For experts, the title and subtitle of our Cluster roll off the tongue. The others are allowed to stumble and invited to read this article to learn what it’s all about. Thereafter, the way surely will be open for an easy “Fundamentals of Energy Conversion Processes“…
We don’t yet know what the supply of solely regenerative energy will look like in detail. However, this much is certain: all forms of energy have to be easily convertible into each other. The first process that generally comes to our mind is the direct conversion of sunlight and wind into electricity. However, generating electricity alone will not solve the problem. We need highly efficient storage devices such as batteries, energy carriers like hydrogen for mobility and synthetic fuels with high energy densities for industry and freight transport.
e-conversion investigates the fundamental processes for converting renewable energy into those forms that cover our energy needs. Click on the image to enlarge. (Copyright: e-conversion/J. Kott)
A huge problem is that a considerable proportion of the energy seeps away during every conversion process. Researchers could already reveal the most important “leak”: In nearly every case, the crucial location seems to be at the interface between two materials. There, the potential for energy saving is enormous and a good reason to bring together the best researchers in this field into the e-conversion cluster. However, it is not only the energetically inefficient conversion that can be improved. Many systems lack stability. Others contain rare and, therefore, expensive elements such as platinum or iridium or toxic substances such as lead and cadmium. All these questions are part of the research at e-conversion.
The cluster’s secret of success
The special feature of the DFG Clusters of Excellence is that experts from different areas come together to jointly address a certain question. The researchers at e-conversion are mostly physicists, chemists and biologists with expertise in the fundamentals of photovoltaics, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, fuel cells, battery research and photosynthesis. The spectrum is supplemented by specialists in optoelectronics – a branch of research that deals with converting light into electrical signals and vice versa. As different as their specific background may be, they all work with related materials and methods and tackle similar problems at the material boundaries.
The core issues for our scientists are the following: What happens at the atomic level, and what goes wrong? What can we improve, and what kind of alternatives can we develop? May self-designed materials be a key to success? Can one solution also solve the challenges of other energy conversion processes? “The problems at the interface between materials lead to critical phenomena like overpotentials, recombination losses and increased resistance,” explains Professor Thomas Bein, one of the three coordinators of e-conversion. “To progress, we must first analyze the atomic level’s underlying excitation and energy conversion processes. The next step is their optimization.”
Click here for detailed cluster information.
Back to basics
As one of the first steps, the scientists construct simplified interface models – in the lab and computer simulations. These models help to understand basic operations in detail and to identify the factors disturbing the conversion process. Thanks to the cluster’s excellent technical facilities, the members can define the model setup at the atomic level and precisely modify single parameters. Afterwards, they test what has to be optimized in the model and later in the more complex working devices. “The resistance in solid-state batteries often is quite high and results from interface degradation processes,” says cluster coordinator Professor Karsten Reuter. “With simplified models, we investigate the atomic processes behind this degradation and analyze how to stop it. We apply the scheme to real systems when we get valuable results.”
Perfectly equipped
In addition to the high-tech instruments in the individual research groups, all members have access to many and partly unique devices and services of external institutes. This includes the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre and the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz at the campus Garching. A close cooperation exists with the soft X-ray synchrotron BESSY II in Berlin. In addition, the TU München is about to build its own Operando Electron Microscopy Center, further invigorating the Cluster. Those microscopes will be able to produce outstanding live records of energy conversion processes in operation at near-atomic resolution.
Nevertheless, all these innovative technologies would be nothing without the bright minds behind them. The scientists of e-conversion bring in all their knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm to help build a sustainable energy supply for the future.
(Author: Birgit Ziller)