Atomically thin layers for energy harvesting and storage

未来20年，乘用车的燃料组合将发生巨大变化，以支持电气化。不同国家在应对这一挑战的方法上已经有了明显的差异，例如电池技术（在英国）或氢燃料电池（在德国）。然而，为了实现这一转变，新材料和设备的制造和表征是至关重要的。该项目的总体目标是探索透明氧化物材料作为能量转换和存储的关键使能材料的潜力。例如，金属氧化物可以在电化学储能装置中扮演阳极或阴极的角色，也可以在新型薄膜太阳能电池中充当缓冲层。因此，它们对性能产生了强烈的影响，并在纳米尺度上制造时提供了颠覆性创新的潜力。为了实现项目目标，将采用两种主要的制造方法：(1)高精度原子层沉积和(2)溶液加工。前者提供了在纳米结构和超高质量界面上创建保形氧化层的潜力。后者可以在环境实验室条件下完成，自然适合扩大规模。除了制造和表征纳米结构氧化物层外，该项目还提供了将这些层结合起来创造新型半导体异质结构的机会，例如，这种异质结构可以用于储存氢，从长远来看，氢有可能成为运输的物质能量载体。在该项目中，还有一个机会来表征由这些异质结构制造的能源设备在运行期间的性能。该项目涉及工业投入，也提供了访问在该领域工作的国际研究实验室的可能性。

Over the next 20 years the fuel mix for passenger vehicles will shift dramatically to supportelectrification. Significant variation is already evident in different countries' approach to thischallenge including for example battery technologies (in the UK) or hydrogen fuel cells (inGermany). However, in order to achieve this transition, fabrication and characterisation of newmaterials and devices is fundamentally important. The overall aim of this project is to explore thepotential for transparent oxide materials as key enabling materials for energy conversion andstorage. For example, metal oxides can play the role of anode or cathode in electrochemicalenergy storage devices or they can act as buffer layers in novel thin film solar cell. They thereforeexert a strong influence on performance and have offer the potential for disruptive innovationwhen fabricated at the nanometre scale. In order to achieve the project aim, two main fabricationapproaches will be taken: (1) high precision atomic layer deposition and (2) solution processing.The former offers the potential to create conformal oxide layers on nanostructures and ultra-highquality interfaces. The latter can be done under ambient laboratory conditions and is naturallysuited to scaling up. In addition to fabricating and characterising nanostructured oxide layers, theproject offers the opportunity to combine these layers to create novel semiconductorheterostructures which could for example be used to store hydrogen which in the long term, hasthe potential to emerge as a material energy carrier for transportation. There is a furtheropportunity within the project to characterise the performance of energy devices fabricated fromthese heterostructures during their operation. The project involves industrial input and also offersthe possibility to visit international research laboratories working in this area.