Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage VI: Sustainability Materials
Sponsored by: TMS Functional Materials Division, TMS: Energy Conversion and Storage Committee
Program Organizers: Jung Choi, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Amit Pandey, Lockheed Martin Space; Partha Mukherjee, Purdue University; Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota; Kyle Brinkman, Clemson University; Soumendra Basu, Boston University; Paul Ohodnicki, University Of Pittsburgh
Monday 2:30 PM
February 24, 2020
Room: 16B
Location: San Diego Convention Ctr
Session Chair: Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota; George Nelson, University of Alabama in Huntsville
2:30 PM
Enhanced Photo Response by Oxygen Retreatment at Hetero-interface of MoS2/Si Solar Cells: Sangram Pradhan1; Messaoud Bahoura1; 1Norfolk State University
Designing the appropriate/suitable band structures of dichalcogenide materials is crucial for its promising applications. Especially, thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) film is further attractive as compare to its monolayer counterpart for broad-spectral photo-detectors and photovoltaic application. Modification of the n-type MoS2/p-type Si hetero-junction interface issues by pre-pulsing with oxygen few tens of seconds during the deposition MoS2 films. With such a pretreatment process, the defects distribution and electric field greatly change at the hetero-interface, which influences the MoS2/Si solar cells photovoltaic properties. However, very little understanding regarding the underlying physics behind the photo-response behavior of thin MoS2 films is known. By adding the O2 during the laser pulsing, the oxygen vacancy defects significantly decreased and the built in electric field was greatly enhanced, contributing to the reduced defect recombination losses and improved carrier extraction at MoS2/Si interface. As a result, the MoS2/Si solar cells performance (Voc, FF and photo-response) were improved.
2:50 PM Invited
Highly Stable and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells with Functional Nanocomposites and Interface Engineering: Yoon-Bong Hahn1; 1Chonbuk National University
Poor stability and reproducibility of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have prevented the devices from practical applications of industrial standard photovoltaic modules that can withstand sustained long-term operation under outdoor conditions. To solve such issues, we developed simple methods for the production of functional nanocomposites such as Ag-rGO, perovskite-NiO, perovskite/Ag-rGO, NiO-carbon-graphite, etc and utilized them for the fabrication of ambient-air and antisolvent-free processed stable, hysteresis-free PSCs. In addition, to solve interfacial degradation whcih affects device performance Al2O3/NiO layers were utilized for interface engineering between elecrtron transport layer and active layer. By introducing the functional composites into PSCs with interface engineering, we obtained high efficiency of >18% and fill factor of >78% with excellent reproducibility. More importantly, the devices without encapsulation showed significant enhancement in long-term stability and the photovoltaic parameters sustained its stability over 330 days with retaining over 95% of its original values under ambient condictions.
3:10 PM
Life Cycle Analysis of Battery Materials: a Circular Economy Perspective: Qiang Dai1; Olumide Winjobi1; 1Argonne National Laboratory
The global electric vehicle fleet is expected to grow by 27-50 fold by 2030. Such phenomenal growth has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the sustainability of the materials that comprise the battery - the signature component of an electric vehicle. This study presents the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts of key battery materials, and investigates the sensitivity of the results to future developments of the battery materials supply chain, battery technological advancements, and market dynamics, with Argonne’s GREET model. In light of the much-anticipated transition to a circular economy, this study also identifies opportunities of environmental impacts reduction for battery materials via pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and direct cathode-to-cathode recycling technologies, with Argonne’s EverBatt model. Findings of this study can help inform and direct battery material production, battery design and manufacturing, and battery recycling towards a sustainable future.
3:30 PM Invited
On the Design and Development of Lignin based Sustainable Materials: Surojit Gupta1; 1University of North Dakota
Biomass has emerged as a important source for precursor material for designing different types of functional materials. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are the important constituent of biomass. Among these constituents, lignin is the most difficult to valorize due to its heterogeneous nature. In this presentation, I will review different types of technologies which are developed by using lignin as a precursor from literature. In addition, I will present some of the recent developments in my research group by using lignin as a functional constituents (for example composites, solid lubricants, foams) for designing multifunctional materials. It is expected that these new types of materials can be further commercialized and can be used for multifunctional applications.
3:50 PM Break
4:10 PM Invited
Solar Water Oxidation at GaAs Absorbers Protected by Electrodeposited Alloys: Giovanni Zangari1; Yin Xu1; 1University of Virginia
Photoelectrochemical water splitting carries out solar energy conversion into hydrogen, allowing to store chemical energy. n-type GaAs is an almost ideal photoanode for water oxidation, due to its optimal bandgap that absorbs a large fraction of the solar spectrum, while providing a larger photovoltage in comparison to silicon. The major drawback of GaAs is its instability in water and under illumination, leading to dissolution or oxidation. To avoid this limitation, a thin protective layer is necessary. In particular, self-limiting electrodeposition of iron group metals or alloys enables the formation of nanosized islands with high density, allowing for a dense, continuous film at a thickness of few nm. In this effort, galvanostatic electrodeposition was chosen to grow thin mutual Fe group alloys on GaAs substrate. XPS shows that the protective layers are metal oxyhydroxides; in addition, depth profiling measurements evidence that the electrodeposited film thickness is independent of deposition time.
4:30 PM
MWCNTs/Al2S3 Heterostructure Decorated on NiCo Foam as a Highly Performance Cathode Material for Supercapacitors: Mutawara Mahmood Baig1; Muhammad Taqi Mehran1; Iftikhar Hussain Gul1; 1National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad
2-dimensional metal sulfides are potential electrodes for supercapacitors, yet for the real-world applications, the cycle stability and rate performance requires further improvement. An effective way to improve the rate performance of the supercapacitors is to develop a binder-free high capacitance electrode material with hierarchical and porous architectures. We developed hetrostructure MWCNTs/Al2S3 directly grown on NiCo foam as a binder-free cathode material for supercapacitors. The maximum specific capacitance of MWCNTs/Al2S3 electrode was estimated to be 2484 F/g and energy density of 124 W h kg-1 at a power density of 250 W kg-1, with 97% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles. The symmetric supercapacitor can operate at a potential window of 1.1 V, approximately two times wider than the symmetric device. These results show that the use of binder-free MWCNTs/Al2S3 electrode can potentially be used in asymmetric supercapacitors, leading to improved electrochemical properties.