Fabricating energy devices with low environmental impacts

Efforts to reduce the rate of carbon emissions from industry,1 as well as the impending economic and social problems that could arise from the depletion of fossil fuels,2 are the two driving forces for the development of devices that can generate electric power from renewable sources. It is necessary for research and development in this field to satisfy a few major requirements. In the last few decades, the increasing demand for high-tech applications has led to increasing solicitation of mineral deposits and has brought many rare metals to the brink of irreversible depletion.3 It is therefore necessary for new devices to be based on abundant materials that are available on a global or local scale.