Materials Chemistry for EnergyBuddie Mullins

3. Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries for Large-Scale Use

1. Nano-Structured Materials for Solar Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting for H2 Fuel

Green Chemical Catalysiswith Nano-Structured Surfaces

Prof. Bard

Prof. Henkelman

Prof. Heller Prof. Manthiram

Prof. Hwang

UT-Austin

Iron Oxide Nano-Columns

Gold Clusters on Titania

2.

Solar Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting with “Abundant” Materials

(a) SEM – Side View (b) TEM

1 1 mm1 1 mm50 nm50 nm50 nm50 nm

h

PhotocatalyticMaterial

Section of Single FeatheryNanocolumn

OH- ½O2Solution“Feathery Filament”From Nanocolumn

H+

H2 h

PhotocatalyticMaterial

Section of Single FeatheryNanocolumn

OH- ½O2Solution“Feathery Filament”From Nanocolumn

H+

H2

Reactive Gas Flux

Metal Flux

Metal Vapor

Reactive Gas Background

Substrateθ

Film

Substrate

Reactive Gas Flux

Metal Flux

Metal Vapor

Reactive Gas Background

Substrateθ

Film

Substrate

1. Pick “Candidate”Abundant, Metal-Oxide Photoelectrocatalysts

2. Rapid SynthesisAnd Screening

3. Deposit PromisingMetal-Oxide

Materials with Nano-Structured

Morphology

4. CharacterizeMaterial

5. TestPhotoelectrochemically

Green Chemical Catalysis with Nano-Structured Surfaces

Gold Clusters on Metal-Oxide Surface

Exploratory studies ofcatalysis/“surface chemistry”- green processing, fuel cells and fundamental insights.

Nano-Structured Titanium Carbide Film which has Pt-like Catalytic Properties.

Tools

Experimental Surface Science Investigations

Examples

Density Functional Calculationswith Dr.’s Henkelman and Hwang

Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteriesfor Large-Scale Use

Carbon is typically used as the Anode in Li-Ion batteries but safety issues persist for large-scale applications.

Need alternate material with:

•Low voltage•High capacity•High Li transport•Good electron conductor•Small volume change•Low cost abundant material•Non-toxic and environmentally

benign•etc.

Our approach involves rapid sampledeposition and screening of selectproperties, e.g., Li transport and capacity, then full testing of promisingmaterials.

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