MMAE Seminar - Making a Nanoelectrofuel Flow Battery

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Engineering 1 Building, Crawford Auditorium 104
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The Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Chemistry announce a joint seminar featuring Dr. Carso Segre, the Duchossois Leadership Professor of Physics at IIT. He will present his lecture Making a Nanoelectrofuel Flow Battery.

Abstract

We are currently in the first year of an ARPA-e project to produce a prototype nanoelectrofuel flow battery. This new battery concept marries the traditional solid state battery with a flow battery to obtain higher energy densities and reduction in packaging weight. Successful development of this new battery format requires the ability to charge and discharge nanoparticle suspensions by transient contact with the electrodes. While the basic effect has been demonstrated, many challenges lie ahead. Notably the ability to make efficient and high capacity battery materials in nanoparticle form. In order to understand the differences between battery materials in macroscopic (micron-sized) and nanoparticle form, we are using x-ray absorption spectroscopy to probe the structure of materials as they are electrochemically cycled. I will present some initial results on our in-situ studies of anode lithiation and discuss our future plans.

Biography

Dr. Carlo Segre is the Duchossois Leadership Professor of Physics at IIT. He earned his Ph.D. in 1981 from UCSD and spent two years as a post-doc at Rutgers University before joining the IIT faculty in 1983. He is a founding member and currently Director of the Center for Synchrotron Radiation Research and Instrumentation. Dr. Segre is Deputy Director of the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team and the biophysics Collaborative Access Team that operate 3 x-ray beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source. He has published over 100 journal articles and is a Fellow of the AAAS and the ICDD. His research centers on the structure and electronic properties of complex materials including superconducting, magnetic, catalytic, and energy storage materials.

More detail about Dr. Segre's research is at http://phys.iit.edu/~segre/