General Science Session
Focus of the Meeting – Solar Energy and Energy Storage
Monday, September 13, 2010
A significant national effort is being focused on solar energy and energy storage, particularly within the U.S. Department of Energy, the sponsor of many ORNL activities. While significant technological advances are taking place in these areas, there is a need for greater understanding of the fundamental physical processes that form the underpinning of these advances. For instance, while the efficiency of solar cells has increased over the past decade, this efficiency is not high enough to be practical for widespread use of solar cells in the U.S. Performance levels of fuel cells and batteries for automobile use need to be improved to reduce charging times and avoid costly repair and replacement issues. The report New Science for a Secure and Sustainable Energy Future summarizes a 2008 study by the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Board Subcommittee on Facing our Energy Challenges in a New Era of Science to: (1) assimilate the scientific research directions that emerged from the BES Basic Research Needs workshop reports (below) into a comprehensive set of science themes, and (2) identify the new implementation strategies and tools required to accomplish the science. The energy challenge is fundamentally a materials challenge:
- Improving existing energy technologies requires increasingly robust rand reliable materials
- Delivering novel capabilities requires a detailed understanding of materials structure and dynamics at the atomic and molecular level, and
- Understanding increasingly complex materials demands increasingly sophisticated tools.
Examples of research opportunities are identified in reports of the Basic Research Needs series issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
According to the Basic Needs Report on Solar Energy:
Cross-cutting research issues include (1) coaxing cheap materials to perform as well as expensive materials in terms of their electrical, optical, chemical, and physical properties; (2) developing new paradigms for solar cell design that surpass traditional efficiency limits; (3) finding catalysts that enable inexpensive, efficient conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels; (4) identifying novel methods for self-assembly of molecular components into functionally integrated systems; and (5) developing materials for solar energy conversion infrastructure, such as transparent conductors and robust, inexpensive thermal management materials.
According to the Basic Needs Report on Electrical Energy Storage:
The performance of energy storage systems is limited by the performance of the constituent materials—including active materials, conductors, and inert additives. Recent research suggests that synthetic control of material architectures (including pore size, structure, and composition; particle size and composition; and electrode structure down to nanoscale dimensions) could lead to transformational breakthroughs in key energy storage parameters such as capacity, power, charge-discharge rates, and lifetimes. Investigation of model systems of irreducible complexity will require the close coupling of theory and experiment in conjunction with well-defined structures to elucidate fundamental materials properties. Novel approaches are needed to develop multifunctional materials that are self-healing, self-regulating, failure-tolerant, impurity-sequestering, and sustainable. Advances in nanoscience offer particularly exciting possibilities for the development of revolutionary three-dimensional architectures that simultaneously optimize ion and electron transport and capacity.
There are significant ORNL research efforts in these areas and others relating to the broader scope of both solar energy and energy storage. ORNL wishes to make other researchers aware of its current research directions with the goal of assisting our Nation achieve its technology goals.
Schedule
Iran Thomas Auditorium, Room A103, Spallation Neutron Source, Building 8600, ORNL
| 7:30 am | Registration opens |
| 8:30 | Introduction and Program Overview with high level overviews of relevant R&D enabled at ORNL (Mike Simonson, moderator) |
| 10:00 | Break |
| 10:30 | High level overviews of relevant R&D (continued) |
| 11:00 | Keynote speaker
|
| 11:30 | Lunch and Discussion of Basic Research Areas |
| 12:30 | Basic research at ORNL supporting solar energy and energy storage (Andrew Payzant, moderator) Modeling
|
| 2:10 | Break |
| 2:30 | Basic research at ORNL supporting solar energy and energy storage, continued (Ken Herwig, moderator) Performance evaluation
|
| 4:30 | Reception in SNS Lobby soliciting feedback on capabilities of user facilities, including tours of CNMS, SNS, and the new SNS User Laboratories |
| 6:00 | Session ends, buses depart for hotel |
