Enabling sustainable energy technologies A Queensland Perspective

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Enabling sustainable energy technologies A
Queensland Perspective

• Professor Max Lu FTSE Fed Fellow
• Director
• Http//www.arccfn.org.au

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Australian Institute for Bioengineering and
Nanotechnology

• Nanotechnology for Energy the Environment
• Cell Tissue Engineering
• Systems Biotechnology
• Biomolecular Nanotechnology

The University of Queensland Brisbane, Australia
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products
Nanoparticles Nanotubes Thin films/membranes Nano
porous/composite

• 4 Universities
• (UQ,UNSW, ANU, UWS)
• over 110 researchers
• 24.8 m over 8 year

Tools X-Rays, NMR, Microscopy, Spectroscopy,
Molecular modelling
Applications Clean energy,environment health
care
materials
techniques
Nanoscale Sciences
Http//www.arccfn.org.au
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Humanitys Top Ten Problemsfor next 100 years

• ENERGY
• WATER
• FOOD
• ENVIRONMENT
• POVERTY
• TERRORISM WAR
• DISEASE
• EDUCATION
• DEMOCRACY
• POPULATION

2007 6.6 Billion People 2050 8-10
Billion People
http//energysos.org/ricksmalley/top10problems/
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Clean Energy Research at UQ
Clean Coal and Gas
Renewable Energy
Energy Efficiency
John Zhu, SOE Direct carbon fuel cells H2
production from natural gas Gas to liquid Carbon
nanotube membranes
Hal Gergenci, SOE Geothermal energy
Ben Adair, JKMRC Reducing mining energy use
Jurg Keller, AWMC Ben Hankemer, IMB Microbial
fuel cells Biofuels
Joe da Costa, SOE Inorganic membrane for gas
separation
Max Lu, ARCCFN Lianzhou Wang, Andrew Dicks, Arne
Dahle, SOE H2 storage H2 and methanol fuel
cells Solar energy Bio-fuels
Victor Rudolph, SOE CO2 sequestration in deep
coal beds
Alex Klimenko, Bo Feng, SOE Coal gasification
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Victor Rudolphs group Coal bed methane and CO2
enhanced coal bed methane

• Mass Transfer in Coal Seams for CO2
  Sequestration
• Multicomponent gas diffusion and flow in coals
  for CO2 enhanced coal bed methane recovery
• The Effect of Fines Particles on Production and
  Permeability of CBM Reservoirs
• Well supported by ARC and local industry

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Joe da Costas groupMembrane for gas separation

• High temperature gas separation (H2, CO2, CO, O2)
• Membrane reactors
• Functionalised and doped silica membranes
• Carbon molecular sieve membranes
• Budget over 1 million per year

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Gas Separation Membranes
US DOE FutureGen
Hydrogen Economy
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John Zhus group

• Clean coal and gas technologies being developed
• Clean coal - DCFC
• Clean gas - H2 production from natural gas
• CNT membrane for large scale gas separation
• Gas to liquid
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments

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Nanomaterials Enabling Clean Energy Technologies

• Novel H2 Storage Materials
• Nano-electrodes for fuel cells and
  supercapacitors
• Efficient photocatalyst for solar cells and solar
  hydrogen generation
• Micro-channel reactor for ethanol production from
  coal methane
• Hydrogen production from biomass
• Nanofluid enhanced heat exchangers for geothermal
  energy

• Four patented technologies
• Industry partners Saudi Aramco,
• BioAust, Johnson Matthey UK,
• Envirovolve, Exergy

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Hydrogen Economy
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Nanostructured Hydrogen Storage Materials
L. Schlapbach and A. Züttel, Nature, Vol. 414,
353-358, 2001
Containers storing 4kg H2 compared to size of a
car
Ads-H2 (5-10wt)

• Liquefying hydrogen wastes at ca. 1/ 3 of the
  stored energy
• Chemical hydrides suffer from weight and cost
  concerns
• Compressed tanks have issues of volume and
  safety

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Hydrogen Storage Targets

• US DOE benchmarks
• 4.5 wt, 1.2 kWh/L, and 6/kWh, by 2005
• 6.0 wt, 1.5 kWh/L, and 4/kWh, by 2010
• 9.0 wt, 2.7 kWh/L, and 2/kWh, by 2015
• IEA benchmark
• 5.0 wt. and 50 kg H2/m3

• Practical vehicle application targets
• 5 wt at lt150 0C for charging, lt200 0C for
  discharging
• Charge/discharge time lt10 minutes

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Nanostructured MgH2
Zaluski et al., J Alloys Comp. 1999
Wu, et al, J. Alloys Comp., 2005
300 oC, 2 bar
Yao et al. J Phys Chem B, 2006
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Catalyzed MgH2 System for High Capacity H2 Storage
Du, Smith, Yao and Lu, J. Am. Chem Soc., 2007,
129,
Yao and Lu et al,JACS, 2007
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Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)
(Solid Electrolyte)
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Nanomaterials for PEM

• High proton conductivity -desirable
• Low thermal, mechanical and chemical stability
• High HC/methanol cross-over
• Must be operated at around 80 0C
• CO sorption poisoning to Pt catalyst
• Low electrochemical rxn rate
• Expensive

Low effic.

• Nanoparticles dispersed in conducting polymers
  show promise for new PEM membranes
• Influence the size and connectivity of ionic
  clusters
• Make a contribution to proton transport
• Reduce fuel (methanol) permeability
• Increase water retention at high temperatures

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Photograph of POSi/PVA nanocomposite membrane
(a), and SEM images of surface (b),
cross-section image in magnification of (c) 500
and (d) 2000.
Nanocomposite of POSi/PVA
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Methanol Permeability of the composite membrane
(4.9wt) and Nafion 117.
Methanol Permeability
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Proton Conductivities
Proton conductivities of POSi/PVA membranes with
various amounts of POSi at 20 oC and 100 rh
Jin, da Costa and Lu, Solid State Ionics, 2006
Adv Functional Materials, 2007 Ladewig and Lu et
al. Chemistry of Materials, 19, 2372, 2007
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Supercapacitors have a unique ability to provide
a solution that is small, lightweight and has the
power to fill the gap in capabilities
Supercapacitor Applications
Power density
Capacitor replacements
Energy density
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Hierarchical Porous Graphitic Carbon
Supercapacitor
Xing, Lu et al. Carbon 2006 Wang, Lu, Cheng, et
al., Angew Chem.2007
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TiO2 nanoparticles derived by sol-gel

• Particle size 10-20 nm
• Locally ordered structure
• Nanocrystalline structure and mixed
  anatase-rutile phase

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Novel Visible Light Photocatalyst
1. LT
3. LTN
LT
2. HLTN
Visible light photocatalyst for High Efficiency
Solar Cells, Cost-effective water purification,
and possibly also for hydrogen production from
water
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Highly reactive single crystals of TiO2

• Potential applications
• Dye-sensitized solar cells
• Hydrogen production from photosplitting of water
• Photocatalytic purification of water and air
• Photochemical conversion of CO2

• Features
• Ultra large reactive surface 001) facets -47
• Highly reactive toward water and organics
• High UV absorption

News Links
http//www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article14818

http//www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2008/May/28
050804.asp

• H. G. Yang, C. H. Sun, S.Z. Qiao, G. Liu, J. Zou,
  S. C. Smith, H.M. Cheng and G.Q. Lu
• Nature, Vol 45329 May 2008 doi10.1038/nature069
  64