Energy Harvesting Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Characterizations and Applications

能量收集纳米材料：合成、表征和应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05736
• 负责人: Sarkar, Dilip
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=590609
• 关键词: Energy; Harvesting; Nanomaterials; Synthesis; Characterizations

Global energy demand is growing rapidly and significantly as energy, the key ingredient in all sectors of modern economy, has invaded the quality of life today due to our dependency on its abundant and uninterrupted supply. In particular, the increased levels of the green house gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere is believed to be a major contributor to global warming and pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels used in various spheres of our life. A significant amount of heat energy is wasted by aluminum and steel industries. The recovery of these large amounts of wasted thermal energy will provide opportunity for improving overall energy efficiency in these energy-intensive industrial processes. Thermoelectric (TE) materials, which can generate electricity by recycling the heat wasted from industries using high temperature processes, could play an important role in global sustainable energy solution. Therefore, the long term vision of this project is to conduct fundamental and applied research on thermoelectric properties of nanostructured thin films of transition metals oxides (both n and p types) to find suitable nanomaterials for the conversion of electrical energy from heat wasted from industries, sun and human bodies. Sol-gel techniques will be mainly used to synthesize these transition metal oxides nanomaterials. An appropriate precursor will be chosen for the relevant oxide and appropriate salt will be used for the doping of the oxide. The newly synthesized nanomaterials will be characterized for electrical, structural and optical properties. A combination of n-type and p-type TE nanomaterials will be selected to develop a technology to generate electrical energy from industrial waste heat. The outcome of the scientific findings of this project is expected to help Canadian industries to develop economical, ecological and efficient materials in harvesting energy by recycling wasted energy.

全球能源需求正在迅速而显著地增长，因为能源是现代经济所有部门的关键成分，由于我们对其丰富和不间断供应的依赖，能源已经侵入了今天的生活质量。特别是，大气中温室气体二氧化碳（CO2）水平的增加被认为是全球变暖和污染的主要原因，原因是我们生活中各个领域使用的化石燃料的燃烧。铝和钢铁工业浪费了大量的热能。这些大量废弃热能的回收将为提高这些能源密集型工业过程的整体能源效率提供机会。热电材料（TE）可以通过回收利用高温过程中工业浪费的热量来发电，可以在全球可持续能源解决方案中发挥重要作用。因此，该项目的长期愿景是对过渡金属氧化物（n型和p型）纳米结构薄膜的热电特性进行基础和应用研究，寻找适合的纳米材料，用于从工业、太阳和人体浪费的热量中转换电能。溶胶-凝胶技术将主要用于合成这些过渡金属氧化物纳米材料。将为相关的氧化物选择适当的前驱体，并将使用适当的盐来掺杂氧化物。新合成的纳米材料将被表征为电学、结构和光学性质。将选择n型和p型TE纳米材料的组合，开发利用工业废热发电的技术。该项目的科学研究成果有望帮助加拿大工业开发经济、生态和高效的材料，通过回收废弃的能源来收集能源。