Nanoscience Center sponsors workshop on future of batteries
The Indiana University Nanoscience Center sponsored a workshop on advanced battery technologies on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. The workshop was an outgrowth of a major two-day Energy Conference held at IU Bloomington and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in August.
The workshop explored current battery research and future directions for developing high-power and high-energy density batteries needed for transportation and renewable energy applications. With contributors from IU Bloomington, IUPUI, Ohio State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, industry and government laboratories, the workshop focused on identifying areas of mutual interest and developing regional collaborations.
Speakers included Lane Baker (Chemistry, IUB), Lyudmila Bronstein (Chemistry, IUB), John Carini (Physics, IUB), Jian Xie (IUPUI), Ganesan Nagasubramanian (Sandia National Laboratory), Jai Prakash (Illinois Institute of Technology), Krishnan Raghavachari (Chemistry, IUB), Paul Sokol (Physics, IUB), Yiying Wu (Ohio State University), and Sue Waggoner (Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center).
The chair of the organizing committee, Lyudmila Bronstein from the IU Bloomington Department of Chemistry, said battery research is an emerging research area for IU that has important implications for Indiana and beyond. IU's Nanoscience Center is concerned with studying the physical, chemical and biological properties of objects with dimensions between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth (1/1,000,000,000) of a meter. In comparison, a hair is 100,000 nanometers wide.
Objects in the 1 to 100 nanometer size range have special and unexpected properties. Scientists at IU and elsewhere believe these unusual properties mean that nanoscale materials can make critical contributions to energy research and development.
For more information on the Nanoscience Center, go to http://nano.indiana.edu/.
This article was first published on Nov. 2, 2009.
