INT-Colloquium "Renewable Materials for Renewable Energy Technologies" on Wednesday, December 18, at 1.00 pm by Prof. Anke Weidenkaff, Director Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies, Fraunhofer IWKS Alzenau and TU Darmstadt, Department of Materials and Earth Sciences

 

Introduction: Prof. Wolfgang Wenzel

 

Abstract:

A sustainable, waste free future requires the realisation of an efficient circular economy and energy converters with a programmable long lifetime.

Renewable energy converter systems require full reversibility of local defects, phase segregation and redox reactions. Therefore, regenerative or self-repairing materials have to be developed to produce long-lasting devices.

Regenerative perovskite-type ceramics, Heusler compounds and chalcogenides as well as their nanocomposites will be presented as prospective candidates for electrochemical, magnetic and thermal energy conversion processes. Their performance relies on suitable band structures, adjusted charge carrier density, effective mass and - mobility, hindered phonon transport, and electron filtering potentials. The design of self regenerative materials is based on theoretical predictions, a profound knowledge on composition-structure-property relationships, defect chemistry, ion mobility and the criticality analysis of applied elements. The developed materials are characterised and tested in diverse applications to improve the efficiency and energy density and cycle life of the energy conversion devices.