Tailored metal-organic interactions for energy harvesting
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- A preponderance of data indicates that humanity's reliance on fossil fuels for energy is deleterious to the longevity of our species and habitats. To counter this dependence, efficiency improvements are needed in the sustainable generation of energy as well as in energy conversion and with materials that are cost-competitive with traditional carbon-heavy energy sources. Organic electronic materials, with their lightweight, ubiquitous elements and promising performance, could meet these demands. However, ongoing challenges like poor conductivity due to lack of long-range order and air-instability through reactions with ambient water and oxygen undermine their efficacy. By structuring organics to better mimic inorganic systems or developing hybrid organic/inorganic materials, we can overcome some of these limitations. First, we develop a model hybrid polymer-metal system to achieve the electrode performance of a conventional metal system at a tenth of the cost. Incorporation of this system into an organic solar cell results in a 7x improvement in the power conversion efficiency over a bare silver electrode without the need for additional costly evaporation steps. Second, we consider materials for thermoelectric energy harvesting, a compelling technology because of its capability to directly convert waste heat into electrical energy. However, the widespread application of this technology has yet to be realized due to challenges associated with achieving a material that features low thermal conductivity despite high electrical conductivity with strong temperature dependence. The intrinsically low thermal conductivity of organic systems makes them appealing for thermoelectric applications; however, their performance is generally impeded by low charge mobility, arising from a lack of long-range order. We investigate a solvent treatment method for inducing greater order in the conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS that results in record electrical conductivities in excess of 8000 S/cm. By tuning the solvent and other parameters, we are able to double the previous record for solution-processable organic thermoelectric performance. Lastly, we explore a newly emerging class of hybrid thermoelectric materials: conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The long-range order in MOFs coupled with their intrinsic porosity hints a path toward high thermoelectric performance. However, full utilization of this promising material system requires greater understanding of how each of the elements in the MOF affects performance. We use the M-HAB family (HAB = hexaaminobenzene, M = Co, Cu, Ni, Zn) to explore how the character of the metal ion and its preferred coordination geometry impact thermoelectric performance and the air-stability thereof.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2018; ©2018 |
| Publication date | 2018; 2018 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Hinckley, Allison Claire |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Bao, Zhenan |
| Thesis advisor | Bao, Zhenan |
| Thesis advisor | Majumdar, Arunava |
| Thesis advisor | Pop, Eric |
| Degree committee member | Majumdar, Arunava |
| Degree committee member | Pop, Eric |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Chemical Engineering |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Allison Claire Hinckley. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2018. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/tz922wn0905 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2018 by Allison Claire Hinckley
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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