Jun 30 2009

Just One Word: Materials

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

More than a few venture investors would consider giving up their first born if they could identify for sure the Next Big Thing.

Last week, however, a senior energy technology guru gave them some free advice. His message: don't just look at obvious items like batteries and solar cells, but also at the "game-changing materials" that underly key advances in those technologies. (Shameless plug: see NEXT100's earlier take on some of the amazing developments in materials science.)

Speaking at the annual convention of the Edison Electric Institute in San Francisco, Mike Howard, senior vice president of R&D at the Electric Power Research Institute, emphasized that "materials are critically important to everything we do," from generation to lighting to storage.

As an example, he pointed to the current limits on steam generation efficiency set by steels that degrade at temperatures above 1000F. If operating temperatures of boilers and turbines could be raised to 1400F, their efficiency could be increased dramatically from 37 percent to 47 percent.

Finding new materials to work at such temperature extremes without cracking requires understanding what is happening at the atomic level. "Working with atomic probe microscopes, we are uncovering some fundamental properties of materials and why failures occur," he said.

Materials science is also having a revolutionary impact on lighting, which consumes about 17 percent of all electricity in the United States. Applying surface-mount technology to assemble LEDs with different spectra to produce the desired light output is opening up great room for potential further improvements in efficiency and usability. "LEDs are on a strong upward trajectory with regard to efficiency," Howard said. "It's a game changer."

Last but not least he addressed storage, where the Holy Grail is maximizing the amount of energy stored per kilogram (energy density). For electrochemical batteries, the critical factor is the amount of reactive surface area available.

By inserting nanowires into lithium ion batteries, their energy density can be increased four times, Howard said. That means a laptop computer could be powered for 16 hours instead of only four, with batteries of the same weight and size. Or it means a Chevy Volt could drive 160 miles instead of 40 on a single charge. "That's where we are headed," Howard promised.

© 2008 Pacific Gas and Electric Company. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms

"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.