Physics and chemistry of materials for energy storage

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.