Brandon Thomas -- Disruptive Diner: Nano Possibilities

I.  Piezoelectrics II.  Supercapacitors

III.  Reactive Materials IV.  Solar Cells

BRANDON J. THOMAS PH.D. CANDIDATE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

Use of Nanomaterials for Energetic Applications

Nanomaterials  Size:  1-­‐100  nm  

Nanosheets   Nanopar5cles   Nanowires  

Nanotubes   Nanorods  

CARBON-BASED NANOMATERIALS

Carbon Nanotubes Graphene Buckminsterfullerene, C60

Shape  Control   Size  Control  

REACTIVITY  

Piezoelectric  Effect  Voltage  ßà  Strain  

Qin,  Y.;  Wang,  X.;  Wang,  Z.  L.  Nature  2008,  451,  809–813.  

PIEZOELECTRIC APPLICATIONS

Wang, Z. L. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2008, 18, 3553–3567.

Supercapacitors

Halper,  M.  S.;  Ellenbogen,  J.  C.  Report  No.  MP  05W0000272,  The  MITRE  Corpora5on,  McLean,  Virginia  2006.  

SUPERCAPACITOR •  Nano-enabled

electrodes •  Graphene •  Carbon nanotubes

(CNTs)

http://www.dataweek.co.za/news.aspx?pklnewsid=23918

Thermite H2 production/

storage Fuels

Reactive metal nanomaterials

Al (s) + O2 (g) à Al2O3 (s) Al(s) + H2O(l) à Al(OH)3(s) + H2(g)

Nano Al reaction

HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hykAr0Lhz04, CE Bunker, AFRL

http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/Enlist/Labs/FuelCellLab/FuelCell.html

Hydrogen as a Fuel

H2 (g)+ O2 (g) à H2O (l)

HYDROGEN IS DANGEROUS!

HYDROGEN STORAGE

Mg nanoblades decorated with Pd NPs

Liu, Y.; Chen, L.; Lu, T. M.; Wang, G. C. Int. J. Hydrogen Energ. 2011, 36, 11752–11759.

Niemann, M. U.; Srinivasan, S. S.; Phani, A. R.; Kumar, A.; Goswami, D. Y.; Stefanakos, E. K. J. Nano. Mat. 2008, 1–9.

COMPLEX METAL HYDRIDES

REVERSIBLE HYDROGEN STORAGE – LI3ALH6

Thomas, B.J.; Bunker, C.E.; Guliants, E.A.; Buckner, S.W.; Jelliss, P.A. Chem. Commun. 2013, submitted.

Patel, A.; Bunker, C. E.; Guliants, E. A.; Jelliss, P. A.; Buckner, S. W. CRC Press, 2013; Vol. 1, pp. 366–369.

Solar Cells – Photovoltaic Effect

hYp://www.solarnovus.com/ar5cle.php?nID=937    

Forvision  smart  car,  BASF  

Wallentin, J. et al. Science 2013, 339, 1057−1060.

InP NW array – 13.8% efficiency

SUMMARY

Energy Conversion Mechanical Chemical Solar

ELECTRICAL ENERGY

Nanogenerators Solar Cells Fuel Cells

Supercapacitors Nanomaterials Size: 1-100 nm