Solid state (electro)chemistry in confined dimensions

在过去十年中，对先进能源存储和转换系统的需求每年都在显著增加。它们受到各种不同需求的驱动，但对我们这个技术驱动、高度流动、能源挑战的社会有共同的好处。过去的努力是由便携式和小型化的电子产品、不间断的电源、电动工具和其他可移动设备推动的。尽管这些在未来仍将存在，但面对石油储量的减少和二氧化碳排放量的增加，将出现更紧迫的需求。有效利用太阳能和风能等可再生能源将满足这些需求，这些能源储存是提供关键负荷平衡所必需的；在混合动力（或电动）汽车的能量存储和转换装置中，以减少燃料消耗和城市污染。在上一个资助周期中，我们已经成为全球首屈一指的实验室，致力于发现和研究用于储能的新材料，并启动了能量转换材料的新项目。这个提案描述了一个有三个主要主题的研究计划。其中包括一系列材料科学项目，旨在制定生产先进材料的新战略。第二个主题包括纳米结构设计领域的研究。其中一些项目旨在研究新的储能材料及其反应；其他关于介孔碳及其在能量转换装置中的应用；另一个是关注固体中离子和电子传输与电化学性质的关系以及固体和纳米尺度的区别。第三个主题是使用纳米结构来控制化学和电化学反应性。该提案的统一概念是利用我们在广泛的材料合成，电化学和表征工具方面的专业知识，在致力于能源材料的固态化学领域进行基础研究。这里提出的研究将我和我的研究小组带入许多新的方向，同时建立在过去资助周期中发展起来的知识和技能之上。

Demands for advanced energy storage and conversion systems have increased significantly each year for the last decade. Motivated by a variety of different needs, they have in common the benefits for our technologically-driven, highly mobile, energy challenged society. Efforts in the past have been spurred by portable and miniaturized electronics, uninterrupted power supplies, power tools, and other transportable devices. Although these will remain into the future, more pressing needs in the face of diminishing oil reserves and increased CO2 emissions will arise. They will be met by the efficient use of renewable energies such as solar and wind, where energy storage is necessary to provide critical load levelling; and in energy storage and conversion devices for hybrid (or electric) vehicles to mitigate fuel consumption and urban pollution. In the last funding cycle we have established ourselves as a premier laboratory worldwide in the discovery and investigation of new materials for energy storage, and launched a new program in energy conversion materials. This proposal describes a research program with three major themes. One includes a cluster of materials science projects aimed at the development of new strategies for producing advanced materials. The second theme includes research in the field of nanostructured design. Some of these projects are directed towards studies of new energy storage materials and their reactions; others on mesoporous carbons and their utilization in energy conversion devices; and another is focused on the correlation of ion and electron transport in solids to electrochemical properties and how this differs in the bulk vs the nanoscale. The third theme is directed towards using nanostructures to control chemical, and electrochemical reactivity. The unifying concept of this proposal is the utilization of our expertise in a wide range of materials synthesis, electrochemistry, and characterization tools to conduct fundamental research in the areas of solid state chemistry devoted to energy materials. The research proposed here takes me and my research group into many new directions while building upon knowledge and skills developed over the past funding cycle.