Nanomaterials

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), while only having been designed about twenty years ago, are considered to be one of the most promising third-generation solar cell technologies among experts. One of the key features of DSSCs is a mesoporous, 10 micron layer of titania nanoparticles which acts as...

Ordered mesoporous Zr-doped TiO 2 /ZnO material is currently being investigated for band gap tuning and higher loadings of photo-sensitizer. Utilization of such mesoporous materials thereby offers an opportunity to sensitize semiconductor with higher sensitizer loadings leading to effective charge...

Ammonia Borane (AB), with high hydrogen storage capacity (19.5 wt.%), is predicted to be possibly a future fuel for providing pure H 2 to fuel cell at room temperature for on-board and portable applications. However, a heterogeneous catalyst plays a vital role for first initiating and then...

Here we propose to develop a farm-scale biorefining system that can convert cellulosic biomass into useable hydrogen gas. In particular, we focus on the development of cost-effective procedures for biomass pretreatment and catalysts for alkaline hydrothermal treatment, which is less studied as...

For a number of technologies, including microelectronics and energy conversion devices, feature sizes are becoming increasingly small, and the need for precise control over costly materials continues to grow. In addition to decreasing length scales, it is important that limited natural resources...

Solar energy is clean, abundant, and renewable, yet it is vastly under-utilized in the current world. Although crystalline silicon solar cells are the premier candidate for renewable and environmentally friendly solar energy conversion, high manufacturing cost has prevented such cells from...

The lithium (Li) adsorption mechanism on the metallic (5,5) single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-fullerene (C 60 ) hybrid material system is investigated using first-principles method. It is found that the Li adsorption energy (-2.649 eV) on the CNT-C 60 hybrid system is lower than that on the...

A systematic experimental study of the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles and nanoporous films is presented. Powders were made by flame spray pyrolysis method with end applications in the photoeclectrochemical production of hydrogen. Inhibited particle growth was observed for prticles made...

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce clean hydrogen fuel is an attractive method for harvesting intermittent solar energy and storing it in the form of chemical bonds. A key photoelectrode material requirement is visible light absorption to maximize the number of photogenerated...