Tiny Structures Take on Tremendous Problems
Researchers explain the challenges and potential of nanostructures
(September 2008)
Fossil fuel use is rising, as are concerns about the financial and environmental costs. But, many alternative energy technologies are limited by the properties of current materials. For example, solar panels absorb only a tiny portion of sunlight's energy. And, the panels are inefficient at moving the energy from the supply to the source.
So, researchers in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Transformational Material Science Initiative are studying nanostructures. The structures can be a hundred thousand times smaller than the diameter of a single strand of hair. When working at this scale, materials properties can change drastically.
In a review article recently published in ChemSusChem, the team discussed the materials challenges for energy storage and conversion, and why nanostructured materials are attractive for such applications. This paper discussed the different methods to synthesize controlled nanomaterials, including inexpensive solution growth and self-assembly approaches that PNNL is working on. The paper also discussed how different materials can be used for photovoltaics, batteries, supercapacitors, thermoelectrics, etc.
Further, this paper discussed the very fundamental scientific challenges in nanomaterials for energy applications: improving the generation and transport of electrons and ions. They go on to explain how self-assembled, oriented high surface area materials could help solve this challenge. Finally, they cover the challenges in integrating nano-sized architectures to get the desired performance.
The article is online and soon will be featured on the cover of the journal's print version.
Reference: Liu, Jun, Guozhong Cao, Zhenguo Yang, Donghai Wang, Dan Dubois, Xiaodong Zhou, Gordon L. Graff, Larry R. Pederson, and Ji-Guang Zhang. 2008. "Oriented Nanostructures for Energy Conversion and Storage." ChemSusChem 1(8-9):661.