Feature Articles
Ask any scientist what the first step to quality research is and the answer will most likely be "identify a problem or question." Ask any corporate leader what the first step is to a winning strategy and the answer will likely be "have a vision." These two ideas are embodied in the five grand challenges set forth by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Science. The challenges resulted from recurring themes that surfaced during the BES-organized workshops that began in 2001.
Redefining the nation's energy landscape demands overcoming nature's seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Each of the Department of Energy funded Energy Frontier Research Centers is working on one of at least five Grand Challenges to build the blueprints for truly disruptive technologies; the results are coming fast and are nothing short of remarkable. The first grand challenge engages 31 of the EFRCs to take experimental and theoretical approaches to design better materials, characterize the interactions between light and matter, develop digital memory by utilizing electron spin, create catalysts that overcome difficult fuel-producing reactions and capture and store the sun's energy as a fuel.
Designing new materials for specific applications is the Holy Grail of materials science. Historically, serendipitous discoveries of important materials for energy applications have been made by trial and error or by accident. Now materials scientists focus on novel approaches that follow the model "given the property, find the material," which is the inverse of the traditional model "given the material, find the property." Development and application of these novel approaches is the essence of the second grand challenge.
"One hundred years ago, people thought physics was understood, and they were proven wrong. Similarly today some of the key issues in physics that people may think are solved are not solved at all," said Director Séamus Davis.
Oliver Monti's career and his research with the Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials demonstrate the power of merging diverse ideas and diverse materials to do something more.
Research Highlights
Mimicking photosynthesis, dye-based solar cells are promisingly efficient, but a toxic liquid in the cells can leak out. Scientists showed that this troubling liquid could be replaced...
Gas purification requires extreme changes in temperature and pressure, adding significantly to the production cost. Scientists showed that an iron-based porous material...
Designers of new energy technologies are often limited by today's materials. The materials cannot handle the extreme temperatures and pressures required by the technologies. Creating ultra-tough materials could benefit energy-relevant technologies.
A stumbling block to designing catalysts has been the lack of methods to characterize the size of the catalytic particles and their collective features. Using an instrument classically applied in biology...
By applying a nanometer-scale casting process, scientists successfully synthesized thin films of a molybdenum sulfide catalyst with unprecedented activity...
Novel techniques track the kinetics of lithium ions in batteries, contributing to a better understanding of how electrodes function in these crucial materials.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have one of the best energy-to-weight ratios, but they lose their capacity to hold energy over time. These batteries could be even more efficient, thanks to...
Disclaimer: The opinions in this newsletter are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or position of the Department of Energy.