Speaker
Puru Jena
Physics Department, Virginia Commonwealth University
Date＆Time
2019.07.15 (Mon) AM 9:30
Location
Aoqing Tang Building, C603
Abstract
Clean, abundant, and sustainable energy is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges in the 21st century. Fossil fuels that account for more than 80% of the world’s current energy needs are not only limited, but also are harmful to the environment. While renewable energy sources such as solar and hydrogen together can meet this need, considerable material challenges remain before they can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. In addition, safe and efficient batteries are needed to store this energy. This talk will deal with some of the material challenges in energy harvesting and storage, with particular emphasis on solid state electrolytes for Li- and Na-ion batteries and water-resistant perovskite-based solar cells. A common feature of all these materials is that they are complex salts whose positive and negative ion components can be identified as super-alkali and super-halogen clusters mimicking the chemistry of alkali and halogen atoms, respectively. This realization has made it possible to use the vast advances in cluster science to design novel materials for energy applications. The talk will have two components. First is the rational design of highly charged cluster anions that are stable in the gas phase. Second, I will discuss how these clusters can lead to the synthesis of halogen-free electrolytes in metal-ion batteries, anti-perovskites for Li and Na superionic conductors, and organic hybrid perovskites for solar cells. Experimental evidence will be provided to establish the predictive capability of our theory
