Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2006 APS March Meeting
Monday–Friday, March 13–17, 2006; Baltimore, MD
Session A5: Advanced Materials for Energy Applications |
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Sponsoring Units: DMP FIAP Chair: George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory Room: Baltimore Convention Center 309 |
Monday, March 13, 2006 8:00AM - 8:36AM |
A5.00001: Overview of the Hydrogen Initiative Invited Speaker: One of the Grand Challenges of the 21st Century is to achieve a sustainable energy supply. The 20th Century has seen remarkable advances in Science and Technology, resulting in expectations for a higher standard of living. This has required large increases in global per capita energy consumption. Projections of per capita energy needs for the 21st Century indicate that new technologies for sustainable energy production, storage and use will need to be developed in the next 50 years. The so-called hydrogen economy is one such proposal that is presently being considered worldwide. In this talk the big picture of the Grand Energy Challenge will be presented. In this context requirements of a hydrogen economy will be broadly discussed in terms of hydrogen production, storage and utilization, with emphasis given to the large gap between present science and technology know-how and the requirements in efficiency and cost for a sustainable hydrogen economy. Opportunities for nanoscience and nanotechnology to narrow this gap will be discussed, and examples of recent progress will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 13, 2006 8:36AM - 9:12AM |
A5.00002: Direct Energy Conversion: Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science and Thermoelectrics. Invited Speaker: Interest in all-solid-state thermal to electrical conversion has been steadily increasing in recent years and this has been coinciding with an increasing recognition of rising energy demands in the future. Thus there is now renewed awareness of the need to find new energy sources and make conservation efforts more efficient. In this context thermoelectric materials seem poised to have an impact. Research is needed to understand at the fundamental level the scientific issues that are crucial in designing and discovering new highly efficient thermoelectrics. The progress in the field of thermoelectrics has been significant both at the concept level and at the materials discovery level thanks to a convergence of chemistry, physics and materials science efforts. I will describe how each of these disciplines impact each other to produce synergies that propel advances in this area. I will present recent progress in novel nanostructured chalcogenide materials that stimulate new experimentation and hold considerable promise for higher efficiencies in heat to electricity conversion. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 13, 2006 9:12AM - 9:48AM |
A5.00003: Novel Indirect Hydrogen Storage Materials Invited Speaker: Materialization of a hydrogen economy could provide a solution to significant global challenges. In particularly, the possibility of improving the efficiency and simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact of energy conversion processes, together with the opportunity to reduce the dependency of fossil fuels, are main drivers for the currently increasing research and development efforts. However, significant technological breakthroughs are necessary for making a hydrogen economy feasible. Particularly, it is necessary to develop appropriate hydrogen storage and transportation technologies. Recently, metal ammine salts were proposed as safe, reversible, high-density and low-cost hydrogen carriers. Here, we discuss how this development could provide a platform for using ammonia as a fuel for the hydrogen economy. We do that by comparing various possible hydrogen carriers with respect to energy and cost efficiency, infrastructure requirements, safety concerns and also environmental impact. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 13, 2006 9:48AM - 10:24AM |
A5.00004: Near-surface alloys for improved catalysis. Invited Speaker: Periodic self-consistent Density Functional Theory (DFT-GGA) calculations have emerged as a valuable partner to experiment in explaining reactivity of transition metal surfaces. These methods provide detailed \textit{atomic level} mechanistic information on individual elementary reaction steps, in terms of reaction thermochemistry, reaction paths, and activation energy barriers. \textit{Trends} in reactivity derived from systematic investigations of specific steps on a number of different metal surfaces are reliable, when compared to experiment. In particular, we will attempt to demonstrate how first-principles methods can extend beyond the detailed mechanistic analysis of catalytic reactions to reach the ambitious goal of identifying promising catalysts for specific applications. Among others, we will discuss opportunities to design bimetallic catalysts for highly selective hydrogen transfer reactions, and for designing cheaper and more active oxygen reduction catalysts, the latter being most relevant to the cathode reaction of low temperature fuel cells. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 13, 2006 10:24AM - 11:00AM |
A5.00005: Materials challenges for solid-state lighting Invited Speaker: The use of highly efficient semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) suitable for illumination applications will enable huge energy savings and have a very positive effect on the environment. This talk will discuss materials challenges in solid-state lighting, including a new class of materials, low-refractive-index materials, with refractive indices much lower than conventional materials. Arrays of SiO$_{2}$ nanorods are shown to have unprecedented low refractive indices ($<$~1.10) yet viable thin-film properties. Their use for omni-directional reflectors and the resulting improvement in LED light-extraction efficiency will be discussed. We will show that optimized phosphor distributions in white LED lamps, particularly remote-phosphor distributions, combined with diffuse reflectors, strongly enhance luminous efficiency. Finally, we will discuss materials issues that limit the efficiency of ultraviolet (UV) light emitters. [Preview Abstract] |
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