Speakers: bios and abstracts
Masato Murakami
Biography
Masato Murakami is the President of Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. He received the doctor degree of engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1984. He had been a member of Superconductivity Research Laboratory - International Superconductivity Technology Center (SRL-ISTEC), National Laboratory from 1984 to 1997 and he was director of Division I & III and Director, Senior Staff for Material Science & Physics of Division of Material Science & Physics Bulk Superconductor Laboratory. He is a recipient of 1991 Nikkei BP Prize, 1992 World Congress Superconductivity Award of Excellence, 1999 Fellow at Institute of Physics. Iwate Press Culture prize, 1996; named Man of Year Iwate Prefecture Association, Tokyo, 1993. Japanese engineering educator, researcher. He authored “Melt processed High Temperature Superconductors” (World Scientific, 1991). His current research interests focus on processing, properties and application of large-grain bulk high temperature superconductors.
Title: "Can superconductivity save the earth?"
Abstract
Almost all the applications of superconductors are based on superconducting magnets with high field generation. Magnetic resonance imagers use 5T superconducting magnet to observe human body for disease diagnosis like cancer.
Another interesting application area is the power machines. The power of all the electric machines is give by a simple equation:
F = I B
where I is the electric current and B is magnetic induction. Thus, if one can have a high magnetic field density B, the current I is minimized, which is effective in saving energy.
The magnetic induction of a normal conducting magnet is 1T at maximum. One can achieve 5T even in a normal conducting magnet. However, it must be cooled with tremendous amount of water, which requires a huge energy. In contrast, one can generate 5 - 15T with a superconducting magnet with no energy consumption, since supercurrents are persistent. Thus superconducting magnets have advantages in power applications over normal magnets.
For magnetic field generation, superconducting solenoids are commonly used, where superconducting wires are wound in the form of coils. One drawback of such superconducting magnet is a small energy density. Recently, new type of superconducting magnets were developed in a bulk form based on RE-Ba-Cu-O (RE: rare earth). They are simple blocks and magnetized using electromagnetic induction. They are attractive for various applications since their sizes are 2-15 cm in diameter.
The employment of superconducting materials for transmission cables has attracted interests of many people. However, the critical temperatures stayed extremely low until 1986. The cost for cooling with liquid helium made it difficult to bring the superconducting cables into a real market. With the discovery of high temperature superconductors (Y-Ba-Cu-O, Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O) with Tc above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, electric power companies showed strong interests in the development of practical superconducting cables worldwide. In Japan, US, Korea, and China, superconducting cable projects have been launched, where the test cables are already installed in power transmission lines.
In many continents, desertification has become a serious problem. From a different perspective, however, the desert is a great place for solar power generation. If one quarter of the Sahara desert is covered with solar cells, the electricity needed for all the world can be supplied. The question is how to transmit the power, since losses always occur in long-distance transmission. This problem is hindered by using superconducting cables with zero electrical resistance. In other words, the energy problem of our planet can be solved at once by using superconducting power transmission to send electricity generated by solar power to the world.
The geomagnetism protects us from the solar wind with radioactive particles. Without the earth magnetic field, human beings cannot survive. There is a report that the field is decreasing and may disappear in 700 years. This problem can be solved by winding a superconducting cable around the equator, which can create artificial geomagnetism. It will be costly, but it is possible if we work together.
Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo
Biography
Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo is Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at the Department of Chemical Science and Technologies of University of Rome Tor Vergata. She received Italian master degree (Laurea) in Physics from University of Rome Sapienza, and her Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from University of Rome Tor Vergata. EDB spent several periods of study and research in United Kingdom (University of Cambrdge) and in Japan (Ehime University, Matsuyama). Her research is focused on: synthesis, design and characterization of functional ceramic materials for chemical sensors and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at high and intermediate temperatures. The research activities of EDB are documented 104 articles in international journals indexed ISI and/or SCOPUS and more than 200 contributions in national and international conferences. Her work has been cited 2648 times and its index is 28. H [http://www.scopus.com, May 2020]. She was invited as speaker and as chairwoman in several International Conferences. In 2011 he received the American Ceramic Society Award ACerS Ross Coffin Purdy Award 2011 for a paper published in Nature Materials in 2010. Since 2000, she is lecturer of the course in Materials Technology and Applied Chemistry for Civil Engineering and of the course Chemistry for Energy for chemistry and engineering students. Since 2019 she is the director of the Ph.D. Course in Materials for Environment and Energy of University of Tor Vergata. She was scientific leader of several research projects funded by international, national and regional institutions: Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Italy-Japan 2010-12), the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR) (PRIN 2010-11), INSTM-Regione Lombardia (2013-15 Lanthanum Ferrites for New Energy Sources), CARITRO (2015-17 BioplanarSOFC). At present, she is scientific PI of MIUR PRIN 2017 (Direct utilization of bio-fuels in solid oxide fuel cells for sustainable and decentralised production of electric power and heat (DIRECTBIOPOWER) and SPARC-Project (Promotion of academic and research collaboration) funded by Indian Government (Proposal ID-1106).
Title: "Innovative anodes for solid oxide fuel cells: insights on redox-stability and catalytic activity"
Abstract
The utilization of pure hydrogen to power SOFCs does not represent a sustainable option on the way to commercialization. Therefore, hydrocarbon-based fuels seem to be the only reasonable choice to efficiently run commercial devices. More specifically, methane seems the most promising because it is the main component of natural gas and biogas. External methane reforming over nickel-based catalysts represents the conventional choice. Internal reforming, even though more appealing and cost effective, is limited by downsides such as: reduced electrochemical efficiency due to high water content in the fuel and harmful thermal gradients at the anode side, as steam methane reforming is highly endothermic. POX is another way to convert methane into syngas with CO and H2 to be mostly oxidized at a SOFC anode.
The SOFC long-term utilization is mainly limited by nickel-based anodes. Specifically, redox–cycling instability, re-oxidation at high current density, high temperature coarsening, rapid deactivation due to carbon deposition and sulfur (>1 ppm) contamination are the main issues. Perovskite oxides represent the most effective alternative even though only few of them show a proper redox stable behavior and most of them still suffer from poor catalytic activity for hydrocarbon-based fuels oxidation especially at intermediate temperature range (600–800 °C).
Lanthanum perovskites are known to be promising materials for methane direct oxidation. LaBO3 (B = Fe, Mn) were reported to be good methane oxidation catalysts. Recently, alternative ceramic anodes based on layered double perovskites have already exhibited promising performance in terms of redox stability, power density output in wet and dry CH4 and remarkable coking resistance with higher hydrocarbons, such as propane.
To improve the electrochemical activity of ceramic anodes towards methane oxidation the exsolution of endogenous metallic nano-particles from perovskite precursors through in situ reduction was explored. The exsolved metallic nanoparticles uniformly dispersed on the oxide substrate enhance the catalytic activity for anodic reactions. Moreover, the strong interaction between the metallic nanoparticles and the porous backbone further suppresses the agglomeration and enhances the coking tolerance. Besides, the reversibility of the exsolution provides the catalyst redox-cycling stability and avoids agglomeration through re-oxidation.
Ensuring mixed electronic and ionic conductivity is a crucial aspect to increase the electrochemical performance of the fuel electrode, especially when hydrocarbons are employed. This is often achieved with perovskite-fluorite composite anodes. Ceria and doped-ceria are often used in methane electrochemical oxidation. Indeed, CeO2 is known to prevent carbon formation, probably having an active role in oxidizing carbonaceous deposits, as reduced ceria was reported to have low electrocatalytic activity for methane oxidation. For this reason, ceria is often coupled with Ni-based catalysts.
The design of performing composite anodes based on perovoskite and fluorite oxides able to be active, stable over time at 800 °C in dry methane and redox stable in H2 at 700 °C will be discussed.
Takao Mori
Biography
Takao Mori received his PhD in 1996 at the University of Tokyo, Dept. of Physics. He is a MANA Principal Investigator and Group Leader at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan. He is also an elected Board Member of the International Thermoelectric Society (ITS) and former President of the Asian Association of Thermoelectrics (AAT). He is an Associate Editor of Materials Today Physics and Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy, and Editorial Board Member of J. Solid State Chem., Adv. Appl. Ceram., J. Materiom., and Program Manager of JST Mirai Large-scale Program. He has been recipient of a Minister of Science and Technology Agency Award in 2000 and nano tech 2016 Grand Award: Research Project Award (Green Nanotechnology Award). Takao Mori is also a Professor of the University of Tsukuba Graduate School, and serves as JST, A-Step Program Advisor, PRESTO Field Advisor, CREST Field Advisor. He has published over 270 journal papers, 18 book chapters, and 29 patents (20 awarded and 9 pending). His current research interests include synthesis and properties development of inorganic thermoelectric materials, discovery of thermoelectric enhancement principles and also phonon engineering methods to control thermal energy in general, and development of methods to evaluate thermal properties on nanoscale.
Title: "Development of Thermoelectric Materials and Modules for IoT Energy Harvesting"
Abstract
It is vital to develop sustainable energy harvesting materials and technologies, like thermoelectrics (TE), to power ubiquitous IoT sensors and devices [1]. Novel TE materials with relatively high performance near room temperature are of interest. We have made a novel proposal to utilize magnetic interactions between carriers and magnetic moments to enhance the power factor [2]. Unlike magnon drag, TE enhancement via magnetic interaction is not solely dependent on ordering, and is effective at higher temperatures also. Recently, significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient via spin fluctuation has also been demonstrated as another effective principle [3]. In international collaboration, ultra-high TE performance was also found for thin films of related materials [4]. We have also discovered new promising magnetic semiconductor thermoelectric materials [5]. Several novel nanostructured materials, such as rare earth-free nanomicroporous skutterudite (ZT~1.6), nanocomposites with oxide nanoparticles (ZT~1.6) [6], etc. have also been developed as candidates for applications. I will discuss the applicative outlook of TE also.
[1] MRS Bulletin, 43, 176 (2018), Sci. Tech. Adv. Mater., 19, 836 (2018).
[2] Small, 13, 1702013 (2017), Angew. Chem., 54, 12909 (2015), J. Mater. Chem. A, 5, 7545 (2017), J. Mater. Chem. C, 6, 6489 (2018), Mater. Today Phys., 9, 100090 (2019).
[3] Science Advances, 5, eaat5935 (2019). [4] Nature, 576 (7785) 85 (2019).
[5] Appl. Phys. Express, 6, 043001 (2013), Chem. Mater., 29, 2988 (2017), Inorg. Chem. 57, 5258 (2018), J. Mater. Chem. C, 6, 6489 (2018), J. Mater. Chem. C, 7, 8269 (2019).
[6] Nano Energy, 31, 152 (2017), J. Mater. Chem. A, 6, 21341 (2018).
Annamaria Petrozza
Biography
Annamaria Petrozza is a Senior Researcher at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia where she leads the Advanced Materials for Opetoelectronic group. She holds a Master of Science in Electronic Engineering from the Ecole Supèrieure d’Electricité (Paris, 2003) and Politecnico di Milano (2004). In 2008 she received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge (UK) with a thesis on the study of optoelectronic processes at organic and hybrid semiconductors interfaces under the supervision of Dr. J.S. Kim and Prof Sir R.H. Friend. Till 2010 she worked as a research scientist at the Sharp Laboratories of Europe, Ltd on the development of new market competitive solar cell technologies. She was awarded the “Innovators Under 35 Italy 2014” by the MIT Technology Review for her pioneering work on perovskites. She is associate editor at "Sustainable Energy & Fuels" (RSC). Annamaria has been listed among the “Highly Cited Researcher 2018” and “Highly Cited Researcher 2019” by Clarivate Analytics
Title: "Understanding Defect Physics to Stabilize Metal-halide Perovskite Semiconductors for Optoelectronic Applications"
Abstract
Semiconducting metal-halide perovskites present various types of chemical interactions which give them a characteristic fluctuating structure sensitive to the operating conditions of the device, to which they adjust. This makes the control of structure-properties relationship, especially at interfaces where the device realizes its function, the crucial step in order to control devices operation. In particular, given their simple processability at relatively low temperature, one can expect an intrinsic level of structural/chemical disorder of the semiconductor which results in the formation of defects.
Here, first I will summarize our understanding of the nature of defects and their photo-chemistry, which leverages on the cooperative action of density functional theory investigations and accurate experimental design. Then, I will show the correlation between the nature of defects and the observed semiconductor instabilities. Instabilities are manifested as light-induced ion migration and segregation, eventually leading to material degradation under prolonged exposure to light. Understanding, controlling and eventually blocking such material instabilities are fundamental steps towards large scale exploitation of perovskite in optoelectronic devices. Finally, based on such knowledge, I will discuss different synthetic strategies which are able to stabilize the perovskite layer towards such photo, thermal and electrical instabilities, leading to improved optoelectronic material quality and enhanced stability in a working solar cell.