Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage

This graduate elective treats energy conversion and storage as fundamentally an electrochemistry problem, asking how nanoscale material design at electrodes and interfaces sets the limits on solar cells, fuel cells, and batteries. You will work through Bard and Faulkner's electrochemical methods, tackle homework sets and a midterm and final, and carry out a project that digs into one system in depth. It assumes you are comfortable with physical chemistry and thermodynamics, and it gives the materials-science background needed for research in photovoltaics, hydrogen technologies, or next-generation lithium and beyond-lithium batteries.