Advanced Materials and Nano Science

Energy Materials and Harvesting

Different geophysical and social pressures are providing a shift from conventional fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy sources. We must create the materials that will support emergent energy technologies. Solar energy is a top priority of the department, and we are devoting extensive resources to developing photovoltaic cells that are both more efficient and less costly than current technology. We also have extensive research around next-generation battery technology. Materials performance lies at the heart of the development and optimization of green energy technologies and computational methods now plays a major role in modeling and predicting the properties of complex materials.

The global market for super capacitor is expected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2014 to $2.0 billion in 2015 at a year-on-year (YOY) growth rate of 9.2%. In addition, the market is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR (2015 to 2020) of 19.1%, to reach $4.8 billion in 2020.