Physics and chemistry of materials for energy storage

世界正处于一种脆弱的局面。石油储量正在减少，尽管煤炭储量可以持续几个世纪，但这些储量的使用将不可逆转地加剧全球变暖和空气污染。2006年9月的《科学美国人》专门分析了世界能源的未来，并指出许多技术解决方案可以发挥强大而重要的作用。需要加大在太阳能和风能以及电池和燃料电池技术方面的努力。我的实验室全力从事先进电池和燃料电池新材料的发现和研究。在过去的五年中，我们创建了加拿大唯一的组合和高通量材料科学设施。使用该设备，可以合成数百种成分可控的样品，并进行并行研究。我们的64电极组合锂电池和64电极燃料电池（都是世界上独一无二的）正在不断被用于发现具有改进性能的新材料，并了解成分和结构如何影响性能。用于锂离子电池的高容量电极材料和不含铂的燃料电池催化剂是正在研究的主题之一。除了发现和发明，我们的工作还有一个强大的基础组成部分。原位方法使用电化学电池和适当的“窗口”来监测电池电极材料的变化作为电荷状态的函数。例如原位x射线衍射、原位小角x射线散射、原位Mössbauer光谱学和原位原子力显微镜。理论研究和计算机模拟，无论是在这里还是与外部合作者，解释这些材料的行为也经常进行。我们的组合材料科学平台需求量很大。我们一直非常有选择性地扩大我们的研究范围，以支持在植入式医疗应用中使用的金属生物材料的新努力。

The world is in a tenuous situation.  Oil reserves are dwindling and although coal reserves stretch for several centuries, use of these reserves will contribute irreversibly to global warming and air pollution.  The Sept. 2006 issue of Scientific American was devoted to an analysis of the world's energy future and showed that many technological solutions can play a strong and important role.  Increased efforts on solar and wind energy as well as battery and fuel cell technologies are required.   My laboratory is fully engaged in the discovery and study of new materials for advanced batteries and fuel cells.  In the last five years we have created the only facility in Canada for combinatorial and high throughput materials science.  Using this equipment, hundreds of samples with controlled composition can be synthesized and then studied in parallel.  Our 64-electrode combinatorial lithium batteries and 64-electrode fuel cells (both unique in the world) are being used continuously to discover new materials with improved properties and to understand how composition and structure affect performance.  High capacity electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cell catalysts that do not contain platinum are among the topics that are under study.   In addition to discovery and invention, our work has a strong fundamental component. In-situ methods using electrochemical cells with appropriate "windows" are used to monitor changes to battery electrode materials as a function of state of charge.  Examples are in-situ x-ray diffraction, in-situ small-angle x-ray scattering, in-situ Mössbauer spectroscopy, and in-situ atomic force microscopy.  Theoretical studies and computer simulations, both here and with external collaborators, to explain the behaviour of these materials are also routinely made.   Our combinatorial materials science platform is in great demand.  We have been very selective in expanding our range of research to support a new effort in metallic biomaterials used in implantable medical applications.