Track IV: Materials for Energy ApplicationsIncludes audio file (19 min.)Increasing awareness of environmental factors and limited energy resources have led to a
profound evolution in the way we view the generation and supply of energy. Although fossil and
nuclear sources will remain the most important energy provider for many more years, flexible
technological solutions that involve alternative means of energy supply and storage need to be
developed urgently. The search for cleaner, cheaper, smaller and more efficient energy
technologies has been driven by recent developments where materials technology will play a
particularly important role in meeting the needs of the future.
The most pronounced breakthroughs are currently taking place for technologies using renewable
energy sources. At the same time, the use of these technologies requires reliable and effective
ways of storing energy, and exciting developments are occurring in the fields of hydrogen
storage, rechargeable batteries, capacitors and high-temperature superconductivity.
Among various energy conversion systems, fuel cells are an important enabling technology for
the Hydrogen Future and offer cleaner, more-efficient alternatives to the combustion of gasoline
and other fossil fuels. Although the potential benefits of hydrogen and fuel cells are significant,
many challenges, technical and otherwise, must be overcome before hydrogen and fuel cells will
offer a competitive alternative for consumers. These challenges include hydrogen production and
delivery, hydrogen storage, fuel cell cost and durability, safety and public acceptance.
With regard to energy storage, future electrical and power distribution systems will critically
depend on advances in dielectric materials with high energy and power densities. Advanced
electric guns and high-power microwave systems will require pulsed power units that store 10-
500 MJ and utilize large-volume capacitors. Since capacitors occupy >70% of the overall volume
in conventional power converters, capacitor performance, size, cost, and reliability must be
dramatically improved to meet the requirements of current and future energy storage systems.
Dielectric permittivity and applied electric field magnitude are key parameters governing
capacitor energy density. The applied electric field in a capacitor is significantly lower than the
intrinsic dielectric breakdown field, and capacitor energy densities for pulsed power and power
electronic capacitors are typically 10 J/cm3 in a fully packaged capacitor, new approaches must
be developed to substantially increase intrinsic dielectric energy densities while achieving
reliable operation near the dielectric breakdown limit. The presentation will address the recent
research activities on the development of solid oxide fuel cell and high energy density capacitor
materials at Missouri S&T.
On the education site, a course on “Energy Materials” is one of the educational programs offered
on the Missouri S&T campus. The objective of this multidisciplinary course is to focus on what
materials-based solutions provide and to understand how the rational design and improvement of
chemical and physical properties of these materials can lead to energy alternatives that can
compete with existing technologies.The presentation will address the recent
research activities on the development of solid oxide fuel cell and high energy density capacitor
materials at Missouri S&T
