Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame // Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame

Graphene-based terahertz devices: The wave of the future

2012-05-11T11:00:00-04:00

(Nanowerk News) People use electromagnetic energy every day … watching television, listening to the radio, popping corn with a microwave, taking an X-ray or using a cellphone. This energy travels in the form of waves, which are widely used in electronic and wireless devices.
One of the hottest areas of the electromagnetic spectrum being explored today is the terahertz (THz) range. Terahertz waves, lying between microwave and optical frequencies, offer improved performance for a variety of applications in everyday life. For instance, THz waves can carry more information than radio/microwaves for communications devices. They also provide medical and biological images with higher resolution than microwaves, while offering much smaller potential harm of exposure than X-rays.
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have shown that it is possible to efficiently manipulate THz electromagnetic waves with atomically thin graphene layers. This achievement, which was recently published in Nature Communications ("Broadband graphene terahertz modulators enabled by intraband transitions"), sets the stage for development of compact, efficient and cost-effective devices and systems operating in the THz band.
"A major bottleneck in the promise of THz technology has been the lack of efficient materials and devices that manipulate these energy waves," says Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Notre Dame. "Having a naturally two-dimensional material with strong and tunable response to THz waves — for example, graphene — gives us the opportunity to design THz devices achieving unprecedented performance."
The terahertz team — graduate students Sensale-Rodriguez, Rusen Yan, Kristof Tahy and Tian Fang; research assistant professors Michelle M. Kelly, through Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano), and Lei Liu, in conjunction with Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Notre Dame (AD&T); visiting research assistant professor Wan Sik Hwang, with Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND); associate professor Debdeep Jena and John Cardinal O'Hara, C.S.C., Associate Professor Huili (Grace) Xing — has demonstrated the first proof of concept prototype of a graphene-based THz modulator, a device enabled solely by intraband transitions in graphene.
Graphene, an atom-thick semiconductor material, has shown promising electrical, mechanical and thermal properties leading to the recent demonstration of fast transistors, flexible/transparent electronics, optical devices and now terahertz active components.
"Graphene has been touted as an ideal platform to discover new, as well as prove/dispute existing, physical phenomena since 2004," Xing said. "That is what two physicists in the United Kingdom, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, were awarded the Nobel Prize for in 2010. However, very few real-world applications of graphene have emerged to date. Using graphene to manipulate THz waves is one of such applications. This Nature Communication paper documented our first experimental effort to realize the predictions in our paper published in Applied Physics Letters last year. Devices with better performance continue rolling out of our laboratories.
"Though Professor Jena and I formed the vision to use two-dimensional electron gas to manipulate THz waves back in 2006, it was not until Michelle, Lei and Berardi joined us that this piece of work was possible," Xing added.

Source: University of Notre Dame

Paul Bohn named 2012 spectroscopy fellow

2012-05-10T13:40:00-04:00

Paul W. Bohn, the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, director of the Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics initiative and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been named a fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS). Bohn will be honored for his exceptional contributions to spectroscopy and his service to the society during its annual meeting in October.

A member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Bohn has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the 2010 Theophilus Redwood Award from the RSC; the 2006 Research Team Award from the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory; the 2005 Bomem-Michelson Award from the Coblentz Society, presented to scientists who have advanced the techniques of vibrational, molecular, Raman or electronic spectroscopy; the 2004 Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of spectroscopy; and the Spectrochemical Analysis Award from the ACS.

Bohn has authored and coauthored more than 210 publications focused on the understanding and control of molecular transport on the nanometer length scale, spatially anisotropic surfaces, optical spectroscopic measurement strategies for surface and interfacial structure-function studies, molecular nanoelectronics and the characterization of optoelectronic materials. He holds six patents issued in technologies related to these efforts. In addition, he has delivered more than 250 invited lectures at universities, national laboratories and industrial laboratories throughout the world. He has also served as a consultant for companies both in the United States and in Europe.

Bohn received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. A 1977 graduate of Notre Dame, he has been a member of the faculty since 2006.

The SAS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the dissemination of information related to spectroscopy and other allied sciences.

EWiND facility aimed at improvements in wind energy

2012-05-10T13:00:00-04:00

A wind turbine and a meteorological tower recently erected on the University of Notre Dame’s White Field are a highly visible symbol of the University’s commitment to establish a premier wind energy research program.

Thomas Corke and Robert Nelson, professors of aerospace and mechanical engineering, are directing the effort, which includes the establishment of a Laboratory for Enhanced Wind Energy Design, titled “eWiND.” The program will seek to develop revolutionary designs that involve “virtual aerodynamic shaping” for enhanced wind energy systems. The laboratory will provide a rich environment for multidisciplinary investigations including fluid dynamics, acoustics, fluid-structure interaction, design optimization, materials, failure modeling, system feedback and control, and atmospheric turbulence.

The eWiND initiative is a key component of the University’s Strategic Research Investment program that has allocated $80 million of Notre Dame’s own money to advance the scope, excellence and visibility of its research enterprise.

Although wind energy has long been recognized as a low-cost, clean source of electricity, substantial reductions in the cost of per kilowatt hour are needed for the technology to become competitive with fossil-powered generating technologies. The White Field wind turbine research laboratory is aimed at overcoming this obstacle through the design of advanced rotors that feature a Notre Dame-patented plasma flow control technology. The plasma actuators are designed to increase the energy capture of wind turbines without increasing the weight of the rotors.

Corke and Nelson hope to demonstrate that the technological enhancement increases power generation and extends the life span of wind turbine systems while decreasing the cost of harvesting wind energy. The White Field facility will feature two wind turbines, including one that serves as a baseline and one that has been modified with the plasma actuators. The laboratory’s meteorological tower provides for continuous documentation of wind conditions.

The Notre Dame-patented plasma control technology has many other applications, including reducing both airplane landing gear noise and air resistance (drag) on the back side of a truck, which results in substantial fuel savings.

Contact: Thomas Corke, 574-631-3261,Thomas.C.Corke.2@nd.edu

Unique research laboratory focuses on making aircraft engines more efficient

2012-04-30T17:00:00-04:00

Travel on airlines has become so routine for most of us, we often fail to appreciate what a true technological marvel it is. And it’s a costly and noisy marvel. Moving millions of passengers millions of miles each year requires an astounding amount of costly jet fuel and generates a significant amount of engine noise.

That helps explain why the companies that manufacture aircraft engines often find their way to the laboratory of Scott Morris, an associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame.

Morris conducts experimental research on turbomachinery and acoustics as part of the Institute for Flow Physics and Control, which is located in Notre Dame’s Hessert Laboratory for Aerospace Research. His work is aimed at helping the airline industry and the military to increase the efficiency of aircraft engines and reduce their noise.

Morris and research assistant professor Joshua Cameron developed a turbomachinery laboratory that is focused on improving the components of gas turbine engines for propulsion and power system applications. The lab’s facilities include two transonic axial compressors and a high speed research turbine. These facilities feature single-stage rotating experiments that allow for advanced diagnostics and flow control under conditions that are similar to those occurring in full-scale aircraft engines.

The lab also focuses on aeroacoustics, a field that involves fluid mechanics, acoustics, fluid structure interactions and vibrations. Experiments conducted in this area focus on problems such as airfoil generated noise and vibration, fan noise and the sound associated with active flow control devices.

Turbine engine manufacturers and the military are keenly interested in developing quieter, more energy efficient engines and the Morris lab enables them to gain insights into engine performance that can result in savings of millions of dollars in design and operational costs.

The research facility is growing significantly with a current staff of 20 and a calendar booked with experiments into 2014. The experiments being conducted in the Morris lab are leading to new discoveries that will improve both the energy costs and environmental impact of air travel.

Contact: Scott Morris, 574-631-3238, s.morris@nd.edu

Originally published by William G. Gilroy at newsinfo.nd.edu on April 30, 2012.

Developing more energy-efficient transistors through quantum tunneling

2012-03-27T20:00:00-04:00

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame and Pennsylvania State University have announced breakthroughs in the development of tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs), a semiconductor technology that takes advantage of the quirky behavior of electrons at the quantum level.

Transistors are the building blocks of the electronic devices that power the digital world, and much of the growth in computing power over the past 40 years has been made possible by increases in the number of transistors that can be packed onto silicon chips.

But that growth, if left to current technology, may soon be coming to an end.

Many in the semiconductor field think the industry is fast approaching the physical limits of transistor miniaturization. The major problem in modern transistors is power leakage leading to the generation of excessive heat from billions of transistors in close proximity.

The recent advances at Notre Dame and Penn State — who are partners in the Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND) — show that TFETs are on track to solve these problems by delivering comparable performance to today’s transistors, but with much greater energy efficiency.

They do this by taking advantage of the ability of electrons to “tunnel” through solids, an effect that would seem like magic at the human scale but is normal behavior at the quantum level.

“A transistor today acts much like a dam with a moveable gate” says Alan Seabaugh, professor of electrical engineering at Notre Dame and the Frank M. Freimann Director of MIND. “The rate at which water flows, the current, depends on the height of the gate.

“With tunnel transistors, we have a new kind of gate, a gate that the current can flow through instead of over. We adjust the thickness of the gate electrically to turn the current on and off.

“Electron tunneling devices have a long history of commercialization,” adds Seabaugh. “You very likely have held more than a billion of these devices in a USB flash drive. The principle of quantum mechanical tunneling is already used for data storage devices.”

While TFETs don’t yet have the energy efficiency of current transistors, papers released in December 2011 by Penn State and March 2012 by Notre Dame demonstrate record improvements in tunnel transistor drive current, and more advances are expected in the coming year.

“Our developments are based on finding the right combination of semiconductor materials with which to build these devices,” says Suman Datta, professor of electrical engineering at Penn State.

“If we’re successful, the impact will be significant in terms of low-power integrated circuits. These, in turn, raise the possibility of self-powered circuits which, in conjunction with energy-harvesting devices, could enable active health monitoring, ambient intelligence and implantable medical devices.”

Another benefit of tunneling transistors is that using them to replace existing technology wouldn’t require a wholesale change in the semiconductor industry. Much of the existing circuit design and manufacturing infrastructure would remain the same.

“Strong university research on novel devices such as TFETs is critical for continuing the rapid pace of technology development,” said Jeff Welser, director of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative. “Much of the industry recognizes that it will take collaborations with both academia and government agencies to find and develop these new concepts.”

Two other partners in the MIND center — Purdue University and The University of Texas at Dallas — have made significant contributions to the development of TFETs through the development of key modeling and analytical tools.

MIND is one of four centers funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation’s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI). The goal of NRI and its university-based centers is to demonstrate novel computing devices capable of replacing the complementary metal oxide semiconductor transistor as a logic switch. Established in 2008, MIND is led by Notre Dame and includes Penn State, Purdue and University of Texas-Dallas.

Contacts: Alan Seabaugh, 574-631-4473, Alan.C.Seabaugh.1@nd.edu; Suman Datta, 814-865-0519, sdatta@engr.psu.edu

Originally published by Arnold Phifer at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 27, 2012.

More than tree hugging: Green companies earn more 'green,' new study shows

2012-03-27T14:00:00-04:00

Using LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings increases revenue generated by bank branches even when they offer the same products and services, according to a new study co-authored by University of Notre Dame management professors Edward Conlon and Ante Glavas.

In their study of 562 PNC branches (93 LEED, 469 non-LEED), “The Relationship between Corporate Sustainability and Firm Financial Performance,” Conlon and Glavas found that PNC employees who work in LEED-certified branches are more productive and engaged in their work.

Although they’re not yet certain if it’s because LEED buildings are more attractive to visit or because their employees are more satisfied, and consequently providing better service, Conlon and Glavas find that sustainability equals a big difference to the bottom line at LEED bank branches— $461,300 per employee after controlling for other variables that influence performance (e.g., consumer net worth, employee demographics, market demographics, size and age of branch, marketing spend).

The findings support a growing body of research that shows social responsibility and sustainability don’t have to be sacrificed for the sake of profitability. In fact, companies increasingly are finding just the opposite: They can achieve revenue or job growth while maintaining a high environmental and social impact.

“It’s a significant finding, and it surprised me,” says Conlon, associate dean and Sorin Society Professor of Management. “We compared the amount of money deposited at LEED and non-LEED branches, and we found more money has been deposited in the LEED branches. We divided the amount by the branches’ total number of employees to come up with a per-employee dollar amount.”

Most other studies on the business impact of sustainability have been conducted by companies whose products have ties to environmental concerns or that have become more sustainable as a reaction to stakeholder pressure and regulation, the researchers point out. Banks have no such ties, so whether considering a checking account, savings account or loan, the bank’s sustainable strategy – or lack thereof – doesn’t directly affect the product. Furthermore, PNC’s sustainability strategy was not reactionary, but rather a voluntary and visionary move to enhance its reputation, physical banking and working environment, as well as build pride among employees.
Also, says Conlon, the study uses firm accounting data to determine financial effects, while most others examine changes in market valuation. He says PNC was the ideal subject for their research for several reasons.

“PNC has built more than 100 LEED-certified buildings, which is more than any other U.S. company,” Conlon says. “So, PNC is perfect for a LEED study because they have a lot of them and the branches all do the same thing — same products, same systems — the only thing that’s different is the LEED strategy.”

The researchers say the strategy is working, whether it’s because the buildings look better or the people inside are more fulfilled.

“We think it’s a mix of the two,” Glavas says. “People are certainly proud to be working in LEED buildings.”

“Suffice it to say, I think PNC is getting a payback on its LEED investment,” Conlon says.

Contacts: Edward Conlon, 574-631-9295, conlon.6@nd.edu; Ante Glavas, 574-631-9469, aglavas@nd.edu

Originally published by Shannon Chapla at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 26, 2012.

New paper by Notre Dame researchers describes method for cleaning up nuclear waste

2012-03-20T21:00:00-04:00

While the costs associated with storing nuclear waste and the possibility of it leaching into the environment remain legitimate concerns, they may no longer be obstacles on the road to cleaner energy.

A new paper by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, led by Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences and concurrent professor of chemistry and biochemistry, showcases Notre Dame Thorium Borate-1 (NDTB-1) as a crystalline compound that can be tailored to safely absorb radioactive ions from nuclear waste streams. Once captured, the radioactive ions can then be exchanged for higher-charged species of a similar size, recycling the material for re-use.

If one considers that the radionuclide technetium (99Tc) is present in the nuclear waste at most storage sites around the world, the math becomes simple. There are more than 436 nuclear power plants operating in 30 countries; that is a lot of nuclear waste. In fact, approximately 305 metric tons of 99Tc were generated from nuclear reactors and weapons testing from 1943 through 2010. Its safe storage has been an issue for decades.

“The framework of the NDTB-1 is key,” says Albrecht-Schmitt. “Each crystal contains a framework of channels and cages featuring billions of tiny pores, which allow for the interchange of anions with a variety of environmental contaminants, especially those used in the nuclear industry, such as chromate and pertechnetate.”

Albrecht-Schmitt’s team has concluded successful laboratory studies using the NDTB-1 crystals, during which they removed approximately 96 percent of 99Tc. Additional field tests conducted at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C., and discussed in the paper have shown that the Notre Dame compound successfully removes 99Tc from nuclear waste and also exhibits positive exchange selectivity for greater efficiency.

The paper appears in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Contact: Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt, 574-631-1872, talbrec1@nd.edu

Originally published by William G. Gilroy at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 20, 2012.

What's the big idea? Ten speakers to participate in ND Thinks Big

2012-03-20T09:10:00-04:00

ND Thinks Big, a student-organized event modeled after TED talks and Harvard Thinks Big, will take place at 7 p.m. March 22 (Thursday) in the Jordan Auditorium of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Sponsored by student forum The Hub and the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement, the event features 10 speakers from the Notre Dame faculty and administration, who will each deliver a 10-minute talk about their research and current work within their respective fields.

The speakers, nine professors and one administrator, were chosen by the students specifically for their work.

“The editors of The Hub got together and picked the different speakers to invite,” says Paul Baranay, co-chair of ND Thinks Big. “We knew we wanted someone from each of the five colleges and one from the administration; we knew we wanted older and younger people who are experienced and people who are up-and-coming.”

Baranay says faculty members were excited about participating. “Ultimately everyone was very positive about participating in the event. I think that speaks to how accessible and enthusiastic professors are when working with students.

“We are very excited about all of our 10 speakers,” Baranay says. “However, I’m personally looking forward to Nobel Prize-winning physics professor Peter Garnavich speaking about his research into dark matter, management professor Corey Angst discussing the use of tablet devices like the iPad in the classroom, biological sciences professor Jessica Hellmann inquiring into how we can adapt to global climate change, and vice president for University Relations Lou Nanni reflecting on how our past can help us define our future.”

A reception will follow the talks for the speakers and attendees to mingle and discuss the ideas presented. The event will be recorded and made available online at The Hub, Baranay says, so students can post their thoughts and reactions and keep the discussion going.

This is the first event of its kind organized by students, and Baranay hopes the interest it generates will keep it going in the future. “That’s going to be up to future students,” he says. “I really hope they’ll continue it next year.”

Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will become available at 9 p.m. March 20 (Tuesday) at the LaFortune Student Center ticket office. Special guest Mike Collins, the voice of Notre Dame stadium, will host the event. For more information, visit thehub.nd.edu.

Speakers and their subjects include:

Sebastian Rosato, “A Foreign Policy for America”
Prashant Kamat, “Solar Energy Beyond the Hype”
Aaron Striegel, “How Gaming Technology will Bring a Renaissance in Rehabilitation”
Aimee Buccellato, “Sustainable Design: It’s Everyone’s Business”
Jessica Hellmann, “Adapting Nature to Climate Change: What We Can Do and What We Should Do”
Lou Nanni, “To Dream Big, Remember Where You Come From”
Michael Mogavero, “Planning and Continuous Improvement in Higher Education”
James McKenna, “Mother-Infant Cosleeping with Breast-feeding: Biological No-Brainer or Prosecutable Offense?”
Peter Garnavich, “The Revolution Continues”
Corey Angst, “Tablet Computers in the Classroom”

Launched in 2010, The Hub is a student-run website designed to promote discussion and engagement on major issues around campus and the world. It is sponsored by the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement.

Contact: Paul Baranay, co-chair, pbaranay@nd.edu

Originally published by Brittany Collins at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 19, 2012.

Land Institute president to deliver sustainability lecture at Notre Dame

2012-03-16T17:00:00-04:00

Wes Jackson, president of the Land Institute, will be the inaugural Lecturer in Sustainability at 7 p.m. on March 28 (Wednesday) in Room 101 of the Jordan Hall of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

His lecture, titled “Why Agriculture Must Take the Lead Toward a Sustainable Future,” is free and open to the public.

The Land Institute has worked for more than 30 years on the problem of agriculture. Its purpose is to deliver an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops. The institute’s research is focused on agricultural practices that combine earth-conscious farming with new plant breeds and genetic technology and its work may hold solutions for climate change and other global challenges of vital importance for agricultural states such as Indiana.

Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree from Kansas Wesleyan, a master’s degree from the University of Kansas and a doctorate from North Carolina State University. He established and served as chair of one of the country’s first environmental studies programs at California State University, Sacramento, then returned to his native Kansas to found the Land Institute in 1976.

Jackson is the author of several books, including “New Roots for Agriculture” and “Becoming Native to This Place,” and is widely recognized as a leader in the international movement for a more sustainable agriculture. He was a 1990 Pew Conservation Scholar, became a MacArthur Fellow in 1992 and received Right Livelihood Award in 2000. In 2005, Smithsonian magazine called him one of “35 Who Made a Difference.”

Jackson has been featured in popular media including The Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, Time Magazine and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

The Lecturer in Sustainability is sponsored by Notre Dame’s College of Science, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts in the College of Arts and Letters, Institute for Advanced Studies, Office of Sustainability, Center for Sustainable Energy and Department of Anthropology. It also is co-sponsored by the Center for a Sustainable Future at Indiana University South Bend.

Contact: Jessica Hellmann, 574-631-7521, hellmann.3@nd.edu

Originally published by William G. Gilroy at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 15, 2012.

New paper examines issues raised by Fukushima reactor accident

2012-03-08T17:00:00-05:00

As the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor accident is marked on March 11, a new paper by Peter C. Burns, Henry Massman Professor of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and colleagues from the University of Michigan and the University of California, Davis, stresses that we need much more knowledge about how nuclear fuel interacts with the environment during and after an accident.

In the paper, which appears in the March 9 edition of the journal Science, Burns, Rodney C. Ewing of the University of Michigan and Alexandra Navrotsky of the University of California, Davis, call for increased research to help develop predictive models for future nuclear accidents.

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake near Japan on March 11, 2011, triggered a tsunami that wiped out coastal towns, shut roads, severed communications and claimed thousands of lives. It also cut off all electricity to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, setting the stage for a series of explosions that released large quantities of radioactive substances into the surrounding environment.

“Reactors are designed to high safety standards, but on the anniversary of the accidents in Fukushima we are reminded that the forces of nature can produce unlikely events that can overcome the safety margins built into the reactor designs,” Burns said. “A reactor core meltdown releases radioactive material from the fuel. If containment systems fail, as they did at Fukushima, radioactive material is then released into the environment.”

Burns, Ewing and Navrotsky point out in their paper that accurate fundamental models for the prediction of release rates of radionuclides from damaged fuel, especially in contact with water, after an accident are limited.

“At Fukushima, a large amount of radioactive material was released when seawater was pumped onto the reactor cores that later leaked into the ocean and groundwater,” Burns said. “Little is known about how radioactive fuel in a reactor accident interacts with water and releases radioactive material. This paper examines what is known, points to serious shortcomings in our understanding, and proposes a course of research to address the problem.”

Although some of the needed research can be conducted using simulated core-melt events with fuel analogs that contain nonradioactive isotopes, Burns and his colleagues point out that some of the studies will need to be done with radioactive materials. Although such studies are both difficult and expensive, Burns points out that they are essential to reduce the risk associated with increasing reliance on nuclear energy.

“Nuclear power reactors, of which there are currently 440 operating worldwide, provide about 16 percent of the world’s electricity,” he said. “They also produce extremely radioactive used fuel.

“A growing reliance on nuclear energy in the world over the coming decades will make serious reactor accidents more likely, although they will remain rare events. To better protect humanity when accidents do occur, we need a much improved understanding of how water interacts with damaged fuel, and how the radioactive material is released and transported in water.”

The research described in the Science paper was conducted under the auspices of Notre Dame’s Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded initiative established to pursue advanced scientific research on energy. Burns serves as director of the center.

Contact: Peter Burns, 574-631-7852, pburns@nd.edu

Originally published by William G. Gilroy at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 08, 2012.

Dorm energy competition: May the best quad win

2012-03-08T17:00:00-05:00

At this time of year, you might expect Notre Dame students to be focusing on midterms or planning for spring break. But instead, students across campus are getting ready for a new kind of dorm energy competition.

New state-of-the-art meters and a new online dashboard will now enable students to see how much energy their dorm is using and how they rank in the competition at any time. The interactive dashboard was created by Lucid Design Group, a software company that specializes in information feedback that inspires energy and resource conservation. The dashboard engages students not just by providing regularly updated data, but also by giving students a social media-based forum to commit to energy-saving behaviors and share winning strategies.

“This has been a challenging project to implement, and we’re so grateful to everyone at Utilities and OIT who has worked so hard on it,” said Erin Hafner, programs manager in the Office of Sustainability. “Other universities have utilized energy dashboards to realize a 10 to 30 percent reduction in energy use, and we are looking forward to maximizing the potential of this technology for student engagement and education.”

This semester’s competition will have an additional twist: Rather than each dorm competing against all others, the dorms have been divided into four geographic groups that will compete as teams. The four teams are North Quad, South Quad, West Quad and Mod Quad, and the winning quad will receive $1,000 to divide among its member dorms.

“There’s no better way to rally up energy conservation than some wholesome competition,” said Martha Dee, sustainability commissioner of Walsh Hall. “I am so stoked to win $1,000 for my quad,” added Patrick Rahill, sustainability commissioner of St. Ed’s.

The savings accrued by the residence halls through the Quad Energy Competition will be entered into Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), a nationwide energy competition hosted by Lucid Design Group in collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation, Alliance to Save Energy, and the U.S. Green Building Council Center for Green Schools.

“Nearly 250,000 students at 150 colleges across the U.S. and Canada are participating in CCN 2012,” said Anne Whitty, a 2012 Notre Dame graduate and co-president of GreeND. “The collective goal is to conserve one gigawatt-hour (a million kilowatt hours), and our goal here at Notre Dame is to rank among the top conserving schools across the country.”

The competition runs from March 10 to 30. Each dorm will be ranked based on how much electricity it conserves relative to a baseline collected for the second half of February. Since the competition runs over spring break, students can get an early lead by unplugging all appliances, including refrigerators, televisions and gaming systems, before they leave town. (Make sure freezers are defrosted with care so they don’t leak.)

The real-time metering and dashboard system was funded by the Office of Sustainability through the Green Loan Fund, a $2 million revolving fund established by the University to support energy and resource conservation projects. The $1,000 prize is co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame, Student Government and greeND.

Originally published by Rachel Novick at green.nd.edu on March 2, 2012.

Originally published by Rachel Novick at green.nd.edu on March 02, 2012.

Collaborative forum will explore K-12 education and research

2012-02-21T08:00:00-05:00

The Notre Dame extended Research Community (NDeRC) will gather education and research professionals for the fifth annual Collaborating for Education and Research Forum from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 25) in the Jordan Hall of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

The event fosters interaction among K-12 teachers and administrators; university faculty, graduate students and staff; and local industry specialists in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The forum showcases a broad spectrum of professional engagement opportunities for K-12 educators, including summer- or week-long opportunities in nanotechnology, genetics, embryonic development, environmental studies, astronomy, subatomic physics, engineering, mathematics and science. All of the programs are free to educators, while some programs also provide stipends.

Presenters will include representatives from NDeRC, the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame, ETHOS (Encouraging Technology & Hands On Science), Riverbend Community Math Center and others. Special educational opportunities associated with the rare transit of Venus across the sun that will be visible in June will be addressed.

NDeRC sponsors opportunities for University researchers and students to collaborate with local K-12 educators through summer-long research experiences for teachers, as well as week-long institutes for teachers paired with week-long classroom activities in K-12 schools. Institutes are offered in biology (BioEYES), environmental science, nanotechnology and earth-space science. BioEYES alone, which uses zebra fish to teach embryonic development and genetics in school classrooms, reaches some 5,000 students per year in Michiana schools.

The event is sponsored by Notre Dame and the National Science Foundation. The complete schedule and registration information is available at events.michianastem.org.

Contact: Thomas Loughran, 574-631-3362, Thomas.J.Loughran.8@nd.edu

Originally published by Marissa Gebhard at newsinfo.nd.edu on February 17, 2012.

Green Summit to highlight sustainable transportation

2012-02-21T08:00:00-05:00

Electric cars, bicycles, alternative fuel vehicles and innovations in public transportation will take over the University of Notre Dame’s Stepan Center in an exciting trade show display on Feb. 29 (Wednesday) for “Green Summit V: The Future of Transportation.”

“Sustainable transportation is a rapidly developing field, and we wanted to create a setting in which the ND community could connect directly with those who are redefining what’s possible,” explained Rachel Novick of the Office of Sustainability. “Experts will be on hand at the summit to answer questions about battery technology, charging stations, electric bikes and much more.”

Attendees will have a chance to explore cutting-edge vehicles such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the Nissan Leaf as well as vehicles that have been converted to use compressed natural gas and propane. Other participants in the trade show include Transpo, The Avenue Bicycle Station and ZipCar. The program will feature a panel discussion that covers a wide spectrum of topics critical to creating a sustainable transportation system, from technological advances to infrastructure requirements to community impacts.

“Through our collaboration, Notre Dame and Eaton are further paving the way for the development of infrastructure to support the expanded use of electric vehicles,” said John Wirtz, business unit manager of Eaton’s Electrical Transportation Infrastructure. Eaton has provided a number of EV charging stations to Notre Dame that have been installed in key locations around campus, and the company will be bringing several electric vehicles as well as a charging station to be displayed at the summit.

“We are looking forward to expanding our work on this innovative technology at Notre Dame as we strive to help reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint on campus,” added Wirtz.

The Green Summit is a community-wide, annual event that brings together hundreds of faculty, staff and students to explore an aspect of sustainability and its role in campus life. In the summit’s history, many recommendations and discussions have been a foundation for developing new campus sustainability initiatives. “We look forward to the rich discussion this year’s event will foster in order to help us develop new ideas for the future of transportation here at Notre Dame,” said Marty Ogren, associate director of warehouse, delivery and transportation.

“Due to escalating fuel costs and attendant environmental impacts, we need to look beyond traditional fuels in order to maintain our transportation security,” said Jon Burke, energy director for the city of South Bend and one of the presenters at the trade show. “We’re looking forward to sharing our vision for enhancing the sustainability of South Bend’s transportation systems at the Summit.”

The trade show will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the panel discussion commencing at 11:30 a.m. The Green Summit is free and open to all members of the Notre Dame community, and lunch will be provided. The program is sponsored by the Office of Sustainability and co-sponsored by Transportation Services at Notre Dame. Please register online by Feb. 25 (Saturday).

Contact: Sara Brown, sbrown20@nd.edu

Originally published by Sara Brown at newsinfo.nd.edu on February 17, 2012.

Brennecke elected to National Academy of Engineering

2012-02-10T10:00:00-05:00

Joan F. Brennecke, the Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for her innovation in the use of ionic liquids and supercritical fluids for environmentally benign chemical processing.

Election to NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education, including significant contributions to engineering literature, the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing and implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.

Brennecke, who also serves as director of the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame, is internationally known for her research in the development of solvents, specifically supercritical fluids and ionic liquids, for specific applications. Her research interests include supercritical fluid technology, ionic liquids, thermodynamics, environmentally benign chemical processing, and carbon dioxide separationand use.

Throughout her career, Brennecke has received numerous awards for her research, as well as for her contributions in the classroom. Most recently, she was named one of the 100 most cited chemists, a list published by the Times Higher Education group to celebrate the achievements of 100 chemists who achieved the highest citation impact scores for chemistry papers published since January 2000. She was named the recipient of the 2009 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for her exceptional contributions in research and development supporting the DOE in its mission to advance the national, economic and energy security of the United States. She was also selected as the 2008 Julius Stieglitz Lecturer by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

In addition, Brennecke has received the John M. Prausnitz Award for outstanding achievement in applied chemical thermodynamics from the Conference on Properties and Phase Equilibria for Product and Process Design, the Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Ipatieff Prize from the ACS in recognition of her high-pressure studies of the local structure of supercritical fluid solutions and the effect of this local structure on the rates of homogeneous reactions. The National Science Foundation also honored her with the Presidential Young Investigator Award.

A member of AIChE, ACS and the American Society for Engineering Education, Brennecke is past chair of the Council for Chemical Research and as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data
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A graduate of the University of Texas, Brennecke received her master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. She has served as a Notre Dame faculty member since 1989.

Originally published by Nina Welding at newsinfo.nd.edu on February 09, 2012.

New paper examines seawater’s effect on nuclear fuel

2012-02-06T11:40:00-05:00

Japanese officials used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following last March’s tsunami. Although it was likely the best course of action at the time, a new study coauthored by University of Notre Dame researchers suggests that the action may have had unanticipated consequences.

The University of Notre Dame’s Peter Burns, Henry J. Massman Professor of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, and Ginger Sigmon, managing director of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), and colleagues from the University of California-Davis and Sandia National Laboratory have discovered a new manner in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as small particles.

The researchers point out that uranium in fuel rods is in a chemical form that is essentially insoluble in water. However, if the uranium is oxidized to uranium-VI, a process that can occur when radiation converts water into peroxide, it can form nano-scale clusters that dissolve in water.

In earlier research, Burns and Sigmon created spherical uranium peroxide clusters that can dissolve or exist as solids.

In the new paper, the research team reveals that in the presence of alkali metal ions such as sodium, as in seawater, these clusters are stable enough to persist in solution or as small particles even when there is no extra peroxide.

The findings suggest that these clusters could form on the surface of a fuel rod exposed to seawater and then be transported away, surviving in the environment for months or years before eventually falling apart in the ocean.

Thus far, there are no data on how fast these uranium peroxide clusters will break down in the environment. However, the researchers stress that the process of seawater corroding nuclear fuel needs to be considered as nuclear power becomes more prevalent.

In addition to Burns and Sigmon, the study’s coauthors include Alexandra Navrotsky, Christopher Armstrong and Tatiana Shvareva of UC Davis, and May Nyman of Sandia National Laboratory.

The study appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research was conducted under the auspice of Notre Dame’s EFRC, a U.S. Department of Energy-funded initiative established to pursue advanced scientific research on energy.

Contact: Peter Burns, 574-631-7852, pburns@nd.edu

Welcome New SEI Faculty and Staff

2012-01-17T17:00:00-05:00

We are pleased to welcome two new assistant professors to the SEI faculty group -- Tengfei Luo and Ruilan Guo -- both of whom joined the University in January 2012. Tengfei is a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Ruilan is a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. SEI faculty and associated researchers will have an opportunity to learn more about their respective areas of research at an upcoming SEI Seminar in February.

We are also pleased to announce the appointment of Jenny Frech as the Education and Outreach Coordinator. Jenny joined cSEND on January 16th and will be introducing herself over the next several months to our cSEND faculty members.

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Tengfei, Ruilan, and Jenny to the University of Notre Dame and to cSEND!

Notre Dame researchers develop paint-on solar cells

2011-12-22T12:00:00-05:00

Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light—electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside.

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame has made a major advance toward this vision by creating an inexpensive “solar paint” that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.

“We want to do something transformative, to move beyond current silicon-based solar technology,” says Prashant Kamat, John A. Zahm Professor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry and an investigator in Notre Dame’s Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano), who leads the research.

“By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, we’ve made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment.”

The team’s search for the new material, described in the journal ACS Nano, centered on nano-sized particles of titanium dioxide, which were coated with either cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide. The particles were then suspended in a water-alcohol mixture to create a paste.

When the paste was brushed onto a transparent conducting material and exposed to light, it created electricity.

“The best light-to-energy conversion efficiency we’ve reached so far is 1 percent, which is well behind the usual 10 to 15 percent efficiency of commercial silicon solar cells,” explains Kamat.

“But this paint can be made cheaply and in large quantities. If we can improve the efficiency somewhat, we may be able to make a real difference in meeting energy needs in the future.”

“That’s why we’ve christened the new paint, Sun-Believable,” he adds.

Kamat and his team also plan to study ways to improve the stability of the new material.

NDnano is one of the leading nanotechnology centers in the world. Its mission is to study and manipulate the properties of materials and devices, as well as their interfaces with living systems, at the nano-scale.

This research was funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Contact: Prashant V. Kamat, pkamat@nd.edu, 574-631-5411

Originally published by Arnie Phifer at newsinfo.nd.edu on December 21, 2011.

Let’s Share the Sun Foundation partners with Notre Dame Haiti Program on solar installation

2011-08-15T10:44:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame Haiti Program will spend less money to light and power its operations thanks to the addition of 16 solar panels, the work of a non-for-profit foundation led by two 1985 Notre Dame graduates.

The Let’s Share the Sun Foundation, based in Troy, N.Y., completed the second phase of a solar installation at the Residence Filariose in Leogane, Haiti, where four panels were installed earlier this year. The solar panels are now generating enough power to shut the diesel generator off during the day. The Residence Filariose serves as a training facility for the local community and guesthouse for visiting researchers focused on eradicating lymphatic filariasis.

Co-founder Nancy Brennan-Jordan (a 1985 Notre Dame graduate), Gib Gailius (also a 1985 graduate), Bernadette Jordan, and Notre Dame sophomore Annemarie Schwendler witnessed and filmed the installation in July after several months of very detailed planning to get the solar panels into Haiti.

Program administrator Wesley Pierre said, “Once we heard that we will have three kilowatts of energy from the solar panels, I was so happy to receive that message… because every three days, we need to buy gas [for the diesel generator] for almost 200 U.S. dollars.”

Brennan-Jordan explained, “The whole process of our solar installation is what makes us different. We successfully installed a high quality 3kw solar system to support the inspiring work of the Notre Dame Haiti Program and at the same time with the leadership of Richard Hansen and the Soluz team trained four local Haitians in the process.

“This team then went on to install two large panels on a rural Leogane school last month. This rural school will now be able to have electricity for the first time and provide afternoon classes, doubling their student body to 240 students. We also met with the Mayor of Leogane during our visit and respect and honor the local community plan for the rebuild of Leogane. I have the confidence that the Residence Filariose solar install and the first solar school in rural Leogane will be sustained and maintained by the local community. This empowering ‘train the trainer’ model is the key to our long lasting impact.”

Soluz was instrumental in acquiring the solar panels and leading the installation effort. Richard Hansen formed Soluz decades ago to empower local communities to gain access to affordable, sustainable energy.

“Since the Notre Dame facility was built in 2001 to support our research and national public health program in Haiti, solar energy has been a dream of ours,” says Notre Dame Haiti Program Manager Sarah Craig. “Words cannot express our thanks and gratitude to solar expert Richard Hansen, and fellow Notre Dame alumni Nancy and Bill Jordan. Their personal and professional commitment to our Notre Dame work in Haiti exemplifies the university’s mission to ‘…create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good…’. Heartfelt thanks for living out the Word."

The Let’s Share the Sun Foundation continues to install solar in the poorest parts of the world while establishing education links at home and abroad. For more information, visit www.LetsShareTheSun.org.

Contact: Sarah Craig, program manager, Notre Dame Haiti Program, craig.20@nd.edu

Originally published by Nancy Brennan-Jordan at newsinfo.nd.edu on August 12, 2011.

New Paper Examines Future of Seawater Desalination

2011-08-12T11:38:00-04:00

A paper co-authored by William Phillip of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Menachem Elimelech, Robert Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Yale University, appearing in this week’s edition of the journal Science offers a critical review of the state of seawater desalination technology.

Elimelech and Phillip and examine how seawater desalination technology has advanced over the past 30 years, in what ways the state-of-the-art technology can be improved, and if seawater desalination is a sustainable technological solution to global water shortages.

“At present, one-third of the world’s population lives in water stressed countries," Phillip said. “Increasing population, contamination of fresh water sources and climate change will cause this percentage to increase over the coming decade. Additionally, the social and ecological benefits of adequate fresh water resources are well-documented. Therefore, it is important to find a way to alleviate this stress with a sustainable solution.”

The authors point out that in recent years, large-scale seawater desalination plants have been built in water-stressed countries to augment available water resources and construction of new desalination plants is expected to increase in the near future. Despite major advancements in desalination technologies, seawater desalination is still more energy intensive compared to conventional technologies for the treatment of fresh water. There are also concerns about the potential environmental impacts of large-scale seawater desalination plants.

In their Science paper, Elimelech and Phillip review the possible reductions in energy demand by state-of-the-art desalination technologies, the potential role of advanced materials and innovative technologies in improving the performance, and the sustainability of desalination as a technological solution to global water shortages.

The authors believe that there are important policy implications in their Science paper.

“Seawater desalination is an energy-intensive process; desalinating seawater consumes significantly more energy than treating traditional fresh water sources,” Phillip said. “However, these traditional sources aren’t going to be able to meet the growing demand for water worldwide. Several options already exist to augment fresh water sources — including the treatment of low-quality local water sources, water recycling and reuse and water conservation — and understanding where seawater desalination fits into this portfolio of water supply options is critical. Hopefully, our paper helps provide some of the information needed to inform the decisions of policy makers, water resource planners, scientists, and engineers on the suitability of desalination as a means to meet the increasing demands for water.”

Phillip, who joined the Notre Dame faculty this year, is interested in examining how membrane structure and chemistry affect the transport of chemicals across a variety of membranes. Understanding the connection between functionality and property enables the design and fabrication of next generation membranes that provide more precise control over the transport of chemical species. These material advantages can be leveraged to design more effective and energy-efficient systems. Chemical separations at the water- energy nexus (e.g., desalination) is one area where this knowledge can be applied.

Contact: William Phillip, 952-393-5162, wphillip@nd.edu

Solar rooftop array installed on Fitzpatrick Hall

2011-07-21T09:59:00-04:00

A 10kW flexible thin-film solar array and monitoring system was recently installed on the roof of the University of Notre Dame’s Fitzpatrick Hall of Engineering. The light-weight flexible panels lie flat and are attached directly to the surface of the roof with an adhesive.

Connected directly to the University’s power grid, the array will help meet Fitzpatrick’s electricity demand, supplying an estimated 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

The array is comprised of panels from two different manufacturers, Uni Solar and Solopower. Both panels employ a thin-film solar technology that is the first of its kind on campus. Inovateus Solar, a national solar distributor based in South Bend, donated this installation to the University and will use array as an energy production demonstration model of the two solar panel models.

“This project gives us the opportunity to demonstrate how flexible thin-film solar technology is installed and compare the performance of two different types of thin-film panels side-by-side,” explained Peter Rienks, project manager for Inovateus Solar.

This solar installation is the third “rooftop renewable” on campus, following last year’s installation of a rigid solar array on the roof of Stinson-Remick Hall and last month’s installation of a vertical-axis wind turbine on the roof of the power plant.

Inovateus Solar first proposed the project to the Office of Sustainability in 2009, and this month’s installation marks the culmination of two years of cooperation between Inovateus Solar, the Office of Sustainability, and the Utilities Department.

Innovateus Solar was able to complete this installation at no cost to the University with the help of generous donations and discounts of parts and labor from Uni Solar, Solopower, SMA, Shoals, Midland Engineering and Koontz Wagner.

“This renewable energy project helps the University move toward its goal of reducing the carbon-intensity of its electricity production and will also serve as an important academic resource on campus,” said Heather Christopherson, Notre Dame’s director of sustainability.

The new solar array will offer substantial research opportunities for faculty and students. A real-time monitoring system will allow for easy analysis of the array’s productivity under different conditions. Additionally, the array’s flexible thin-film technology will afford controlled comparisons with the more traditional solar array already installed on Stinson-Remick Hall.

Originally published by Julie Zorb at newsinfo.nd.edu on July 20, 2011.