Nanoscience Research for Energy Needs. Report of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Grand Challenge Workshop, March 16-18, 2004

Abstract

Book design by Patricia Yalden and other staff members at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Cover design by Kanako Yamamoto of Affordable Creative Services, Inc.Front cover: Scanning tunneling microscope image of an ammonia synthesis catalyst that is made of ruthenium particles about 10 nanometers in diameter. This nanoparticle catalyst is 10 times more active than commercial iron-based catalysts (courtesy of Zhen Song and Jan Hrbek, Brookhaven National Laboratory).Back cover: Detailed atomic structure of silicon nanoparticles simulated by state-of-the-art, highly accurate quantum techniques (courtesy of Giulia Galli, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory). Copyright informationThis document is a work of the U.S. Government and is in the public domain. Subject to stipulations below, it may be distributed and copied, with acknowledgment to the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) and the U.S. Department of Energy. Copyrights to portions of this report (including graphics) contributed by workshop participants and others are reserved by original copyright holders or their assignees, and are used here under the Government's license and by permission. Requests to use any images must be made to the provider identified in the image credits, or to the NNCO if no provider is identified. AcknowledgmentsThanks are extended to the principal authors listed on the title page of this report (reverse side of this page). In addition, the report's authors wish to thank all the participants at the March 16-18, 2004 workshop held in Arlington, VA, particularly the workshop cochairs, Ellen Williams of the University of Maryland and Robert Hwang of Brookhaven National Laboratory. The presentations and discussions at that workshop provided the foundation for this report.Credit is due to staff members in the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and in the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office who assisted in organizing the workshop and in editing the final report:Christie Ashton, Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences Sam Gill, NNCO Stephen Gould, NNCO Geoffrey Holdridge, NNCO Philip Lippel, NNCO Special thanks are due to Robert Hwang and other staff members at Brookhaven National Laboratory who prepared, edited, and printed the first edition of the manuscript, and to Geoffrey Holdridge, Philip Lippel, Cate Alexander, and other staff members at the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office and WTEC, Inc. who contributed to editing, production, and distribution of this second edition.Finally, thanks to all the members of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology, who cosponsored the workshop with the Department of Energy and who reviewed the draft report before its publication.This workshop was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and, through the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, the other member agencies of the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee, Committee on Techn...

Design and operation of a microfabricated phonon spectrometer utilizing superconducting tunnel junctions as phonon transducers

“…One of the grand challenges of nanoscience is to develop experimental tools to understand the fundamental science of heat flow at the nanoscale [1,2]. In insulators and dielectrics, acoustic phonons are the dominant heat carriers [3], [4].…”

Photosynthetic Hydrogen Production by a Hybrid Complex of Photosystem I and [NiFe]-Hydrogenase

“…Fuels from renewable sources, such as molecular hydrogen, are necessary to satisfy the growing global energy demand in the future without creating severe environmental problems . A promising approach is to use nature’s catalytic converter of solar power into chemical energythe photosynthesis apparatusto convert solar energy into biomass at a rate of 90 TJ s −1 . Using light as the driving force, photosystem II (PS II) splits water into molecular oxygen, protons, and electrons.…”

Nanocharacterization

“…PEMFCs are one type of fuel cell and can spontaneously convert chemical energy into electricity with ultralow emissions and ultrahigh efficiency [78]. The amount of Pt loading is expected to decrease from 0.4 to 0.2 mg/cm 2 over current loading guidelines [79]. The amount of Pt loading is expected to decrease from 0.4 to 0.2 mg/cm 2 over current loading guidelines [79].…”