Materials

Materials research is a strategic area of basic research that is viewed by all of the major federal agencies that fund energy-related research as a prerequisite for success in the development of new technologies to generate, harvest, store and conserve energy. KU's nanoscience researchers are synthesizing, manipulating and characterizing nanostructured materials that have promise as novel media for power transmission, new constituents for electronic devices, more energy efficient and selective catalysts, selective membranes for separations, and probes for detecting biological and environmental hazards. New materials will play a central role in a wide variety of energy research initiatives, including as catalysts for the conversion of biomass to liquid fuels and for CO2 conversion and utilization, and in the development of more practical fuel cell power systems. Computational scientists are contributing to this research by making predictions about the characteristics and performance of these novel nanoscopic materials. Nanoscience researchers will collaborate with scientists and engineers from many disciplines to apply these fundamentally new forms of matter in technologies that will benefit the economy of both Kansas and the nation

Materials Topics

• Nanostructured materials (catalysts, detectors, separation media, light-harvesting systems, hydrogen storage)
• Nanotechnology (electronic devices, energy generation and storage, energy efficient computing and telecommunications)
• Energy conservation (insulators, low resistance conductors and superconductors)
• Functional and structural materials (e.g. phase change materials, supramolecular assemblies, self-assembled materials, bio-inspired materials)
• Catalysts (increasing the selectivity and energy efficiency of industrial catalytic processes and fuel cycles, electrocatalysts, biocatalysts)
• Novel media (alternative solvents, microporous and mesoporous materials)