Thursday, May 8, 2025
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Directly transforming light energy into electricity or turning graphite from a pencil into a superconductive material for energy and heat—these are just some of the possibilities offered by nanoscience and nanotechnology.
Photography by EFE.
Advancing the energy transition means finding solutions to a complex challenge: improving efficiency. This requires efforts at multiple levels—from technological innovation, major infrastructures, and global strategies to changes in our daily habits. But what if one of the keys lies at an invisible level? At the nanometric scale, researchers are developing technologies capable of transforming how we produce and use energy: from perovskite solar cells and applications for obtaining green hydrogen, to batteries and supercapacitors that use graphene and advanced nanostructures.
From perovskite cells to the "dream" of photocatalysis and graphene
Nanoscience explores the fundamental processes that occur in low-dimensional structures, ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers. Considering that a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, in perspective, an average human hair is approximately 60,000 nanometers thick.
This level has a singularity; at this scale, "one of the main advantages is that materials change their properties," as explained to Planet Energy by researcher and Deputy Director of Outreach at IMDEA Nanoscience, Enrique Cánovas. For example, they can modify their color or experience the phenomenon known as the tunnel effect (visualizing matter at the smallest possible scale).
In the context of the energy transition, nanotechnology allows for the development of what are known as solar cells, which not only improve efficiency but also help reduce production costs. There are different types of cells, such as those made from polymers (plastics) or perovskite cells, which have positioned themselves as the most promising in the short term to complement silicon in "tandem structures".
In addition, photocatalysis is also making its way, the "long-time dream", in Cánovas’ words, of converting sunlight directly into chemicals like hydrogen. Although photocatalysis has not yet reached large-scale industrial application, its alternative, electrocatalysis, is being used in processes where electricity—typically renewable—is employed to obtain green hydrogen from water. Both share an essential element: the use of nanotechnology.
Finally, graphene is a nanomaterial that has "very unique thermal properties", it comes from graphite, which is the material that mainly makes up the tip of a pencil and "it’s nothing spectacular", but when it is exfoliated, it achieves unique electrical properties, making it one of the best electrical and thermal conductors for supercapacitors, batteries, or water purification systems.
The future of nanotechnology
Currently, more than 100,000 materials are known, but "there will be infinite," says the researcher from IMDEA Nanoscience, "because if you change a molecule even slightly, you get a new material," which opens up new possibilities across multiple sectors, including energy.
Far from being just a promise, it is a cross-cutting discipline already integrated into some current devices and applications. For example, in the chips used by certain quantum computers or in the servers powering generative AI data centers. These chips enhance efficiency and help reduce energy consumption—according to the International Energy Agency, it is estimated that these centers accounted for 1.5% of global electricity demand in 2024.
It is also present in products that are part of our daily lives, such as certain television screens that optimize energy consumption, graphene-based batteries or nanostructures with greater capacity and durability, and even in car tires, which have "small particles that alter the properties of plastic", such as carbon nanotubes, making them last longer and generate less heat.
Looking to the future, the development of new materials could help replace the scarce rare earth elements used in the manufacture of magnets that are critical to the mobility of electric cars and wind turbines. Researchers predict that within 10 to 20 years, these could reach the industry, although they acknowledge that, like with any other development, patience is needed to make progress. However, they emphasize that the future will be built on nanotechnology.
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