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Symposium F: Oxide Thin Films for Renewable Energy Applications

• 2012 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit

• November 25-30, 2012
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Meeting Chairs: Chennupati Jagadish, Thomas Lippert, Amit Misra, Eric Stach, Ting Xu

Oxide Thin Films for Renewable Energy Applications

With the ever-growing demand for energy storage and energy production for mobile applications, research into small and light-weight energy-producing and -harvesting devices becomes increasingly important. Therefore, the main objective of this symposium is to address the use of thin films in renewable energy applications with an emphasis on oxide materials. Complex oxides are used in energy research spanning from photo- and electrocatalysis, electrolytes and electrodes for batteries and fuel cells, and transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) for photovoltaics to thermoelectric/piezoelectric applications. In this context, thin films are typically used for micro-device applications (thin-film batteries, fuel cells, thermoelectric applications) and as model systems for fundamental studies. The latter may focus on studies of the SEI formation on battery electrodes, ion conductivity in solid electrolytes (including enhancements at interfaces and via strain), phonon scattering effects in thermoelectrics (including superlattices), and catalytic effects at surfaces (and the influence of microstructure and crystallinity).

This symposium will concentrate on a multidisciplinary approach of physics, chemistry, materials science, and engineering needed to advance this field. Experimental and theoretical progress made in the areas of structural/functional/chemical analysis and in issues related to synthesis approaches will be emphasized. This encompasses different deposition techniques including PVD (PLD, sputtering, MBE), chemical routes (CVD, sol-gel, ALE), and various direct-writing methods.

Abstracts are solicited in (but are not necessarily limited to) the following areas:

• Oxide thin films and multilayers for thermoelectric applications
• Transparent conducting oxides for photovoltaic applications
• Strain and interface enhancement in ion-conducting thin films
• Materials issues for thin-film batteries, e.g., SEI formation, capacity fading
• Composite thermoelectrics
• Catalytic effects at oxide-film surfaces
• Magnetocaloric oxide materials
• Photocatalytic water splitting

A joint session with Symposium I: Functional Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells on energy-related topics is being considered.

Invited Speakers Include:

Nancy J. Dudney (Oak Ridge National Lab), J. Fleig (Technische Univ. Wien, Austria), David S. Ginley (National Renewable Energy Lab), W. Jaegermann (Technische Univ. Darmstadt, Germany), George Neuman (Gentex Corp.), F. B. Prinz (Stanford Univ.), S. Ramanathan (Harvard Univ.), J. Santiso (CSIC-Barcelona, Spain), Ji-Won Son (KIST, Korea), E. Traversa (NIMS, Japan), A. Weidenkaff (EMPA, Switzerland).  

Symposium Organizers

Christof W. Schneider
Paul Scherrer Institute
Materials Group, OFLB
General Energy Research Dept.
CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Tel 41-56-3104122
christof.schneider@psi.ch

Craig B. Arnold
Princeton University
Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton, NJ 08540
Tel 609-258-0250
cbarnold@princeton.edu

Nini Pryds
Technical University of Denmark
Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy
Frederiksborgvej 399, Bldg. 779
P. O. Box 49, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Tel 45-4677-5752
nipr@risoe.dtu.dk