Yang Yang

An an effort to reduce the environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions, a UCF researcher has developed a new lotus-inspired technology that captures carbon dioxide and outputs useful fuels and chemicals. Yang Yang, an associate professor in UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center, created an innovative device that captures carbon dioxide with a microsurface comprised of a tin…

Gold may be a coveted precious metal, but it could also be the key to cleaner drinking water. A team of UCF researchers is exploring the use of the metal to develop a novel method to rid drinking water of harmful algal blooms, or HABs, which occur when colonies of algae grow out of control…

UCF continues to be a top university in the world for producing patents, securing 57 patents in calendar year 2023 and ranking 53rd among public and private universities in the world and 21st in the nation among public universities. The worldwide rankings, released this month from the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), place UCF in a…

University of Central Florida researchers have achieved new record-setting power density for ethanol fuel cells, helping advance the technology as a competitor to fossil fuels and electric car batteries. Ethanol fuel cells offer cleaner emissions than fossil fuels and no charging times compared to electric vehicle batteries. In recent studies published in the journals Nature Communications and Joule,…

Hurricane Ian caused billions of dollars in damage when it hit Florida in the fall of 2022. Along with $112 billion in damages, 152 fatalities, and countless uprooted lives, the fallout included at least 12 electric vehicle fires caused from lithium-ion batteries coming into contact with saltwater flooding in from the ocean. Unlike standard fires, however, these…

A University of Central Florida researcher has developed technology that could prevent electric vehicle fires, like those caused by saltwater flooding from Hurricane Ian. The technology, an aqueous battery, replaces the volatile and highly flammable organic solvents found in electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries with saltwater to create a battery that is safer, faster charging, just…

A new material developed by the University of Central Florida may one day mean people could be pouring a drink for their car. That’s because UCF researchers are developing an alcohol-based power source for cars and other technology. The power source —an ethanol fuel cell — is a renewable energy alternative to fossil fuels and…

Hydrogen fuel derived from the sea could be an abundant and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, but the potential power source has been limited by technical challenges, including how to practically harvest it. Researchers at the University of Central Florida have designed for the first time a nanoscale material that can efficiently split seawater into…

University of Central Florida researchers have helped develop a new, seawater-based battery that’s safer for humans and the environment than the fire-prone lithium-ion batteries that power everything from cell phones to electric cars. In a study published recently in the journal Nature Communications, UCF NanoScience Technology Center assistant professor Yang Yang and co-authors demonstrated the ability of the…

University of Central Florida researchers are working to improve energy sources for zero-emission, electric vehicles that are an environmentally friendly alternative to combustion engines. In some of their latest work, published recently in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers detailed how they stabilized platinum atoms for use in large-scale production of metal-air batteries.…

Electric cars are a low-emission alternative to combustion engines; however, their lithium-based batteries can catch fire, thus posing a safety threat that limits the technology A University of Central Florida researcher is working to overcome that problem by designing fuel cells that are safer, more powerful and less expensive. The work is detailed in a…