This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/64719573-41d7-4a7d-94ae-310d64fccf69?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr><a href="https://dysonfarming.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dyson</a>, a brand synonymous with innovation in vacuum cleaners, hairdryers, and robotics, has embarked on an ambitious journey into agriculture, transforming it with the same engineering excellence that characterizes their consumer products. Over a decade ago, Dyson began acquiring farms across the UK, now totaling 36,000 acres in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Somerset. This venture is far from a side project; it's an integration of high technology and sustainable practices aimed at <a href="https://dysonfarming.com/why-farming/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">redefining farming</a>.At the heart of Dyson's farming initiative is a commitment to agricultural improvement and environmental stewardship. The company has made significant strides in enhancing farm operations, including optimizing water management and soil health through drainage and maintenance efforts. A notable aspect of their approach is the <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/regenerative-agriculture/how-a-large-scale-regen-system-is-working-at-dyson-farming" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dedication to biodiversity</a>, with around 4,000 acres set aside for natural habitats, underlining a holistic vision that marries conventional farming with sustainability.Dyson's foray into agriculture is driven by a vision to regenerate the soil, improve land management, and advance sustainable farming. The initiative employs a regenerative farming model, incorporating livestock to improve soil quality and thereby produce higher-quality food. This model is not just about farming efficiency but also about embracing technology and innovation to achieve sustainability and self-sufficiency.A standout feature of Dyson's approach is the use of an anaerobic digester, which converts crops into gas to generate electricity, supporting around 10,000 homes. This <a href="https://dysonfarming.com/renewable-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" id="isPasted">circular farming model</a> emphasizes the reuse of waste products, with digestate from the process used as a natural fertilizer, showcasing a sustainable loop that benefits both the farm and the surrounding environment. Furthermore, they ensure that no energy is wasted either, with excess heat from the process being used to keep the greenhouse warm for strawberry cultivation.Dyson has also innovated in crop cultivation, using technology like ultraviolet light and robotics to grow strawberries in a new 15-acre glasshouse in Carrington, Lincolnshire. This glasshouse not only advances sustainable farming practices but also extends the British strawberry growing season, reducing the need for imports and the associated food miles.The impacts of Dyson's farming initiative are manifold. By enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health, and employing circular farming practices, Dyson is not only producing better-tasting food but also contributing to environmental conservation. Their use of technology and sustainable practices in farming points towards a future where agriculture is not only about food production but also about ecological balance and resource efficiency.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n0miKj4UOiA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10="true" id="435624312" title="Behind the scenes of Dyson Farming with James Dyson">&nbsp;</iframe>Dyson's journey into agriculture reflects a broader ambition to apply engineering and technological expertise to one of the oldest human endeavors, farming. By doing so, Dyson is reimagining what is possible in agriculture, making it a model for sustainable and technologically advanced farming practices worldwide.For a closer look at Dyson's innovative farming practices and their implications for sustainable agriculture, you can explore more through <a href="https://dysonfarming.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dyson Farming</a>'s official site.

How a Tech Giant is Redefining Farming with Innovation and Sustainability

Engineering the Fields: Dyson's Leap from Gadgets to Agriculture

MIT’s Electric Vehicle Team, which has a long record of building and racing innovative electric vehicles, including cars and motorcycles, in international professional-level competitions, is trying something very different this year: The team is building a hydrogen-powered electric motorcycle, using a fuel cell system, as a testbed for new hydrogen-based transportation.The motorcycle successfully underwent its first full test-track demonstration in October. It is designed as an open-source platform that should make it possible to swap out and test a variety of different components, and for others to try their own versions based on plans the team is making freely available online.Aditya Mehrotra, who is spearheading the project, is a graduate student working with mechanical engineering professor Alex Slocum, the Walter M. May &nbsp;and A. Hazel May Chair in Emerging Technologies. Mehrotra was studying energy systems and happened to also really like motorcycles, he says, “so we came up with the idea of a hydrogen-powered bike. We did an evaluation study, and we thought that this could actually work. We [decided to] try to build it.”Team members say that while battery-powered cars are a boon for the environment, they still face limitations in range and have issues associated with the mining of lithium and resulting emissions. So, the team was interested in exploring hydrogen-powered vehicles as a clean alternative, allowing for vehicles that could be quickly refilled just like gasoline-powered vehicles.Unlike past projects by the team, which has been part of MIT since 2005, this vehicle will not be entering races or competitions but will be presented at a variety of conferences. The team, consisting of about a dozen students, has been working on building the prototype since January 2023. In October they presented the bike at the Hydrogen Americas Summit, and in May they will travel to the Netherlands to present it at the World Hydrogen Summit. In addition to the two hydrogen summits, the team plans to show its bike at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month.“We’re hoping to use this project as a chance to start conversations around ‘small hydrogen’ systems that could increase demand, which could lead to the development of more infrastructure," Mehrotra says. "We hope the project can help find new and creative applications for hydrogen.” In addition to these demonstrations and the online information the team will provide, he adds, they are also working toward publishing papers in academic journals describing their project and lessons learned from it, in hopes of making “an impact on the energy industry.”<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yUj7Hy7yq-0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>For the love of speed: Building a hydrogen-powered motorcycleThe motorcycle took shape over the course of the year piece by piece. “We got a couple of industry sponsors to donate components like the fuel cell and a lot of the major components of the system,” he says. They also received support from the MIT Energy Initiative, the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the MIT Edgerton Center.Initial tests were conducted on a dynamometer, a kind of instrumented treadmill Mehrotra describes as “basically a mock road.” The vehicle used battery power during its development, until the fuel cell, provided by South Korean company Doosan, could be delivered and installed. The space the group has used to design and build the prototype, the home of the Electric Vehicle Team, is in MIT’s Building N51 and is well set up to do detailed testing of each of the bike’s components as it is developed and integrated.Elizabeth Brennan, a senior in mechanical engineering, says she joined the team in January 2023 because she wanted to gain more electrical engineering experience, “and I really fell in love with it.” She says group members “really care and are very excited to be here and work on this bike and believe in the project.”Brennan, who is the team’s safety lead, has been learning about the safe handling methods required for the bike’s hydrogen fuel, including the special tanks and connectors needed. The team initially used a commercially available electric motor for the prototype but is now working on an improved version, designed from scratch, she says, “which gives us a lot more flexibility.”As part of the project, team members are developing a kind of textbook describing what they did and how they carried out each step in the process of designing and fabricating this hydrogen electric fuel-cell bike. No such motorcycle yet exists as a commercial product, though a few prototypes have been built.That kind of guidebook to the process “just doesn’t exist,” Brennan says. She adds that “a lot of the technology development for hydrogen is either done in simulation or is still in the prototype stages, because developing it is expensive, and it’s difficult to test these kinds of systems.” One of the team’s goals for the project is to make everything available as an open-source design, and “we want to provide this bike as a platform for researchers and for education, where researchers can test ideas in both space- and funding-constrained environments.”Unlike a design built as a commercial product, Mehrotra says, “our vehicle is fully designed for research, so you can swap components in and out, and get real hardware data on how good your designs are.” That can help people work on implementing their new design ideas and help push the industry forward, he says.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1705050467068-I_102223-AG-MIT-Motorcycle-0027.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Using an on-board logging computer, Electric Vehicle Team members (from left to right:) Anand John, Rachel Mohammed, and Aditya Mehrotra check data on the bike’s performance, battery levels, and hydrogen tank levels to calculate the range of the vehicle. Photo: Adam GlanzmanThe few prototypes developed previously by some companies were inefficient and expensive, he says. “So far as we know, we are the first fully open-source, rigorously documented, tested and released-as-a-platform, [fuel cell] motorcycle in the world. No one else has made a motorcycle and tested it to the level that we have, and documented to the point that someone might actually be able to take this and scale it in the future, or use it in research.”He adds that “at the moment, this vehicle is affordable for research, but it’s not affordable yet for commercial production because the fuel cell is a very big, expensive component.” Doosan Fuel Cell, which provided the fuel cell for the prototype bike, produces relatively small and lightweight fuel cells mostly for use in drones. The company also produces hydrogen storage and delivery systems.The project will continue to evolve, says team member Annika Marschner, a sophomore in mechanical engineering. “It’s sort of an ongoing thing, and as we develop it and make changes, make it a stronger, better bike, it will just continue to grow over the years, hopefully,” she says.While the Electric Vehicle Team has until now focused on battery-powered vehicles, Marschner says, “Right now we’re looking at hydrogen because it seems like something that’s been less explored than other technologies for making sustainable transportation. So, it seemed like an exciting thing for us to offer our time and effort to.”Making it all work has been a long process. The team is using a frame from a 1999 motorcycle, with many custom-made parts added to support the electric motor, the hydrogen tank, the fuel cell, and the drive train. “Making everything fit in the frame of the bike is definitely something we’ve had to think about a lot because there’s such limited space there. So, it required trying to figure out how to mount things in clever ways so that there are not conflicts,” she says.Marschner says, “A lot of people don’t really imagine hydrogen energy being something that’s out there being used on the roads, but the technology does exist.” She points out that Toyota and Hyundai have hydrogen-fueled vehicles on the market, and that some hydrogen fuel stations exist, mostly in California, Japan, and some European countries. But getting access to hydrogen, “for your average consumer on the East Coast, is a huge, huge challenge. Infrastructure is definitely the biggest challenge right now to hydrogen vehicles,” she says.She sees a bright future for hydrogen as a clean fuel to replace fossil fuels over time. “I think it has a huge amount of potential,” she says. “I think one of the biggest challenges with moving hydrogen energy forward is getting these demonstration projects actually developed and showing that these things can work and that they can work well. So, we’re really excited to bring it along further.”

Aditya Mehrotra performs a “shakedown” test — running the hydrogen-powered electric motorcycle at high speeds to ensure that the mechanical and electrical systems hold up. Photo: Adam Glanzman

MIT Electric Vehicle Team builds a unique hydrogen fuel cell–powered electric motorcycle.

The future of motorcycles could be hydrogen

In this episode, we dive into how MIT researchers have found a new way of efficiently leveraging the abundant carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to create clean, stable fuel capable of addressing Hydrogen’s shortcomings while still offering its core benefits!

Podcast: Converting CO2 To Clean Fuel

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/1b7aa39d-b7fc-4b88-8961-8bb4db9d0f41?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>The search is on worldwide to find ways to extract carbon dioxide from the air or from power plant exhaust and then make it into something useful. One of the more promising ideas is to make it into a stable fuel that can replace fossil fuels in some applications. But most such conversion processes have had problems with low carbon efficiency, or they produce fuels that can be hard to handle, toxic, or flammable.Now, researchers at MIT and Harvard University have developed an efficient process that can convert carbon dioxide into formate, a liquid or solid material that can be used like hydrogen or methanol to power a fuel cell and generate electricity. Potassium or sodium formate, already produced at industrial scales and commonly used as a de-icer for roads and sidewalks, is nontoxic, nonflammable, easy to store and transport, and can remain stable in ordinary steel tanks to be used months, or even years, after its production.The new process, developed by MIT doctoral students Zhen Zhang, Zhichu Ren, and Alexander H. Quinn; Harvard University doctoral student Dawei Xi; and MIT Professor Ju Li, is described this week in an <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(23)00485-X" target="_blank">open-access paper in Cell Reports Physical Science</a>. The whole process — including capture and electrochemical conversion of the gas to a solid formate powder, which is then used in a fuel cell to produce electricity — was demonstrated at a small, laboratory scale. However, the researchers expect it to be scalable so that it could provide emissions-free heat and power to individual homes and even be used in industrial or grid-scale applications.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4NzM2MzM3MjQ3LU1JVC1GdWVsZnJvbS0wMS1wcmVzcy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A schematic shows the formate process. The top left shows a household powered by the direct formate fuel cell, with formate fuel stored in the underground tank. In the middle, the fuel cell that harnesses formate to supply electricity is shown. On the lower right is the electrolyzer that converts bicarbonate into formate. Image: Shuhan Miao, Harvard Graduate School of DesignOther approaches to converting carbon dioxide into fuel, Li explains, usually involve a two-stage process: First the gas is chemically captured and turned into a solid form as calcium carbonate, then later that material is heated to drive off the carbon dioxide and convert it to a fuel feedstock such as carbon monoxide. That second step has very low efficiency, typically converting less than 20 percent of the gaseous carbon dioxide into the desired product, Li says.By contrast, the new process achieves a conversion of well over 90 percent and eliminates the need for the inefficient heating step by first converting the carbon dioxide into an intermediate form, liquid metal bicarbonate. That liquid is then electrochemically converted into liquid potassium or sodium formate in an electrolyzer that uses low-carbon electricity, e.g. nuclear, wind, or solar power. The highly concentrated liquid potassium or sodium formate solution produced can then be dried, for example by solar evaporation, to produce a solid powder that is highly stable and can be stored in ordinary steel tanks for up to years or even decades, Li says.Several steps of optimization developed by the team made all the difference in changing an inefficient chemical-conversion process into a practical solution, says Li, who holds joint appointments in the departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering and of Materials Science and Engineering.The process of carbon capture and conversion involves first an alkaline solution-based capture that concentrates carbon dioxide, either from concentrated streams such as from power plant emissions or from very low-concentration sources, even open air, into the form of a liquid metal-bicarbonate solution. Then, through the use of a cation-exchange membrane electrolyzer, this bicarbonate is electrochemically converted into solid formate crystals with a carbon efficiency of greater than 96 percent, as confirmed in the team’s lab-scale experiments.These crystals have an indefinite shelf life, remaining so stable that they could be stored for years, or even decades, with little or no loss. By comparison, even the best available practical hydrogen storage tanks allow the gas to leak out at a rate of about 1 percent per day, precluding any uses that would require year-long storage, Li says. Methanol, another widely explored alternative for converting carbon dioxide into a fuel usable in fuel cells, is a toxic substance that cannot easily be adapted to use in situations where leakage could pose a health hazard. Formate, on the other hand, is widely used and considered benign, according to national safety standards.Several improvements account for the greatly improved efficiency of this process. First, a careful design of the membrane materials and their configuration overcomes a problem that previous attempts at such a system have encountered, where a buildup of certain chemical byproducts changes the pH, causing the system to steadily lose efficiency over time. “Traditionally, it is difficult to achieve long-term, stable, continuous conversion of the feedstocks,” Zhang says. “The key to our system is to achieve a pH balance for steady-state conversion.”To achieve that, the researchers carried out thermodynamic modeling to design the new process so that it is chemically balanced and the pH remains at a steady state with no shift in acidity over time. It can therefore continue operating efficiently over long periods. In their tests, the system ran for over 200 hours with no significant decrease in output. The whole process can be done at ambient temperatures and relatively low pressures (about five times atmospheric pressure).Another issue was that unwanted side reactions produced other chemical products that were not useful, but the team figured out a way to prevent these side reactions by the introduction of an extra “buffer” layer of bicarbonate-enriched fiberglass wool that blocked these reactions.The team also built a fuel cell specifically optimized for the use of this formate fuel to produce electricity. The stored formate particles are simply dissolved in water and pumped into the fuel cell as needed. Although the solid fuel is much heavier than pure hydrogen, when the weight and volume of the high-pressure gas tanks needed to store hydrogen is considered, the end result is an electricity output near parity for a given storage volume, Li says.The formate fuel can potentially be adapted for anything from home-sized units to large scale industrial uses or grid-scale storage systems, the researchers say. Initial household applications might involve an electrolyzer unit about the size of a refrigerator to capture and convert the carbon dioxide into formate, which could be stored in an underground or rooftop tank. Then, when needed, the powdered solid would be mixed with water and fed into a fuel cell to provide power and heat. “This is for community or household demonstrations,” Zhang says, “but we believe that also in the future it may be good for factories or the grid.”“The formate economy is an intriguing concept because metal formate salts are very benign and stable, and a compelling energy carrier,” says Ted Sargent, a professor of chemistry and of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University, who was not associated with this work. “The authors have demonstrated enhanced efficiency in liquid-to-liquid conversion from bicarbonate feedstock to formate, and have demonstrated these fuels can be used later to produce electricity,” he says.

An electrolzyer configuration with a bicarbonate cathode, intermediate buffer layer, cation exchange membrane and a water anode. Image: Shuhan Miao, Harvard Graduate School of Design

The approach directly converts the greenhouse gas into formate, a solid fuel that can be stored indefinitely and could be used to heat homes or power industries.

Engineers develop an efficient process to make fuel from carbon dioxide

In this episode, we embark on a journey to the red planet and unveil the remarkable success of the NASA JPL MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) mission on Mars.

Podcast: Breathing on Mars: MOXIE's Astounding Success

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1672821999265000&usg=AOvVaw3lLKdHdEN0YvCEsaHI7hx9" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/95b5b321-ff01-4131-9a82-dc2417f0588b?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Think about this: while we&#39;re here on Earth, a device on Mars (called MOXIE) is breathing life into our interplanetary ambitions by turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. And it&#39;s not just working; it&#39;s thriving. <h3>The minds behind the mission</h3>The team behind the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, colloquially known as MOXIE, was led by principal investigator Michael Hecht from MIT but also includes collaborators from Caltech as well as OxEon Energy. Stationed on NASA&#39;s Perseverance rover, which was designed and managed by NASA JPL, this compact device is making interstellar history. <h3>The drive to innovate</h3>Fundamentally speaking, there will be a massive demand for oxygen in a society that is interplanetary &ndash; it is not only required to sustain life but is also necessary for the combustion of rocket fuel. The roots of MOXIE&#39;s endeavor trace back to the persistent challenge in space exploration: resource transport. Carrying massive oxygen tanks across the vast expanse between Earth and Mars is logistically daunting and downright uneconomical. Thus, the inception of MOXIE: to negate this transportation need by producing oxygen right on the Red Planet.Fast forward to today, MOXIE hasn&#39;t just met expectations; it&#39;s exceeded them. From the time of its Martian touchdown in February 2021, the instrument has not only produced oxygen consistently, but it has also done so under varied atmospheric conditions and at different times, day and night. Its performance, irrespective of the fluctuating Martian atmosphere, stands as a testament to its engineering excellence. <h3>MOXIE&#39;s breathtaking success</h3>Between its start-up in February 2021 and September 2023, MOXIE accumulated a total output of 122 grams of oxygen. At maximum operational capacity, the system produced 12 grams of oxygen each hour, achieving a purity level of 98% or higher. The consistent target was six grams of oxygen per hour, a rate comparable to the oxygen output of a standard terrestrial tree.&nbsp;MOXIE matched or exceeded both its purity and volume targets during this experiment.Impressively, MOXIE&#39;s oxygen production was also consistent across Mars&#39; intense seasonal variation. Because of vast differences in temperature between seasons, Mars&#39; atmospheric density can vary up to twofold throughout the year, which presents a dynamic environment for MOXIE&#39;s oxygen production. <h3>The secret sauce behind MOXIE</h3>The wizardry of MOXIE is both fascinating and profoundly technical, ingeniously designed to work under the highly variable Martian conditions.MOXIE begins its operations by first drawing in carbon dioxide-rich Martian air, which is filtered to rid contaminants. The air is subsequently pressurized and channeled through the Solid OXide Electrolyzer (SOXE), which was developed by OxEon Energy. SOXE electrochemically dissects the air into oxygen ions and carbon monoxide. The oxygen ions are skillfully isolated and recombined, resulting in molecular oxygen, or O2. Before releasing it back into the Martian atmosphere (alongside carbon monoxide and other gases), MOXIE conducts tests to determine whether the oxygen&#39;s quantity and purity meet the mark.&nbsp; <img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk1MjQ1NDc0MjM3LTY0OTBfTWFycy0yMDIwLU5BU0EtTU9YSUUtQ2FyYm9uLU94eWdlbi1mdWxsMi5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 518px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">NASA/JPL-CaltechFurthermore, accommodating MOXIE&#39;s function within the Perseverance rover&#39;s busy schedule demanded adaptability. Designed to operate intermittently, MOXIE&#39;s performance during various times of the Martian day and throughout diverse seasons showed its resilience. While full-scale versions of MOXIE are envisioned to run continually, the current design&#39;s episodic functioning has demonstrated robustness against potential wear and tear. <h3>Beyond the experiment</h3>Following MOXIE&#39;s success, the research group still sees lots of future work on the horizon for in-situ oxygen production, including designing a future full-scale system that is designed to run nonstop (the current system is designed to operate only in short bursts). The ultimate goal is to a dispatch larger version of MOXIE to Mars and allow it to produce and store up large quantities of oxygen to support future missions.All in all, this isn&#39;t just a technological win; it&#39;s a game-changer. MOXIE&#39;s proven ability to transform plentiful Martian carbon dioxide into oxygen means the dream of return flights from Mars &ndash; and perhaps eventual manned exploration &ndash; &nbsp;is a significant step closer. MOXIE has not just created oxygen but also started paving the path for humanity&#39;s next big interplanetary leap.

MOXIE successfully turned Martian carbon dioxide into usable oxygen – a monumental achievement with even bigger implications for the future of space exploration 


Breathtaking Success on Mars: MOXIE Experiment Delivers as Promised

The prototype fuel cell is wrapped in a fleece and is slightly larger than a thumbnail. (Photograph: Fussenegger Lab / ETH Zurich)

In this episode, we're exploring a groundbreaking innovation from ETH Zurich that could revolutionize how we power wearable devices. It's time to say goodbye to conventional batteries and hello to a sustainable, continuous, and convenient power source.

Podcast: Power Up Your Wearable Devices with Blood Sugar!

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which are being developed for use in electric vehicles, rely on nanoparticles called catalysts to trigger electricity-producing reactions between hydrogen and oxygen. Most PEMFC catalysts contain platinum &ndash; a scarce and precious metal. There is therefore a pressing global need to develop catalysts that can generate the most power while minimizing platinum content.Manufacturers integrate these catalysts in complex assemblies called catalyst layers. Until now, they had to do so without a detailed picture of the resulting structure, as traditional imaging processes almost always cause some degree of damage.Vasiliki Tileli, head of the&nbsp;<a href="https://ine.epfl.ch/" target="_blank">Laboratory for in-situ nanomaterials characterization with electrons</a> in the School of Engineering, has found a way around this challenge. By imaging catalysts and their environment at below-freezing temperatures using cryogenic transmission electron tomography and processing the images with deep learning, she and her colleagues have succeeded in revealing, for the first time, the nanoscale structure of catalyst layers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still far away from PEMFCs without platinum, which is very expensive, so in the short term, we need to reduce platinum loading to make this technology viable for mass production. It&rsquo;s therefore imperative to understand how platinum sits in relation to other materials within the catalyst layer, to increase the surface area contact required for chemical reactions to take place,&rdquo; Tileli explains.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s quite an achievement to image these catalysts in three dimensions; before, it was impossible to have the right contrast between the different catalyst layer components.&rdquo;The work has recently been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-023-00947-y" rel="noopener" target="_blank">published</a> in the journal&nbsp;Nature Catalysis.<h2>Better preservation; higher resolution</h2>During imaging using conventional electron microscopy, delicate catalyst layer samples often become damaged by electron beams, causing materials to shrink or deform. By carrying out the imaging&nbsp;in-situ at cryo-temperatures, Tileli and her team were able to preserve most of the catalyst layer&rsquo;s morphology. Then, they used a machine learning algorithm to more accurately denoise and classify the images, allowing them to achieve a higher image resolution than had ever previously been possible.Crucially, the scientists were able to reveal the heterogenous thickness of a porous polymer layer on the catalysts called ionomer. Ionomer thickness strongly influences how well platinum catalysts perform.&ldquo;The ionomer must have a certain thickness for the catalytic reactions to happen efficiently. Because we could do a full reconstruction of catalyst layers with limited damage to the structure, we could show, for the first time, how much platinum is covered with ionomer and the thickness of that coverage,&rdquo; Tileli explains.Such information could be a gold mine for catalyst manufacturers, who could use it to produce catalysts with more platinum particles that are covered by the right amount of ionomer &ndash; and that therefore perform optimally.&ldquo;The cryo-aspect is the key component of this study. Ionomers are like proteins: they are soft, and require freezing conditions to stabilize and protect their structure,&rdquo; Tileli says.&ldquo;I think this advanced technique will therefore be useful not just for facilitating the mass manufacturing of PEMFCs through optimized platinum use, but also for many different materials science and energy applications &ndash; for example, battery storage, water electrolysis, and energy conversion systems in general.&rdquo;<hr>ReferencesGirod, R., Lazaridis, T., Gasteiger, H.A. et al. Three-dimensional nanoimaging of fuel cell catalyst layers. Nat Catal (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-023-00947-y

In one of the lab's images, platinum nanoparticles are shown in pink © INE EPFL

Thanks to a novel combination of cryogenic transmission electron tomography and deep learning, EPFL researchers have provided a first look at the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers, revealing how they could be optimized for fuel cell efficiency.

Cryo-imaging lifts the lid on fuel cell catalyst layers

This article was discussed in our&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1672821999265000&usg=AOvVaw3lLKdHdEN0YvCEsaHI7hx9" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/c687780f-efdb-4e52-8412-221747c93130?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. This means that patients have to obtain the hormone externally to regulate their blood sugar levels. Nowadays, this is mostly done via insulin pumps that are attached directly to the body. These devices, as well as other medical applications such as pacemakers, require a reliable energy supply, which at present is met primarily by power from either single-use or rechargeable batteries.Now, a team of researchers led by Martin Fussenegger from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel have put a seemingly futuristic idea into practice. They have developed an implantable fuel cell that uses excess blood sugar (glucose) from tissue to generate electrical energy. The researchers have combined the fuel cell with artificial beta cells developed by their group several years ago. These produce insulin at the touch of a button and effectively lower blood glucose levels much like their natural role models in the pancreas.&ldquo;Many people, especially in the Western industrialised nations, consume more carbohydrates than they need in everyday life,&rdquo; Fussenegger explains. This, he adds, leads to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. &ldquo;This gave us the idea of using this excess metabolic energy to produce electricity to power biomedical devices,&rdquo; he says.<h2>Fuel cell in tea bag format</h2>At the heart of the fuel cell is an anode (electrode) made of copper-based nanoparticles, which Fussenegger&rsquo;s team created specifically for this application. It consists of copper-based nanoparticles and splits glucose into gluconic acid and a proton to generate electricity, which sets an electric circuit in motion.&nbsp;Wrapped in a nonwoven fabric and coated with alginate, an algae product approved for medical use, the fuel cell resembles a small tea bag that can be implanted under the skin. The alginate soaks up body fluid and allows glucose to pass from the tissue into the fuel cell within.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgwMDIwNTE0NzQ5LWltYWdlLmltYWdlZm9ybWF0LmZ1bGx3aWR0aHdpZGVwYWdlLjE0MzYwOTQwNTMucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Scheme of energy generation and insulin control: when the blood glucose level rises, the circuit is activated and insulin production is stimulated with the generated energy. (Schematic: From Maity D, et al, Adv. Mater. 2023 / ETH Zurich)&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">A diabetes network with its own power supply</h2>In a second step, the researchers coupled the fuel cell with a capsule containing artificial beta cells. These can be stimulated to produce and secrete insulin using electric current or blue LED light. Fussenegger and his colleagues already tested such designer cells some time ago (see <a href="https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2016/12/artificial-beta-cells.html" target="_blank">ETH News</a>, 8 December 2016).The system combines sustained power generation and controlled insulin delivery. As soon as the fuel cell registers excess glucose, it starts to generate power. This electrical energy is then used to stimulate the cells to produce and release insulin into the blood. As a result, blood sugar dips to a normal level. Once it falls below a certain threshold value, the production of electricity and insulin stops.The electrical energy provided by the fuel cell is sufficient not only to stimulate the designer cells but also to enable the implanted system to communicate with external devices such as a smartphone. This allows potential users to adjust the system via a corresponding app. A doctor could also access it remotely and make adjustments. &ldquo;The new system autonomously regulates insulin and blood glucose levels and could be used to treat diabetes in the future,&rdquo; Fussenegger says.<h2>A long, uncertain road to market maturity</h2>The existing system is only a prototype. Although the researchers have successfully tested it in mice, they are unable to develop it into a marketable product. &ldquo;Bringing such a device to market is far beyond our financial and human resources,&rdquo; Fussenegger says. This would call for an industry partner with the appropriate resources and know-how.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">References</h2>Maity, D., Ray, P.G., Buchmann, P., Mansouri, M. and Fussenegger, M. (2023), Blood-Glucose-Powered Metabolic Fuel Cell for Self-Sufficient Bioelectronics. Adv. Mater. Accepted Author Manuscript 2300890. <a name="_Hlk130561400" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300890" target="_blank">external pagehttps://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300890</a>

The prototype fuel cell is wrapped in a fleece and is slightly larger than a thumbnail. (Photograph: Fussenegger Lab / ETH Zurich)

A fuel cell under the skin that converts blood sugar from the body into electrical energy sounds like science fiction. Yet it works perfectly, as an ETH Zurich research team led by Martin Fussenegger, Professor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, has shown.

Generating power with blood sugar

In this episode, we talk about why minimization of speakers and energy storage devices is crucial for the next generation of electronics and medical devices. As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/85cb7aef-c9a6-4ef8-b1e2-47bc45441f6d?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr>This podcast is sponsored by <a href="https://www2.mouser.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mouser Electronics</a>. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654599330909-Mouser-sponsor-1-a.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(0:50) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/ultrathin-fuel-cell-uses-the-bodys-own-sugar-to-generate-electricity" target="_blank">Glucose Fuel Cell</a>(13:46) - <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/researchers-develop-a-paper-thin-loudspeaker" target="_blank">Paper-thin Loudspeaker</a><hr>About the podcast:Every day, some of the most innovative universities, companies, and individual technology developers share their knowledge on Wevolver. To ensure we can also provide this knowledge for the growing group of podcast listeners, we started a collaboration with two young engineers, Daniel Scott Mitchell &amp; Farbod Moghaddam who discuss the most interesting content in this podcast series.&nbsp;To learn more about this show, please visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published.Be sure to give us a follow and review on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple</a> podcasts,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!Take a few seconds to leave us a review. It really helps!&nbsp;<a href="https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2&nbsp;</a>if you do it and send us proof, we&rsquo;ll give you a shoutout on the show.

Silicon chip with 30 individual glucose micro fuel cells, seen as small silver squares inside each gray rectangle. Image: Kent Dayton

In this episode, we talk about why minimization of speakers and energy storage devices is crucial for the next generation of electronics and medical devices. 

Podcast: Nanometer Fuel Cells & Ultrathin Speakers

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1654577502725000&usg=AOvVaw17DYESu9H53oY-k8Bg1xYc" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/85cb7aef-c9a6-4ef8-b1e2-47bc45441f6d?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>This article was first published on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/glucose-fuel-cell-electricity-0512" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>. &nbsp;<hr>Glucose is the sugar we absorb from the foods we eat. It is the fuel that powers every cell in our bodies. Could glucose also power tomorrow&rsquo;s medical implants?Engineers at MIT and the Technical University of Munich think so. They have designed a new kind of glucose fuel cell that converts glucose directly into electricity. The device is smaller than other proposed glucose fuel cells, measuring just 400 nanometers thick, or about 1/100 the diameter of a human hair. The sugary power source generates about 43 microwatts per square centimeter of electricity, achieving the highest power density of any glucose fuel cell to date under ambient conditions.The new device is also resilient, able to withstand temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius. If incorporated into a medical implant, the fuel cell could remain stable through the high-temperature sterilization process required for all implantable devices.The heart of the new device is made from ceramic, a material that retains its electrochemical properties even at high temperatures and miniature scales. The researchers envision the new design could be made into ultrathin films or coatings and wrapped around implants to passively power electronics, using the body&rsquo;s abundant glucose supply.&ldquo;Glucose is everywhere in the body, and the idea is to harvest this readily available energy and use it to power implantable devices,&rdquo; says Philipp Simons, who developed the design as part of his PhD thesis in MIT&rsquo;s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). &ldquo;In our work we show a new glucose fuel cell electrochemistry.&rdquo;&ldquo;Instead of using a battery, which can take up 90 percent of an implant&rsquo;s volume, you could make a device with a thin film, and you&rsquo;d have a power source with no volumetric footprint,&rdquo; says Jennifer L.M. Rupp, Simons&rsquo; thesis supervisor and a DMSE visiting professor, who is also an associate professor of solid-state electrolyte chemistry at Technical University Munich in Germany.Simons and his colleagues detail their design today in the journal Advanced Materials. Co-authors of the study include Rupp, Steven Schenk, Marco Gysel, and Lorenz Olbrich.<h2>A &ldquo;hard&rdquo; separation</h2>The inspiration for the new fuel cell came in 2016, when Rupp, who specializes in ceramics and electrochemical devices, went to take a routine glucose test toward the end of her pregnancy.&ldquo;In the doctor&rsquo;s office, I was a very bored electrochemist, thinking what you could do with sugar and electrochemistry,&rdquo; Rupp recalls. &ldquo;Then I realized, it would be good to have a glucose-powered solid state device. And Philipp and I met over coffee and wrote out on a napkin the first drawings.&rdquo;The team is not the first to conceive of a glucose fuel cell, which was initially introduced in the 1960s and showed potential for converting glucose&rsquo;s chemical energy into electrical energy. But glucose fuel cells at the time were based on soft polymers and were quickly eclipsed by lithium-iodide batteries, which would become the standard power source for medical implants, most notably the cardiac pacemaker.However, batteries have a limit to how small they can be made, as their design requires the physical capacity to store energy.&ldquo;Fuel cells directly convert energy rather than storing it in a device, so you don&rsquo;t need all that volume that&rsquo;s required to store energy in a battery,&rdquo; Rupp says.In recent years, scientists have taken another look at glucose fuel cells as potentially smaller power sources, fueled directly by the body&rsquo;s abundant glucose.A glucose fuel cell&rsquo;s basic design consists of three layers: a top anode, a middle electrolyte, and a bottom cathode. The anode reacts with glucose in bodily fluids, transforming the sugar into gluconic acid. This electrochemical conversion releases a pair of protons and a pair of electrons. The middle electrolyte acts to separate the protons from the electrons, conducting the protons through the fuel cell, where they combine with air to form molecules of water &mdash; a harmless byproduct that flows away with the body&rsquo;s fluid. Meanwhile, the isolated electrons flow to an external circuit, where they can be used to power an electronic device.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUyNzQ4ODY3MjUxLU1JVF9TdWdhci1CYXR0ZXJ5LTAyLXByZXNzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Custom experimental setup used to characterize 30 glucose fuel cells in rapid sequence. Image: Kent DaytonThe team looked to improve on existing materials and designs by modifying the electrolyte layer, which is often made from polymers. But polymer properties, along with their ability to conduct protons, easily degrade at high temperatures, are difficult to retain when scaled down to the dimension of nanometers, and are hard to sterilize. The researchers wondered if a ceramic &mdash; a heat-resistant material which can naturally conduct protons &mdash; could be made into an electrolyte for glucose fuel cells.&ldquo;When you think of ceramics for such a glucose fuel cell, they have the advantage of long-term stability, small scalability, and silicon chip integration,&rdquo; Rupp notes. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re hard and robust.&rdquo;<h2>Peak power</h2>The researchers designed a glucose fuel cell with an electrolyte made from ceria, a ceramic material that possesses high ion conductivity, is mechanically robust, and as such, is widely used as an electrolyte in hydrogen fuel cells. It has also been shown to be biocompatible.&ldquo;Ceria is actively studied in the cancer research community,&rdquo; Simons notes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s also similar to zirconia, which is used in tooth implants, and is biocompatible and safe.&rdquo;The team sandwiched the electrolyte with an anode and cathode made of platinum, a stable material that readily reacts with glucose. They fabricated 150 individual glucose fuel cells on a chip, each about 400 nanometers thin, and about 300 micrometers wide (about the width of 30 human hairs). They patterned the cells onto silicon wafers, showing that the devices can be paired with a common semiconductor material. They then measured the current produced by each cell as they flowed a solution of glucose over each wafer in a custom-fabricated test station.They found many cells produced a peak voltage of about 80 millivolts. Given the tiny size of each cell, this output is the highest power density of any existing glucose fuel cell design.&ldquo;Excitingly, we are able to draw power and current that&rsquo;s sufficient to power implantable devices,&rdquo; Simons says.&ldquo;It is the first time that proton conduction in electroceramic materials can be used for glucose-to-power conversion, defining a new type of electrochemstry,&rdquo; Rupp says. &ldquo;It extends the material use-cases from hydrogen fuel cells to new, exciting glucose-conversion modes.&rdquo;The researchers &ldquo;have opened a new route to miniature power sources for implanted sensors and maybe other functions,&rdquo; says Truls Norby, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oslo in Norway, who did not contribute to the work. &ldquo;The ceramics used are nontoxic, cheap, and not least inert both to the conditions in the body and to conditions of sterilization prior to implantation. The concept and demonstration so far are promising indeed.&rdquo;<hr>&quot;Reprinted with permission of <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/glucose-fuel-cell-electricity-0512" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>&quot;&nbsp;

Engineers have developed a glucose power source that could fuel miniature implants and sensors.

Ultrathin fuel cell uses the body's own sugar to generate electricity

Electric vehicle research gets boost from ARPA-E.

A disruptive approach to fuel cell tech

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1661944147227000&usg=AOvVaw30m62nN8WDW_5OZNmOklC4" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/47884d5b-5fb1-4380-8097-f6424c1b4fdb?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-7="true"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>With the Interurban Vehicle (IUV), the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f&uuml;r Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has developed a ground-breaking concept for mid- and upper range vehicles. At five metres long and two metres across, the IUV can accommodate five people. It combines a fuel cell and battery with new methods of energy management and is designed for emission-free and comfortable driving over long distances of up to 1000 kilometres. Autonomous features ease the strain on the driver and improve freedom when designing the vehicle interior. A clever combination of different lightweight construction methods keeps the tare weight of the IUV below 1600 kilograms, including the energy storage systems, while ensuring adherence to rigorous safety standards.&quot;This project involved us constructing a body demonstrator for use on the test stand. The demonstrator gives a first impression of how the vehicle may look in practice. It also facilitated the development of key components and technologies and enabled their measurement and investigation on the test stand. It reveals where there is room for improvement, and what can be achieved going forward with partners from industry and research,&quot; says project manager Sebastian Vohrer from the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-vehicle-concepts.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Vehicle Concepts">DLR Institute of Vehicle Concepts</a> in <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/sites/stuttgart.html" target="_blank" title="Stuttgart">Stuttgart</a>.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mevVumy0xUQ?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 435px;" data-gtm-yt-inspected-7="true" id="333354210" title="Interurban Vehicle – Nachhaltig weiterkommen"></iframe>Video: Interurban Vehicle &ndash; Moving forward sustainably The Interurban Vehicle (IUV) is a concept for a long-distance vehicle of the future. The five-seater, mid- to long-range vehicle addresses mobility between urban areas and does so comfortably and sustainably. As a fuel cell plug-in hybrid with novel air conditioning concepts and lightweight...Credit:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dlr.de/EN/Service/Imprint/imprint_node.html" target="_blank">&copy; DLR. All rights reserved</a><h2 id="isPasted">New construction methods, innovative materials and functional integration</h2>Keeping power consumption low and the range high depends on a lightweight vehicle structure. &quot;The IUV body structure weighs just 250 kilograms, about a quarter below what is otherwise common in this vehicle segment,&quot; says Vohrer. A variety of lightweight construction methods were applied to achieve this goal. Moreover, the IUV body consists to a large extent of fibre-reinforced polymers. Structures made of aluminium or sandwich materials are used in some areas as well &ndash; especially where components need to exhibit high rigidity and absorb considerable energy in the event of a crash. Among other things, the sandwich materials combine a top layer of fibre composite material with a lightweight core made from plastic foam or even sustainable materials such as balsa wood. This structure lends the body highly beneficial crash properties, while keeping the weight low.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU0MDY3ODk5LXNlYXQtY29uZmlndXJhdGlvbi1pbi1pdXYuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Seat configuration in the IUV. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU0MDk5NzA5LWl1di1kcml2ZXRyYWluLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">IUV drivetrain. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)The team built prototypes of selected components for the IUV and used them in crash tests to verify computer calculations and simulations obtained in upstream stages, among other things. These included the side skirt below the side doors, which is a particularly important structure and is intended to protect the occupants and the hydrogen tank in the vehicle floor in the event of lateral impact. After all, the IUV does not have a centre pillar, which in conventional car bodies would connect the floor and roof of the vehicle and act as a crash element. Eliminating the centre pillar also creates large spaces for the doors that, when combined with sliding doors that open in opposite directions, make entry and exit particularly easy.Wherever possible, DLR also applied the principles of functional integration &ndash; another lightweight construction approach. &quot;The structures fulfil several functions here. The floor structure, for instance, is used to conduct electricity and transmit data, in addition to carrying all the vehicle superstructures. This eliminates the need for additional cable lines and further reduces the overall weight,&quot; Vohrer explains.<h2>Emission-free travel: fuel cell, battery and smart energy management</h2>The IUV is designed as a plug-in fuel cell hybrid. It combines a fuel cell with an output of 45 kilowatts, a 700-bar hydrogen pressure tank and a battery with a capacity of 48 kilowatt hours. This configuration gives the IUV a total range of up to 1000 kilometres. With an aggregate output of 136 kilowatts, the electric motors accelerate the vehicle up to 180 kilometres per hour. The refuelling process at a hydrogen filling station takes approximately the same time as for conventional drive systems. The battery can also be charged separately. The fuel cell is located at the front of the car, while the battery is fitted to the rear of the five-metre-long vehicle. The hydrogen tank is installed in the underbody and holds approximately 7.5 kilograms of hydrogen.The DLR team from the Institute of Vehicle Concepts also addressed the issue of energy management. Increasing the degree of vehicle electrification requires optimising the efficiency of all electrical, heating and cooling processes, as there is otherwise a risk that range or comfort features such as air conditioning or information and entertainment systems may suffer. One of the technologies examined more closely during the development of the IUV is metal hydride storage systems. This new type of storage system is being investigated and developed in close cooperation with the <a href="http://www.dlr.de/tt/en/" target="_blank" title="External link DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics">DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics</a>. These systems can use some of the pressure difference between the hydrogen tank at 700 bar and the fuel cell at five bar to generate additional cooling for the on-board air conditioning and to support the conventional cooling unit.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ3OTU0MTU0NjMxLXRocmVlLXZlaGljbGUtZGVtb25zdHJhdG9ycy1vZi10aGUtbmdjLXByb2plY3QuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The three vehicle demonstrators of the NGC project. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)<h2>Autonomous driving improves flexibility and occupant comfort</h2>DLR researchers working on the IUV also investigated how autonomous driving would affect the vehicle concept and architecture. To do this, they assumed a high level of automation (SAE Level 4), in which the car is completely in charge of driving duties and only instructs the human to take over when it can no longer cope with a task. &quot;Automation can ease a lot of the strain on drivers, especially on long journeys. It allows us to make the interior of the vehicle more open and flexible at the same time,&quot; says Vohrer. The IUV team developed a variety of designs for this purpose and conducted evaluations to determine their functional and technical feasibility. Among the outcomes is the IUV seating configuration with rotating front seats to enable variable adaptation to the driving mode. Occupants can sit with their backs to the direction of travel in autonomous mode, eliminating the strict separation between the two rows of seats and creating a shared space for communication. The bespoke air-conditioning concept in the IUV adapts to the interior and current occupants. No longer equipped with central dashboard controls, each passenger can adjust the air conditioning individually using overhead interfaces in a similar manner to aeroplanes.

Interurban Vehicle (IUV) demonstrator. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

With the Interurban Vehicle (IUV), the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has developed a ground-breaking concept for mid- and upper range vehicles.

Interurban Vehicle - Green and comfortable travel even on long journeys

In this episode, we talk about the benefits of an artificial nose, how to turn wastewater into energy while filtering it, and a proposal from ETH Zurich to change how we think about drought insurance. As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/cd91279d-e207-4c9c-bae3-e99bcbe0a0ea?dark=false" class="fr-draggable"></iframe>&nbsp;<h3>EPISODE NOTES</h3>(0:42) - : Electronic Nose:Pharmaceutical manufacturers are in need of a system capable of distinguishing different types of mint and researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology believe their newly developed artificial nose could be the answer. The system uses changes in resonance of a quartz crystal and a machine learning algorithm to distinguish between various mints with high specificity.&nbsp;(6:15) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/wastewater-treatment-system-recovers-electricity-filters-water" target="_blank">Wastewater Energy Harvesting</a>:Microbial fuel cells have been around for quite some time and their purpose is simple: turn the organic waste into bioelectricity. Professor Zhen He at Washington University in St. Louis decided to build on this platform and developed a fuel cell that can generate electricity while filtering water.(12:35) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/insuring-crops-from-space" target="_blank">Farm Monitoring From Space</a>:Droughts can be disastrous for farmers and drought insurance is a tool that can help alleviate some of that burden; however, it is often riddled with bureaucracy and having to wait until your crops fail before a payout. Newly published research from ETH Zurich suggests that monitoring crops via satellites and creating insurance policies that payout automatically in response to real-time changes of drought parameters could be the future of agriculture.--About the podcast:Every day, some of the most innovative universities, companies, and individual technology developers share their knowledge on Wevolver. To ensure we can also provide this knowledge for the growing group of podcast listeners, we started a collaboration with two young engineers, Daniel Scott Mitchell &amp; Farbod Moghaddam who discuss the most interesting content in this podcast series.&nbsp;To learn more about this show, please visit the <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published.Be sure to give us a follow and review on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple</a> podcasts,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

The combination of sensors and materials enables the artificial sense of smell. (Photo: Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT)

In this episode, we talk about the benefits of an artificial nose, how to turn wastewater into energy while filtering it, and a proposal from ETH Zurich to change how we think about drought insurance.

Podcast: Artificial Electronic Nose, Wastewater To Energy, Satellite Farm Monitoring

In this episode, we talk about cutting vehicle emissions testing using IoT devices, creating shape memory textiles from recycled wool, and an initiative to develop hydrogen fuel cell powered airplanes. As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com. &nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/5c1ed295-ab75-4344-b609-c9c3b5567fa4?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>EPISODE NOTES&nbsp; &nbsp;(0:40) Eliminating Emission Inspections Via IoT -&nbsp;Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a machine learning model that can conduct vehicle emission inspections more accurately than the OBD tests used by mechanics.(7:20) Shapeshifting Fabrics -Scientists from Harvard University created a sustainable and 3D printable fabric derived from recycled wool with shape shifting capabilities.&nbsp;(12:30) Fuel Cell Powered Airplanes -The German Aerospace Center has received funding to build a testing facility composed of all key components of a hydrogen fuel cell powered system for the development of an electric, hydrogen fuel cell powered regional aircraft.--About the podcast:Every day, some of the most innovative universities, companies, and individual technology developers share their knowledge on Wevolver. To ensure we can also provide this knowledge for the growing group of podcast listeners, we started a collaboration with two young engineers, Daniel Scott Mitchell &amp; Farbod Moghaddam who discuss the most interesting content in this podcast series.&nbsp;To learn more about this show, please visit the <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published.Be sure to give us a follow and review on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple</a> podcasts,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

In this episode, we talk about cutting vehicle emissions testing using IoT devices, creating shape memory textiles from recycled wool, and an initiative to develop hydrogen fuel cell powered airplanes.

fuel cells

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