ECS Executive Director Roque Calvo sits down with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s John A. Turner to talk about all things renewable energy and try to connect the dots between the science, our everyday lives, and the sustainability of the planet.
Listen to the first ECS Podcast below and download it for free! (Also available through the iTunes Store and RSS Feed.)
Another possibility for this novel technique is to introduce intentionally imperfections into graphene’s lattice structure to create specific mechanical and electronic attributes.
Image: Nature Communications
A new development out of Caltech could be the first step to producing commercially feasible graphene-based solar cells and LEDs, large-panel displays, and flexible electronics.
“With this new technique, we can grow large sheets of electronic-grade graphene in much less time and at much lower temperatures,” says Caltech staff scientist David Boyd, who developed the method.
While the amazing potential of graphene is universally accepted among the scientific community, scientists have struggled with achieving the properties of the material on an industrially relevant level. The existing techniques either require temperatures that are too hot, or have intrinsic flaws such as deformation of the materials that compromise strength properties.
Just in time for the celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day, a day known for wearing green, we at ECS are making a conscious decision to become more “green” and environmentally friendly.
If you have renewed your ECS membership lately, you may have noticed a recent addition to all our email communications.
PS: Did you know? We are going green! In the era of sustainability, we want to do our part. Membership renewals for 2015 will be paperless. To request a paper invoice, please contact customerservice@electrochem.org.
Saint Patrick’s Day could have a multitude of different meanings depending on who you ask. For some, it holds a religious value. For others, it’s about celebrating the heritage and culture of Ireland. And for those who don’t fall into either of those categories, it’s simply an excuse to celebrate.
Here at ECS, we’re taking a different route this Saint Patrick’s Day. We’re shifting gears to take a look at the important scientists of Ireland who have helped shape electrochemistry and solid state science, as well as the modern Irish scientists who are working to advance the science and bolster innovation.
The 2014 Outstanding Student Chapter Award Plaque with Prof. Arumugam Manthiram (front left) with UT-Austin Student Chapter President (Josephine Cunningham, front middle) and Vice-President (Donald Robinson, front right) and student members Matthew West, Daeil Yoon, Ke-Yu Lai, and Benjamin Weaver (back left to right).
Submission deadline is March 31st for the ECS Outstanding Student Chapter Award.
Up to three winners will be selected. One Outstanding Student Chapter will be selected with the winner receiving $1,000, and recognition with a plaque and chapter group photo in Interface. One or two additional Student Chapters may be selected as runners-up, and designated as Chapters of Excellence. Find out more.
The 2014 ECS Outstanding Student Chapter Award recipient was The University of Texas at Austin. Founded in 2007, The University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter has provided an interdisciplinary forum for students from different branches of the physical sciences and engineering to meet and discuss emerging ideas about electrochemistry and solid state sciences.
Led by faculty advisor Arumugam Manthiram and Chapter President Josephine Cunningham, the UT Austin Student Chapter has worked on improving the lives of the students and community in the Austin, TX area through outreach programs and organized seminars.
Edgar’s new patented process will allow for the building of better semiconductors.
Source: Kansas State University
The Electrochemical Society’s Jim Edgar has developed a new process to build better semiconductors, which will vastly improve the efficiency of electronic devices and help propel the semiconductor industry.
Edgar, a Kansas State university distinguished professor of chemical engineering and an active member of ECS since 1981, has just received a patent for his “Off-axis silicon carbide substrates” process, which is a way to build a better semiconductor. This new process could mean big things for the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing industries.
“It’s like a stacked cake separated by layers of icing,” Edgar said. “When the layers of semiconductors don’t match up very well, it introduces defects. Any time there is a defect, it degrades the efficiency of the device.”
Water splitting into hydrogen on a metal wire and oxygen on the catalyst.
Source: Yale Entrepreneurial Institute
New research out of Yale University, led by Ph.D. student Staff Sheehan, recently unveiled a new catalyst to aid in the generation of renewable fuels.
Sheehan’s main area of research has been water splitting. In his recently published paper, he takes the theories and processes involved in water splitting and uses a specific iridium species as a water oxidation catalyst. This has led to new breakthroughs in artificial photosynthesis to develop renewable fuels.
“Artificial photosynthesis has been widely researched,” Sheehan says, “but water oxidation is the bottleneck—it’s usually the most difficult reaction to perform in generating fuel from sunlight.”
Researchers from Rice University have developed a novel theory that combines strength, stiffness and toughness of composites into a single design map. The dimensionless computer-drawn maps can be applied to anything from nanoscale to buildings.
“That’s the beauty of this approach: It can scale to something very large or very small,” said Rouzbeh Shahsavari, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and of materials science and engineering.
The development could help lead to safe, efficient artificial photosynthetic systems that replicate the natural process of photosynthesis that plants use to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel in the form of carbohydrates, or sugars.
Source: Caltech
The Electrochemical Society’s Nate Lewis is leading some pioneering research at Caltech with the vision of efficient, affordable, and effective renewable energy sources.
Dr. Lewis, an active member of ECS since 1982, has designed a novel electrically conductive film – which has the potential to result in the development of devices that can harness sunlight to change water into hydrogen fuel.
(Take a look at his plenary lecture on sustainable energy technology he gave at a past ECS meeting.)
“We’ve discovered a material which is chemically compatible with the semiconductor it’s trying to protect, impermeable to water, electrically conductive, highly transparent to incoming light, and highly catalytic for the reaction to make oxygen and fuels,” said Dr. Lewis.
He and his team have developed a process that allows the solar-driven production of fuel to be performed with record efficiency, stability, and effectiveness.
Annual U.S. solar PV installations saw a 30 percent increase in 2014 alone. (Click to enlarge.)
Source: GTM Research/SEIA
If you’re not excited about the promising potential of solar yet, you’re about to be.
According to a new report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar is growing faster than all other sources of energy in the United States.
In the report U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review, GTM and SEIA were able to establish that solar is continuing its upward trend in the U.S. with an increase of 30 percent more photovoltaic installations than in 2013.
Not convinced yet? The analysts also paired solar against also forms of energy in their report. When compared to other non-renewable energy sources such as coal and natural gas, it showed equally impressive results.
