🔋 More efficient EV batteries from solar panel waste, China tracks US Navy via ‘free’ satellite images, low sex drive not 'male menopause'

INTERESTING ENGINEERING SHOP

Researchers at the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) have successfully recycled silicon from solar panels and repurposed it to make superior-performance lithium-ion batteries. This approach is not only sustainable but also low-cost and paves the way for repurposing solar panel components at the end of their life.

The recent surge in solar panel installations is a great move away from fossil fuels. Still, it is also the beginning of a worrying trend—the colossal amount of waste generated at the end of three decades when the panels reach the end of their product life.

Hence, this research is a step toward repurposing solar panel waste, making the technology greener than ever. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

>Network Engineer
> Lead / Sr. Lead Embedded Engineer

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MUST READ

🔋Solar panel waste makes EV batteries 99.9% efficient, retain 83.1% capacity

Conventionally, lithium-ion batteries use graphite anodes. Research has shown that silicon anodes help lithium batteries deliver a better energy density. However, the challenge with silicon anodes is that the material is prone to significant expansion and reduction in volume during the charge-discharge cycle. 

This results in mechanical fractures in the anode and degraded battery performance. Under CUI’s guidance, the research team used micrometer-sized silicon (uM-Si) particles to make the anode. Instead of working to build micrometer-sized particles, the team repurposed silicon from used solar cells, making the approach more sustainable in the long run. 

🚫Low-sex drive not ‘male menopause,’ experts debunk comparison with women

Literature exists about “male menopause,” but it does not compare to the menopause that women experience. As Live Sciencereported, hormonal changes impact the male body, but it doesn’t involve a complete shutdown of the reproduction system as it does in women.

Men have described similar symptoms, such as hot flashes, but the director of the Men’s Clinic at UCLA told Live Science that “andropause” is a nonmedical term. Menopause is an official term.

Over time, men produce less testosterone, but “men can maintain testosterone levels in the ‘normal’ range into their 80s and beyond,” as per Live Science.

🛳️ Waves expose warships: China tracks US Navy via ‘free’ satellite images

Chinese researchers have allegedly developed a new technique for tracking ships at sea using low-resolution, open-source, “free” satellite images. By searching for tell-tale ship wake patterns, the team’s new algorithm can rapidly find ships that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

The satellite images used have resolutions of tens, even hundreds of meters. This means even a large object like a warship could occupy a single pixel.

Yet despite this, the team, led by Hong Jun of the Dalian Naval Academy, said it had discovered a U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, and an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer from these images.

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