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£200,000 Grant to London Centre for Nanotechnology for Focus on H2 Storage and Large-Surface Organic Solar Cells
7 February 2008
The UK Royal Society has awarded a £200,000 (US$392,000) laboratory refurbishment grant to professors Neal Skipper and Franco Cacialli, of the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) and the Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London (UCL).
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| A sample of a hydrogen storage material to be further prototyped in the new laboratories. The material is carbon-based and is already close to meeting some of the DoE targets for hydrogen storage. Credit: UCL/LCN |
The refurbishment program will create a new facility to enable the team to address two important issues in carbon emission reduction: the creation of cheap, efficient storage for hydrogen, and the development of large-surface organic solar cells.
The refurbished laboratory will allow the researchers to investigate some very promising nanostructured carbon-based materials which are non-toxic, recyclable and should meet theUS Department of Energy’s target for hydrogen storage materials and systems.
The other key energy challenge to be tackled in the new laboratory is the efficient generation of electricity from solar energy. Professor Cacialli is developing solar cells on organic substrates that can be made over large surfaces.
Unlike the glass-like traditional solar cells made from silicon, organic photovoltaics can be flexible, resembling plastic materials. Being flexible, they can be applied on uneven surfaces— e.g. it may be possible to wrap a building with energy-producing solar cells, effectively turning walls into generators. The new facilities will allow researchers to improve the nanoscale electronic components of solar cells leading to an increase in their efficiency and output.
The refurbished laboratory will be located at the UCL Department of Physics and Astronomy, in central London. The London Centre for Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary joint enterprise between University College London and Imperial College London.
The Royal Society awarded the grant, with funding from the Wolfson Foundation, under a scheme aiming to improve the UK’s research infrastructure.
February 7, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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Organic cells are less efficient but since the cost per watt is important, if they can make them cheap enough they would be useful.
I like research labs all working on different aspects of potential solutions. No gaps nor overlaps in the efforts to prove out various technologies.
Posted by: sjc | Feb 8, 2008 11:54:19 PM
