Energy Conversion Materials Laboratory

As fossil fuel energy sources become increasingly scarce and the burning of coal and petroleum is curbed to mitigate climate change, the impetus to produce energy from sunlight and alternative energy sources, as well as to utilize energy more efficiently continues to grow. Finding low-cost materials and strategies to fabricate solar cells and other alternative energy sources constitutes an important scientific challenge facing our generation. The mission of our research team is to make the world a better place by developing new, cost-effective ways to convert sunlight into electrical energy, or to utilize electrical energy more efficiently by development of new materials, optoelectronic devices and batteries.

Solar energy is practically unlimited and can be harvested with minimal pollution or environmental impact using solar cells. Thanks to the efforts of researchers around the globe to help reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of solar cells, as well as efforts by governments and citizens around the world to support the adoption of solar cells as an energy source, solar cells are now the fastest growing source of electricity and account for more than 1% of electricity generated worldwide. Continued efforts to develop low-cost and economical solar technologies will cause this fraction of energy to keep growing, reducing mankind's need to burn fossil fuels which release greenhouse gasses and pollute the environment.

As more energy comes from renewable sources like solar and wind, there is a problem that times of peak energy production (when it is sunny or windy) do not coincide with times of peak energy consumption (when people turn on lights, cook, shower, etc.). Therefore, as renewable energy sources are used more ane more, a growing problem is how to store energy which is produced from intermittent energy sources and distribute it when it is needed. Redox Flow Batteries are a type of battery that use electrochemically active molecules to store energy.