: generating hydrogen decomposed from water by solar energy and making liquid fuel via carbon dioxide hydrogenation.A 1,000-tonne industrialization of liquid solar fuel synthesis project has been launched in Lanzhou, capital city of northwest China's Gansu Province.Liquid solar fuel is transformed and synthesised from carbon dioxide and water, using solar energy as the sole energy supply. The synthesis process provides clean fuel, as well as utilizing greenhouse gases.China's western regions have abundant solar energy and other renewable resources. The industrialization of the liquid solar fuel is expected to efficiently promote the utilization and output of the renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gases. (Xinhua)