Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Hyoyoung Lee
Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
Keynote: Low energy band gap materials for energy conversion and environment
Time : 09:30-10:20
Biography:
Hyoyoung Lee has completed his PhD from Department of Chemistry, University of Mississippi, USA, in 1997 and did his postdoc at North Carolina State University. He worked at ETRI, Korea and then moved to Dept. of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University as a full Professor. He served as a Director of National Creative Research Initiatives and now as an associate director of Centre for Integrated Nanostructure Physics, Institute of Basic Science. His current research area is semiconducting materials. He has written more than 140 journal articles in top-tier journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of reputed journals.
Abstract:
Low energy bandgap semicondunding metarials such as transtion metal chalcogenides (TMCs) including TiO2, MoS2, CoS2 and so on have been paid attention for energy conversion and environmental issues. For the low energy semiconducting materials, we like to introduce new visible-light driven blue TiO2 materials for photo-catalytic hydrogen evolving reaction (HER) and for a removal of algae from water. In addition, we like to report new layered ternary transition metal chalcogenides (TTMCs) material to overcome to the limitation of active sites which is challenging in binary transition metal chalcogenides (BTMC) such as MoS2 towards electrochemical hydrogen production. We carefully designed the TTMC materials that contain two transition metals Cu and Mo with chalcogen S. Th e TTMC, Cu2MoS4 has been successfully synthesized by a facile solutionprocessed method. Moreover, by anion doping such as Se in as the synthesized Cu2MoS4, it has been found that TTMC can be exfoliated into single layer nanosheets. Furthermore, by controlling the number of layers, single layers TTMC exhibit the highest electrocatalytic activity towards HER because the single layers can provide more catalytic active sites than multilayers and bulk. As a result, our TTMC work can guide new strategy for the developments of applications of TMCs in HER. Finally, we like to demonstrate new strategy to satisfy all requirements for the development of a highly active and remarkably durable HER electrocatalyst in both acidic and alkaline media via anion-cation double substitution into a CoS2 moiety for preparing 3D mesoporous pyrite-metal vanadium-cobalt phosphorsulphide (Co1-xVxSP).
Keynote Forum
Zhifeng Ren
University of Houston, USA
Keynote: High performance catalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions and water electrolysis
Time : 10:40-11:10
Biography:
Zhifeng Ren is currently the M.D. Anderson Chair Professor in the Department of Physics and TcSUH of the University of Houston. He obtained Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990, specializes in materials synthesis and applications, especially in nanostructured thermoelectricmaterials, devices, and systems for more effi cient energy conversion using the enhanced thermoelectric materials. He is a fellow of APS and AAAS. He has published more than 270 papers with a total citation of 15,000 and an H-index of 57. He is ranked at 49th of the materials scientists in the world.
Abstract:
Water electrolysis for hydrogen production is very important but not effi cient due to high cost of the noble metal containing catalysts or low performance of the non noble metal based catalysts. Water electrolysis involves hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). HER catalysts are normally good only in acid and OER catalysts only in base, but none of them are good in both acid and base or bi-functional for both HER and OER, which makes the overall water electrolysis not effi cient. We recently discovered some catalysts better than the noble metal containing ones in both acid and base, which made the overall water electrolysis more effi cient than the noble metal containing catalysts. In this talk, the author will present a few examples on their recent discovery on new catalysts to achieve water splitting for current density larger than 500 mA/cm2 at less than 1.7 V.
Keynote Forum
Igor Kosacki
Honeywell International, Inc., USA
Keynote: Nanomaterials for energy applications
Time : 11:10-11:40
Biography:
Igor Kosacki has completed his PhD in Physics from Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences and postdoctoral studies from Piere and Marie Curie University in Paris and Massachusetts Instutute of Technology in Cambridge. He is holding Professor Title awarded by the President of Poland. Currently, he is Emerging Technologies Scientist at Honeywell International Inc. In his current role, he is responsible for the development new research program for oil and gas materials. He has published more than 120 papers in reputed journals and has over 4500 citations. He is serving as Chair of Nanotechnology and Corrosion Symposium on NACE Conferences.
Abstract:
Global energy demand is projected to rise as high as 60% over the next 30 years. It is a challenging trend that may be met only by revolutionary breakthroughs in energy science and technology. To achieve this goal, the efforts in areas including exploration new fossil resources, developing renewable energy and improving energy efficiency are needed. Developing advanced energy technologies requires more applied research; therefore progress in basic science has a vital role to play in this process. It is creative linkages between basic research and applied technology development where radical innovation is very crucial. Materials science has been identified as key across a range of technologies including renewables, nuclear energy, fossil fuel, energy conversion and energy storage. To address the novel energy challenges, the new functional materials systems should be developed and their applicability in energy conversion devices as fuel cells, batteries, nuclear reactors, and separation membranes should be proved. Progress in the development of new technologies for unconventional hydrocarbons (shale oil and gas) also depends upon discovery of new functional materials. Nanotechnology has the potential for making impact on this effort by developing the advanced materials, tools and devices that are more efficient. A unique aspect of nanomaterials is the significantly enhanced their properties related to increased relative surface or grain boundary area, and the dominance of quantum effects. These effects enhance chemical reactivity, making some nanomaterials useful as catalysts, sensors, and components of fuel cells and batteries to improve their efficiency. These devices play also important role in the development of novel energy conversion processes of unconventional hydrocarbons. In this lecture, the ability to use nanomaterials in energy conversion will be discussed. The ability to enhance the physical properties of oxygen - CeO2, ZrO2: Y, Sc and proton- SrCeO3: Yb conductors will be presented. Scaling factors, such as grain size, thin film thickness, and porosity will be discussed in the context of a lattice defect model, and will be illustrated by recent results obtained for nanoceramic thin films, nanoscale superlattices, and mesoporous materials. New insights adapting fundamental sciences to accelerate development of new technologies for unconventional oil and gas will be discussed. Developing a more fundamental understanding of metal/environment interactions will facilitate effective application of new monitoring technologies leading to enhanced operational safety and reliability. This lecture focuses also on methodologies to develop new oil and gas technologies through physics, chemistry and materials science.
Keynote Forum
Yi-Lung Mo
University of Houston, USA
Keynote: Periodic materials for dynamic design of energy infrastructures
Time : 11:40-12:10
Biography:
Yi-Lung Mo, F.ASCE and F.ACI, is Professor at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Houston (UH). He is also Tsinghua Chair Professor, Institute of Future City and Infrastructure, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Dr. Mo’s technical interests are multi-resolution distributed analytical simulations, network analysis, large-scale concrete structure testing and field investigations of the response of complex networks and structures, on which he has more than 400 research publications, including 197 referred journal papers, many conference, keynote and prestige lectures, research reports, books and book chapters, magazine articles and earthquake field mission reports. Dr. Mo has successfully supervised six post-doc, 23 PhD and over 40 Masters Theses as well as 25 visiting scholar studies. Many of his students hold signifi cant positions in industry, academia and government around the world. In the past several years, Dr. Mo has focused on periodic material research, especially application of periodic material to dynamic isolation of energy infrastructures.
Abstract:
Conventional dynamic isolation systems currently under development employ high-damping rubber bearings, lead rubber bearings, or friction pendulum bearings. These systems are effective in reducing the damaging eff ects of the horizontal components of a dynamic excitation, but they are not well suited for protection against the vertical components of dynamic loads. Current dynamic isolation systems also cause large relative horizontal displacement between the foundation and the supported structure, which occurs during a dynamic excitation event, further complicating the design. A gap is usually provided between the isolated structure and the surrounding non-isolated structures to avoid hammering. A design that eliminates the need for such design restrictions would be very attractive. The proposed technology will attempt to overcome the disadvantages existing in current dynamic isolation systems by developing innovative periodic material-based dynamic isolators. These dynamic isolators, in effect, use the foundation of the infrastructure as the base isolation system. The foundation is made
of a new material, called periodic material, which can block, or reflect, the damaging dynamic motion being transmitted to the infrastructure. Guided by solid state physics, the dynamic isolators can be made by the periodic material to exhibit special characteristics that are useful in resisting the loads imposed on structures from dynamic excitations. Possessing distinct frequency band gaps, this periodic material will block, or reflect, the incoming dynamic motion with the frequencies falling between these gaps. The frequency band gaps can be controlled by their design and manufacture, exactly what is needed for dynamic isolators. One can properly design the frequency band gaps to match the fundamental frequency of the infrastructure so that its dynamic response will not be amplified; alternatively, one can design the frequency band gaps to match the strong energy frequency components of the design dynamic load.
Keynote Forum
Na Li
Research Scientist at Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, The University of Texas at Dallas
Keynote: Spinning Nanotubes into Artificial Muscles, Super capacitors, and Energy Harvesters
Time : 10:00-10:50
Biography:
Na Li received her B.S. and Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Nankai University in China. She currently works as a research scientist in the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, at the University of Texas at Dallas. Na Li has her expertise in fabrication and processing of nanomaterials, especially into multifunctional yarns. Her study mainly focuses on high performance artificial muscle fibers, novel energy conversion and harvesting solutions, bio-mimetic soft robotics, and stimuli-responsive textiles.
Abstract:
Humans long ago discovered the basic secrets of yarn spinning and used them to create strong yarns from short natural fibers such as wool and cotton. In recent decades, the discovery of carbon nanotubes has enabled us to downsize this process by spinning fibers 10,000 times smaller in diameter than a human hair. Such simple twisting processes can increase the strength of carbon nanotube aerogel sheets over 1,000 times by densely pack the nanotubes into yarns. The small diameter of the nanotubes (~10 nm) within these thermally- and electrically-conducting sheets enables nanotube yarns to be highly-flexible. Twisting functional guest materials together with nanotube sheets can form knottable, weavable, and knittable supercapacitor yarns that facilitate ultrafast charge and discharge cycles, binder free lithium ion battery yarns, biofuel cell yarn electrodes, and high critical-current-density superconducting yarns. Spinning also causes strong mechanical coupling between yarn twist and the guest material within a yarn, due to helical alignment of the high-stiffness nanotubes. This unusual property has allowed us to make stimuli-responsive yarns that act as artificial muscles. Such muscles can actuate in response to electricity, chemical pickup, light absorption or heat, and provide greater force than natural skeletal muscle. These multifunctional yarns seek to enable a new era of smart textiles that can store energy, sense and actuate to adjust the comfort of a wearer, and harvest energy from human motion.
- Speaker Sessions: Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Nanomaterials & Hydrogen Energy
Location: Allen
Chair
Bahman Zohuri
University of New Mexico, USA
Co-Chair
Jin Chul Park
Chung-Ang University, Korea
Session Introduction
Husam N Alshareef
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST),Saudi Arabia
Title: Two dimensional nanomaterial’s for energy storage applications
Time : 12:10-12:35
Biography:
Husam Alshareef is a Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. He holds a PhD from North Carolina State University, USA. His group at KAUST develops semiconductor nanomaterials for electronics and energy applications. The author of 330 scientific articles, he has nearly 75 issued patent, and has given hundreds of international invited and contributed presentations.
Abstract:
Fast electron and ion transport are important design parameters for nanostructured electrodes for energy storage applications, including batteries and super capacitors. Typically, fast electron transport has been achieved by incorporating conducting additives such as carbon black with the active electrode materials that have low conductivity. Such approach can indeed enhance the overall electronic conductivity of the electrode material in electrochemical energy storage devices. However, fast ion transport cannot be achieved using the same approach. Instead, controlling the dimensionality of the active electrode material has emerged as a powerful method to enhance ion diff usion within the electrode materials in electrochemical storage systems. 2D materials off er a large number of advantages as active electrode materials in batteries and super capacitors. This because the 2D morphology increases the surface area and reduces the ion diff usion distance, effects that can improve electrolyte access to as many active materials atoms as possible, and improve the ion diff usion kinetics. 2D electrode materials offer many other advantages in electrochemical systems. In addition, the 2D material morphology can minimize the volume changes associated with conversion and alloying mobile ion battery electrodes. In some applications, such as catalysis, the 2D materials edge defects can serve as active nucleation sites for catalytic reactions and have been reported to achieve impressive performance compared to commercial catalysts. Until recently, graphene and reduced graphene oxide have been the dominant 2D materials evaluated for energy storage applications. However, many more 2D compounds have emerged and now compete with graphene in performance. Such materials include transition metal chalcogenides (e.g., MoS2 and WS2), oxides (e.g., VO2 and SnO), transition metal carbides or MXenes (e.g., Ti3C2 and Ti2C), and even polymeric and metal organic frameworks. The common factor between all these compounds is their 2D morphology, which provides extreme surface area to volume ratio, which enhances the overall performance of these electrode materials for energy applications. In this presentation, we review recent progress in using 2D nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage applications, with special focus on super capacitors and Na/Li ion batteries.
Lei Zhao
Baker Hughes, A GE Company, USA
Title: Advanced carbon composite material for heavy oil and geothermal energy recovery
Time : 12:35-13:00
Biography:
Dr. Lei Zhao is a Lead Scientist from Baker Hughes, A GE Company. His working areas include high temperature seal, Nano composites, nanofabrication, as well as smart materials. Before joining Baker Hughes in 2013, he did his postdoc research on metal nanocomposite in Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, Illinois and PhD study on polymer nanocomposite in Georgia Tech. He has published over 30 papers in journals including Nature Nanotechnology, advanced materials, Angewandte Chemie, etc., and filed over 30 patent applications in area of energy materials.
Abstract:
Lack of high temperature elastic seals has been the bottleneck for the energy industry to economically and safely explore geothermal energy and heavy oils. The reserve of heavy oil is three times the total amount of conventional oil and gas combined, and resource of geothermal energy is almost unlimited. In these applications, hot fluids are required to be safely sealed in an enclosed system, the temperature of which could easily reach to 750°F (399°C) and above, and the seal material also has to survive the extremely corrosive downhole environment. Traditionally, elastomers are the materials chosen for downhole
sealing applications. But this type of organic material is prone to decompose when temperatures approach 600°F (316°C) and even lower in wellbore fluids. Metal to metal sealing systems may have the temperature tolerance, but lacks enough elasticity to provide reliable seal performance in downhole conditions. This presentation will introduce a newly developed elastic carbon composite (ECC), which is a highly engineered material with both mechanical and chemical properties readily tuned for specifi c applications. Tests show that the elastic carbon composite material has excellent thermal stability over 1000°F (538°C) and strong corrosion resistant to extremely corrosive environment including concentrated acid. In this presentation, we will also discuss the performance of the elastic carbon composite as a high temperature seal, and provide some exemplary industrial applications in unconventional energy recovery, including packing elements, O rings, and chemical injection valves seals.
Thirumany Sritharan
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Title: Improvements and scale up of BiVO4 photoanode for water splitting in photoectrochemical cells
Time : 14:10-14:35
Biography:
Thirumany Sritharan is a Professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, NTU, Singapore. His expertise is in multiferroic materials, thin films and solar energy harvesting. He is currently the main PI in NTU for the multi-million $ CREATE program between NTU-Singapore, University of California, Berkeley and NUS, Singapore. This program is fully funded by the National Research Foundation of Singapore under their CREATE umbrella funding program. It is on the topic of Sustainable Energy and has a total of about 60 researchers from both Singapore and Berkeley. Prior to this, he has worked on multiferroic materials with special attention BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films and on various thin film and interfacial problems in microelectronic circuits. He has obtained his PhD from The University of Sheffield, UK and worked at The University of Melbourne and Comalco Research Centre, Melbourne before joining NTU Singapore.
Abstract:
The monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 is recognized as one of the promising candidate materials for photoanode because of its 9.1% theoretical solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. While signifi cant research effort has been devoted to improving the photoelectrochemical cell performance of this material, they have mainly been in small anode areas. This talk will give the methodologies employed to produce a scaled-up 5x5 cm2 photoanode and give results of its performance in a large photoelectrochemical cell to split water. Multiple modifi cations were made, by systematic experimental evaluations, to enhance the performance of the anode. These are: use of an under layer, an over layer of co-catalyst, and doping the BiVO4 with Mo. These will be described. An adverse effect of area was noted in our studies which we call the “areal effect”. The photocurrent density steadily decreased with increase of illumination area. Evidence to specifically verify the areal effect were obtained experimentally and will be discussed. This is the first documented evidence for this effect. Understanding the reasons for the areal effect is indispensable for the development of large scale PEC devices for water splitting. Preliminary information on the stability of the large area anode in the electrolyte will also be shown and discussed.
Kamal Choudhary
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Title: High-throughput identification and characterization of two-dimensional materials using density functional theory
Time : 14:35-15:00
Biography:
Kamal Choudhary is a Post-doctoral Researcher at National Institute of Standards and Technology. His current area of research is database development and management for atomistic calculation using classical force-field, quantum density functional theory and machine learning through JARVIS (Joint Automated Repository for Various Integrated Simulations) project.
Abstract:
We introduce a simple criterion to identify two-dimensional (2D) materials based on the comparison between experimental lattice constants and lattice constants mainly obtained from Materials-Project (MP) density functional theory (DFT) calculation repository. Specifically, if the relative difference between the two lattice constants for a specific material is greater than or equal to 5%, we predict them to be good candidates for 2D materials. We have predicted at least 1356 such 2D materials. For all the systems satisfying our criterion, we manually create single layer systems and calculate their energetics, structural, electronic, and elastic properties for both the bulk and the single layer cases. Currently the database consists of 1012 bulk and 430 single layer materials, of which 371 systems are common to bulk and single layer. The rest of calculations are underway. To validate our criterion, we calculated the exfoliation energy of the suggested layered materials, and we found that in 88.9% of the cases the currently accepted criterion for exfoliation was satisfied. Also, using molybdenum telluride as a test case, we performed X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering experiments to benchmark our calculations and understand their applicability and limitations.
Francis D’Souza
University of North Texas, USA
Title: Artificial photosynthesis: Light capture, charge separation and fuel production
Time : 15:00-15:25
Biography:
Francis D’Souza Received Ph. D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1992, and post-doctoral studies at the University of Houston and University of Dijon, France. He was a Professor of Chemistry at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS from 1994 to 2011, and joined the faculty of University of North Texas in 2011. He is part of UNT’s Bio Nano Photonics research cluster. Francis D'Souza's research covers wide areas of chemistry, nanophotonics and materials science. Principal research interests include chemistry and supramolecular chemistry of porphyrins and carbon nanomaterials, light energy harvesting, photo electrochemistry and photovoltaics, ultrafast spectroscopy, electrochemical and photochemical sensors and catalysts, fluorescent chemosensors and biosensors, conducting nanocomposite hybrid materials for energy storage and conversion.
Abstract:
To tackle the ever increasing energy demand of modern society and avoid environmental pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, solar energy is perhaps the most attractive, renewable, clean and inexhaustible energy source. Therefore, efficient capture and conversion of solar energy into chemical energy and electricity by utilizing molecular systems that follow the concept artificial photosynthesis has witnessed rapid growth during recent years. In the design, multi-modular donor-acceptor systems capable of wide-band light capture for maximum utilization of sun light, and subsequently perform the process of photo induced electron transfer leading to long-lived charge separated states of sufficient stored energy are key factors. The stored energy in the electron transfer products will be subsequently utilized for light-to-electricity and light-to-fuel production. The talk will present recent developments in our laboratory on the research topic of building supramolecular systems capable of visible-near infrared light capture, and transporting the captured light to the donor-acceptor site for carrying out successive light induced electron transfer resulting in high potential charge separated states in solution and electrode surfaces. Further, utilization of surface modified artificial photosynthetic systems for solar fuel production will also be highlighted.
Jin Chul Park
Chung-Ang Université, South Korea
Title: Window ventilation system with artificial intelligence
Time : 15:25-15:50
Biography:
Jin Chul Park is an architectural engineering Professor and has been working in Chung-Ang University since 2004. He had been postdoctoral work from 2001 to 2002 in University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA). In association activities, he is the president of the KGBC (Korea Green Building Council) and the vice president of AIK(Architectural Institute of Korea). Also he has experienced an Editor of JABBE (Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering) from 2010 to 2012. He has been interested in indoor air quality, energy saving in buildings. In his recent research, he is carrying out research to reduce greenhouse gas and save energy and to create indoor environment. He has authored or coauthored 50 fully-refereed technical articles during 10 years.
Abstract:
Since we humans spend more than 85% of the day indoors, the management of indoor air quality is very important for health. Particularly, most indoor dust particles are generated indoors, but they are also introduced into the room due to external environmental pollution. Therefore, in recent research, dust particles are seriously threatening the health of occupants. There are many ways to control the dust particles in the room, but ventilation is most effective. However, ventilation is only eff ective on the condition that the outside air is clean. That is, when the outside air is contaminated, it is necessary to purify the outside air. Therefore, this study proposes a ventilation system using windows that can control indoor and outdoor air together. In particular, it is a ventilation system that takes into account various new factors such as artificial intelligent, IoT, and behavior patterns of occupants, and indoor / outdoor and temperature / humidity. Also, in order to control polluted indoor / outdoor air, a window ventilation system with an air filter is provided. And the window ventilation system has the advantage of saving building energy by being connected with artificial intelligence. Therefore, the artificial intelligent window ventilation system will provide a comfort environment for occupants and contribute to the improvement of indoor air quality.
Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan
QC In-charge at Arabian International Company for steel
Title: Weldability of dissimilar joint of Steel/ 1100 Aluminum alloy and its quality
Time : 11:40-12:10
Biography:
Mohamed Mahmoud is a native of Khartoum City and he lives in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Mohamed enrolled at Sudan University for science and technology in May 2007. He was an active student there, pursuing his interests in student events, drama, and football while living at home and helping to run the family’s store. Mohamed won a scholarship to attend Osmania University’s science school in July 2013, where he was leader of the foreigner Student Association. He graduated in June 2015. His primary research interests are in the field of welding. Specifically, he is interested weldabilty of dissimilar material as steel and aluminum and study of the joint quality .
Abstract:
Joining of dissimilar materials has found a wide use especially in power plants, nuclear reactors, chemical and gas industries; this will produce a desirable properties and weight reduction. However, the welding of dissimilar metal faces big challenges due to the difference in the thermo mechanical, chemical and physical properties of the two metals to be joined following one welding procedure.
Unsymmetrical deformation has been observed with respect to the plane of the joint interface; the formation of intermetallic compound may increase the sensitivity for the cracks and reduce the ductility as well increasing the susceptibility to corrosion. Tungsten Inert Gas TIG welding is one of the possible processes in order to join dissimilar metals such as steel and aluminum alloys by conducting self-brazing technique due to its possibility to produce partial penetration weld in steel sheet. Currently, welding-brazing of steel to aluminum alloys has become a point of research method in heterogeneous metals joining, which includes ARC welding brazing and laser welding-brazing with the filler metal.
Dissimilar weld is mainly required to form different chemical and physical properties of metals; this is to reduce the material cost, increase the performance and minimize the susceptibility to failure and maintenance. Nowadays there is a high demand of the use of welding techniques to join dissimilar metals, mainly ferrous with non-ferrous.
- Speaker Sessions: Materials Science and Engineering & Nanotechnology in Materials Research
Location: Allen
Chair
Hyoyoung Lee
Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
Session Introduction
Bahman Zohuri
University of New Mexico, Mexico
Title: Why we need nuclear power plants?
Time : 16:10-16:35
Biography:
Bahman Zohuri is currently at the University of New Mexico as Associate Research Professor and Consultant at Sandia National Lab as well as Galaxy Advanced Engineering, Inc. a consulting company that he stared himself in 1991 when he left both semiconductor and defense industries after many years working as a chief scientist. After graduating from University of Illinois in field of Physics and Applied Mathematics, he joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation where he performed thermal hydraulic analysis and natural circulation for Inherent Shutdown Heat Removal System (ISHRS) in the core of a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) as a secondary fully inherent shut system for secondary loop heat exchange. All these designs were, used for Nuclear Safety and Reliability Engineering for Self-Actuated Shutdown System. He designed the Mercury Heat Pipe and Electromagnetic Pumps for Large Pool Concepts of LMFBR for heat rejection purpose for this reactor around 1978 where he received a patent for it. He then was, transferred to defense division of Westinghouse later, where he was responsible for the dynamic analysis and method of launch and handling of MX missile out of canister. He has later on joined Lockheed and Rockwell International working on Satellite system for SDI as well as working and developing sensor system on board for remote sensing as well GIS. He later on was a consultant at Sandia National Laboratory after leaving United States Navy. Dr. Zohuri earned his first Bachelor's in Applied Mathematics and his second one in Physics along with his Master’s degrees in Physics from the University of Illinois and his second Master degree in Mechanical Engineering as well as his Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from University of New Mexico. He has been, awarded three patents, and has published 32 textbooks and numerous other journal publications. Recently he has been involved with Cloud Computation, Data warehousing, and Data Mining using Fuzzy and Boolean logic.
Abstract:
Some scientists are calling the nuclear power plants source of energy as 100 percent renewable energy and off course environmentalists arguably are saying that is wrong approach, just because in the core of these plants there exist Uranium or Plutonium as fuel when we are talking about fission type nuclear power plants that they exist in grid today and producing electricity to the net. However, on the other side of spectrum where, researchers and scientist at national laboratories and universities around the globe that are working toward fusion program to achieve a breakeven are passionately argue that nuclear power plants of fusion type are totally clean so long as the source of energy come in form of two hydrogen isotopes such as Deuterium (D) and Tritium (T) as source of fusion reaction and driving energy from it. This is a dream that is too far away from reality of today's need and demand for electricity, yet is not out of scope of near future. Physics of Plasma for driving energy via Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) or Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) agree with such innovative approaches.
Sunghwan Lee
Baylor University, USA
Title: Intermediate temperature synthesis and SOFC anode application of cerium silicatebased oxy-apatites
Time : 16:35-17:00
Biography:
Sunghwan Lee is currently an Assistant Professor at Baylor University since fall 2015. He earned a Doctoral degree in Materials Science at Brown University where he focused on transparent oxide semiconductors and their high mobility thin film transistor (TFT) devices. He has spent two and a half years for his Postdoctoral research in Chemical Engineering at MIT in Materials Science/Applied Physics at Harvard University where he was working on various projects in the field of transparent flexible electronics and energy conversion devices such as TFTs, solar cells, and fuel cells based on the materials of CVD-grown conjugated polymers and oxide ion conductors.
Abstract:
Oxy-apatites based on rare earth silicates (A10x(SiO4)6O2±x, A=rare earth cation) are of increasing interest for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) application due to the high conductivity at moderate temperatures (<1000 K). Here, we report on the intermediate-temperature synthesis (973 K) of thin film oxy-apatites and high total conductivity of the cerium silicate-based apatites at temperatures <750 K: the Ce4.67 (SiO4)3O-based apatites (~80 nm-thick) were synthesized at 973 K at very low oxygen partial pressure (p(O2)<10-17 atm) and the incorporation of ZnO into the cerium silicate system leads to the high
total conductivity of ~0.05-0.2 S/cm. The formation of oxy-apatites was identified by in-situ conductivity measurements as a function of p(O2), x-ray diff raction analysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In particular, the in-situ conductivity measurements confi rm that the dominant conduction mechanisms of this class of materials are mainly dependent on oxygen interstitials. Since these materials are prepared at low p(O2) and are stable in reducing atmospheres, Ce4.67(SiO4)3O-based thin film apatites exhibiting high conductivity are of relevance as anodes for intermediate temperature thin film SOFC application. In order to evaluate the performance of the apatite anode in SOFC devices, thin film apatites were grown on Sc-stabilized ZrO2/LSCF electrolyte/cathode substrates. Bilayer anode of apatite/Pt and Ni- apatite composite anode were also utilized in the identical electrolyte/cathode system and the performance were compared. The noteworthy SOFC performance (e.g., peak power density of ~100 mW/cm2 at 748K) and superior stability were observed in Ni-apatite SOFCs due to higher catalytic activity and low contact resistance at the electrolyte/anode interface compared to those with a single layer apatite anode and bilayers of apatite/Pt anode. Th e present study demonstrating intermediate temperature synthesis of Ce4.67 (SiO4)3O-based
oxy-apatites and their high conductivity may signifi cantly contribute to the field of intermediate temperature thin fi lm SOFC applications.
Rahim Munir
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, Saudi Arabia
Title: Science communication: Effective use of social media for scientists
Time : 17:00-17:25
Biography:
Rahim Munir is a doctoral candidate at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and affiliated with the KAUST Solar Center (KSC), where he works on understanding the structure-properties-performance relationship for perovskite solar cells. He completed his MSc degree from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He leads a team of scientists from KAUST to perform x-ray based experiments at Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). Munir is an active member of the Materials Research Society (MRS) and played major leading roles in the MRS-KAUST Student Chapter. He publishes articles on his personal blog and is a volunteer science writer for MRS Bulletin. He has given several invited talks about leadership and communication skills and has encouraged students of Saudi universities to pursue science and engineering as their career. Recently, he organized the “Academic Writing” symposia during the 2016 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston. In his free time, he enjoys reading Oriental philosophy.
Abstract:
The paucity of scientists engaging in communicative activities has created a vacuum of knowledge in the age of information. Social media provides the platform to share the discoveries and inventions at the lab scale. Promulgating the research publication is through social media is becoming a routine for the journals. In this talk, I will show the jaw-dropping statistics of people using social media. I will share the key resources and freeware which can be used in order to promote your work with only the basics of graphic designing. Blog and personal website help to create a portfolio for an individual and the lab. I will share the examples of personal websites of scientists promoting their work. We are just beginning to explore the power of social media at this stage; it has a long way to go. Joining the social media revolution at the right time will provide the ample opportunity to stand out as a researcher.
Belqasem Aljafari
University of South Florida, USA
Title: Gel polymer electrolyte based on flexible solid-state super-capacitors appropriate for energy storage in small flexible electronics devices
Time : 17:25-17:45
Biography:
Belqasem Aljafari has completed his MS at the age of 29 years from Northern Illinois University school of engineerin. He is pursuing his education by studying
currently the PhD degree schoold of engineering.
Abstract:
Electrical energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors are essential elements in many portable and wearable electronics. However, conventional energy storage devices are usually bulky and solid, not being very suitable for applications that need mechanical flexibility. In this work, we have presented a fully flexible supercapacitor device made from two carbon nanotube (CNT) paper based electrodes with a layer of a gel type electrolyte between the electrodes. The electrodes were fabricated by spreading a suspension solution of CNT over a piece of Xerox paper and dry the paper in a vacuum oven. The gel was made by adding polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to an acid solution and stir the solution for a few hours. Despite the simple method of fabrication, the fabricated devices presented relatively high capacitances. Devices were made with two different gel electrolytes, using H2SO4 and H3PO4 acids. Electrochemical study of the devices showed 39.39 mF and 30.44 mF capacitances for the H2SO4-PVA and H3PO4-PVA electrolytes, respectively. Also, the devices presented series resistances about 30 Ω which is low enough for many small electronic applications. The device characteristics were also measured while bending them under various curvatures. Less than 15% change in capacitance was observed when devices were bent up to 1.6 cm-1 curvature. However, the capacitance was return to the original value aft er relaxing the device. The excellent electrochemical properties and the mechanically stability of the devices are promising for low-cost electronic applications.