| Affiliations: | STEM Research Leadership |
| Project Leader: | Siddhi Mehta siddhi_23@tamu.edu Materials Science & Engineering |
| Faculty Mentor: | Liang, Hong, Ph.D. |
| Meeting Times: | Saturday at 10:30 am |
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Team Size:
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5 |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Co-authorship on publications; hands-on experience in the lab
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Team Needs:
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Experimentation, writing, literature review, Density-Functional Theory, and Machine Learning Modelling |
| Description | Solar energy is regarded as one of humanity’s most sustainable, abundant, limitless, and clean energy resources, capable of meeting our modern society’s worldwide energy demands in an environmentally friendly manner. Solar cells have great potential as energy conversion devices, but their use is limited due to intermittent sunlight. Self-powering integrated solar cells and electrical energy storage devices can be a solution to this problem. For this purpose, solar energy conversion and electrical energy storage must be integrated into one system. Combining solar cells with an electrical-energy-storage unit not only allows for solar energy storage, but also reduces the variability of solar irradiation as an output power source. In the last decade, the development of green carbon materials or biomaterials, produced from biomass, has attracted special attention. The main advantages of those biomass materials are their abundance, low cost, and waste mitigation. Lignocellulose is an abundant and renewable biomass material with rich surface functional groups which show an excellent potential for producing electroactive carbon nanomaterials. Interests in lignocellulosic materials have increased in parallel with research in electrode materials. Naturally abundant and a green alternative carbon source, they have recently shown widespread applications in electrochemical applications. Carbon materials (activated carbons, carbon nanotubes, etc.) derived from lignocellulosic precursors exhibit excellent conductivity, rich porosity making them potential candidates for electrochemical energy storage. These materials have been used as binders, electrodes, and electrolytes for energy storage devices. In this research, electrochemical performance of biomass based electrodes will be investigated through experimental approaches. Low-cost synthesis processes of such materials will be developed. Electrochemical characterization includes current-potential evaluation, CV curve analysis, and service-life tests for failure analysis. Fundamental understanding in process-structure-property-electrochemical performance will be achieved. One of the key applications of this research lies in energy storage. Efficient energy storage systems are an essential requirement today. Batteries, as well as electrochemical capacitors (supercapacitors), are the main technologies currently in use. High demands in energy storage devices require low-cost fabrication and environmentally friendly materials. The current energy storage technologies are either too expensive or harmful to the environment. This study will have provide a low-cost solution for high-performance materials. |