Electrospray Materials Synthesis for Solar Energy Harvesting and Energy Storage

为电力和能源应用寻找具有合适物理和化学性质的新纳米材料的工作非常激烈，随着发现化石燃料的替代品变得越来越紧迫，这种搜索可能会发挥越来越大的作用。在追求制造这些新发现的材料方面，投入的努力要少得多。这笔赠款提供资金，以填补这一利基领域，并研究一种新的方法来制造用于能量储存和收集应用的纳米材料薄膜。这种方法是基于电喷雾的，这种设备具有独特的能力，可以产生大小均匀的纳米颗粒，并通过控制大小、形状、结构和成分来沉积它们。使用洁净室微制造技术构建多个喷嘴，可以并行操作多个喷雾以提高沉积速率，以满足实际应用的需要。拟议研究的具体目标包括：沉积具有可控结构的纳米材料，在功能器件中组装和测试半导体薄膜，以及扩大规模用于工业应用中的廉价制造。考虑的应用是用于太阳能收集的电池和用于储能的锂离子电池中的硅/碳电极。采用一种廉价的电喷印？这一能力将大大降低太阳能电池的制造和安装成本。就锂离子电池而言，使用合成的Si/C纳米颗粒的纳米结构电极将提高能量密度，进而扩大电池在交通领域的使用范围。选择硅/碳纳米颗粒是因为它们可以适应电池充放电循环期间发生的大体积变化。重要的是，建议的电喷雾制造方法可以扩展到其他材料，包括生物材料，这将广泛影响快速发展的纳米制造领域。

The search for new nanomaterials with the right physical and chemical properties for power and energy applications is very intense and is likely to play an ever increasing role as discovering alternatives to fossil fuels becomes ever more urgent. Much less effort is being put in the pursuit of manufacturing of these newly discovered materials. This grant provides funding to fill this niche and investigate a novel approach to the manufacturing of thin films of nanomaterials for energy storage and harvesting applications. The approach is based on the electrospray?a device that has unique capabilities to produce nanoparticles of uniform size and deposit them with control over size, shape, structure and composition. Using clean-room microfabrication techniques for the construction of multiple spray nozzles, one can operate several sprays in parallel for increased deposition rates, to match the needs of practical applications. Specific aims of the proposed research include: deposition of nanomaterials with controlled structure, assembling and testing semiconductor thin films in functional devices and scale-up for inexpensive manufacturing in industrial applications. Applications considered are cells for solar energy harvesting and Si/C electrodes in lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. The adoption of an inexpensive electrospray ?printing? capability will result in substantial cost reduction in the fabrication and installation of solar cells. In the case of lithium-ion batteries, nanostructured electrodes using synthesized Si/C nanoparticles will lead to increased energy density and, in turn, to greater range for battery use in the transportation sector. Si/C nanoparticles are chosen since they can accommodate large volume changes occurring during charge and discharge cycles of the battery. Importantly, the proposed electrospray manufacturing approach can be extended to other materials, including biomaterials, which will impact broadly the rapidly evolving field of nanomanufacturing.