Symposium ES09-Advanced Materials for the Water-Energy Nexus

Many emerging technologies can simultaneously purify water while storing or generating energy, forming a fast-growing technological Water-Energy nexus. Advanced materials are necessary for the numerous technologies at the water-energy nexus, which include electrochemical systems such as capacitive deionization, desalination batteries, and bio-electrochemical systems. These materials act as electrodes, catalysts, and membranes whose properties need to be designed at the atomic scale. Many of these materials are layered or tunnel structures that can act as hosts for the storage and separation for fluid and electrolyte species. Materials at the water-energy nexus interact strongly with fluids at the interface and under nanoconfinement while at the same time providing critical functions. The continuing success of this field is hinged upon improved understanding of fluid nanoconfinement and interlayer chemistry in order to develop new materials with improved functionality and properties.

This symposium will highlight the latest advances in the fundamental understanding, theory, and modeling of materials at the water-energy nexus as well as their design, synthesis, and characterization. The focus of the symposium will be on fundamental understanding and control of materials in water-energy applications. These will include control of material chemical composition and structure with the aim to achieve advanced performance in energy-water technologies, such as electrical energy storage, pressure driving and electrochemical desalination, and electrocatalysis. Of particular interest will be fundamental studies of interlayer or tunnel modification and nanoconfinement effects. The topical list of this symposium is intended to cover a diverse range of materials science related research, including: design, synthesis, characterization, theory, simulation, and devices.

Topics will include:

Soft chemistry routes to interlayer modification
Nanoconfinement of water and electrolytes
Hybrid layered inorganic/organic materials
Two-dimensional heterostructures
Aqueous energy storage
Aqueous electrocatalysis
Water treatment
Water desalination

Invited Speakers:

Baoxia Mi (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Yury Gogotsi (Drexel University, USA)
Debra Rolison (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, USA)
Kisuk Kang (Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)
Guihua Yu (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
Candace Chan (Arizona State University, USA)
Robert Kostecki (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA)
François Béguin (Poznan University of Technology, Poland)
Christopher Gorski (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Meagan Mauter (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
Katharine Page (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA)
Slawomir Porada (Wetsus, Netherlands)
Volker Presser (Saarland University and INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Germany)
Birgit Schwenzer (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory/National Science Foundation, USA)
James Skinner (University of Chicago, USA)
Kyle Smith (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA)
Michael Stadermann (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA)
Keith Stevenson (Skoltech, Russian Federation)
Esther Takeuchi (Stony Brook University, USA)
Ngai Yin Yip (Columbia University, USA)
Jeyong Yoon (Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)
Michael Zdilla (Temple University, USA)