Materials for Energy

One of humanity’s foremost challenges is satisfying our ever-growing demand for secure, clean energy. As the earth’s population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, global energy consumption is expected to increase commensurately, with at minimum a two-fold increase by 2050.  In raw demand, this is an increase from the present consumption of 13.5 terawatts (TW) to at least 27 TW. In our group, we direct efforts towards multidisciplinary approaches to renewable energies, in particular, utilization of solar and wind resources. We use earth-abundant, inexpensive materials for photovoltaics, solar fuels and battery applications. The research is built upon a highly interdisciplinary team consisting of industrial partners, industry and government laboratory supporters, and university and government collaborators.