The use of organic and nano-structured materials in electrochemical and electronic devices has emerged as a way to reduce their cost and increase performance, biomedical engineering expert Dr John D W Madden has said.
He was delivering the fourth distinguished lecture at Texas A&M University at Qatar in Education City, on ‘Protein –based Solar Cells, Plastic Electronics and Other Carbon-based Devices.’
The speaker, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, discussed the new and existing science of using molecules and organic materials to build engineering devices.
The talk explored the use of proteins to build solar cells, the use of conducting polymers in low-cost electronics and nano-structured materials in supercapacitors.
“They have additional uses in solar cells, supercapacitors, batteries, organic transistors and artificial muscle - all intriguing areas of study and research for engineers,” Dr Madden said.
Protein complexes known as reaction centres absorb light and separate charge. These reaction centres (or photosystems, as they are known in plants) are much better than traditional photovoltaics at converting absorbed light into charge and are being used to create photocells. Conducting polymers are organic semiconductors that show promise for use in flexible and printable electronics, a form that would allow the printing of electronics on paper or fabric and which is potentially very low in cost, as well as versatile.
“Supercapacitors can work with or replace batteries in automotive, grid power and mobile device applications,” Dr Madden said.
He pointed out that energy storage and solar cell technology are of increased interest in Qatar due to the country’s economy and sun exposure.
“I am most excited about the solar side of things because we have come up with a very different approach to making a solar cell.
“In one device, we can both store and capture energy with a device that can use waste material from agricultural products such as the chlorophyll that is in, for example, corn husks, which could make the device very inexpensive and widely available,” he added.
Texas A&M at Qatar’s electrical and computer engineering programme co-ordinator, Dr Hussein al-Nuweiri described the speaker as a young scientist who is pioneering the new science and engineering of using organic material and nano-technology to build new devices and tools that will have significant impact on many aspects of daily lives.
“The lecture has brought to light practical, but extremely useful applications of nano-technology, and will hopefully stir the interest of our students and young faculty to pursue research and development in this vital futuristic technology,” he said.
Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=351508&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
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