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Hamilton hosted the 90th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (“CSC”) from May 30th through June 3rd, 2009.  Prof. Gillian Goward (McMaster University) and Prof. Linda Nazar (University of Waterloo) organized a symposium entitled “Energy Storage and Conversion” which was jointly sponsored by the Divisions of Materials Chemistry, and Physical and Theoretical Chemistry.  The 2-day symposium was attended by over 75 students, academics, and industrial researchers.  It was a success, due in a large part to the support from the ACS-PRF, which allowed us to invite high-profile international speakers.  These speakers included Dr. Marnix Wagemaker, from the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, and Dr. Dominique Larcher, from the Université de Picardie Jules Verne, CNRS in Amiens, France. Our international speakers gave very engaging presentations, setting the tone for a highly interactive symposium. 

Invited Foreign Speakers – Titles and abstracts

The Impact of Surface and Interface Energy on Nano-sized Insertion Compounds.  Dr. Marnix Wagemaker  (Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands)

Recent research has shown that particle size reduction towards the nano-scale has strong impact on insertion reactions related to Li-ion and H-storage.  In many cases relevant properties such as storage capacities, equilibrium compositions, and voltage profiles change significantly.  Here we present a simple approach introducing the surface and interface energetics in a thermodynamical treatment of nano-insertion materials.  The calculations, applied to LiFePO₄ are compared with diffraction results (X-ray and Neutron), reveal the impact of the surface energy, interface energy, and particle size distribution on nano-sized insertion materials, explaining many recent findings.

Nanoscale Materials: A Second Life for the Li-Ion Battery Technology?  Dr. Dominique Larcher (Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France)

Since the 1980s and the concept of dual insertion compounds system, Li-Ion battery research has been steady with the culminating point being the commercialization of the li-ion technology by Sony in 1990, which has now conquered most of the portable market.  With the arrival of nanomaterials in the early 2000s, Li-ion technology is enjoying a second life with new ideas prevailing over well established beliefs.  Among them are, for instance, the possible use of highly divided or poorly conducting materials and materials undergoing large volume change upon reaction with Li.  Over the last years, this opened numerous opportunities with the possibility of reconsidering concepts, materials, and classes of reactions previously discarded.  In addition, this downsizing of the materials called for a new area of interconnection with other domains of investigation which we are now multilaterally witnessing the great benefits.  We will describe some of these recent advances and some of the inputs due to the use of various characterization tools.  One can enlist a better understanding of the interface and the impact of the surface energy to account for the unexpected reactivity properties of small domains.  The use of alternative media (ionic liquids, alcohols) enables the preparation of active insertion materials with controlled size/morphology (LiFePO₄, LiCoO₂), and the large surface amount of ex situ made nanometric particles (Si, Co₃O₄) can be turned to an advantage to prepare highly reversible electrodes by the use of conducting matrices, selected binders, or suited electrode processing.  The example of Co₃O₄ will show how careful preparation and characterization allow a successful convergence between the fields of electrode materials and catalysts by its use in both classical Li-ion and under development Li/O₂ cells.

In addition to the international speakers, we invited several prominent researchers from the Canadian community of energy materials researchers, including Profs. Bradley Easton, Daniel Belanger, Heather Andreas, and V. Thangadurai.  Talks and posters, both invited and contributed, emphasized a complementary selection of discovery and characterization of materials for efficient generation, storage and conversion of energy, relevant to the evolving energy industry.  Presenters in this session addressed topics in the chemistry and performance of lithium ion batteries, membranes for proton electrolyte fuel cells, and super capacitors.  Research profiles of the invited speakers are provided here.

Prof. Brad Easton (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) – Dr. Easton’s research interests focus on PEM Fuel Cells, including membrane development for H₂ and direct methanol cells.  Additionally, he is participating in a large project on the production of hydrogen using the Cu-Cl cycle, including development of chloride ion conducting membranes.  His talk was entitled “Surface Chemical Approaches to Increasing Proton Conductivity in Fuel Cell Electrocatalyst Layers“

Prof. V. Thangadurai (University of Calgary) – Dr. Thangadurai’s research interests are in the area of solid-state ionic technologies. In particular, materials development for energy conversion, storage and environmental applications that include solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), solid state batteries, sensors for chemical species (e.g., oxygen, hydrogen, ammonia, hydrocarbon), and displays. His talk was entitled “Fuel Cells and Batteries: Fundamentals, Materials and Applications”

Prof. Heather Andreas (Dalhousie University) – Recently there has been significant interest in the use of supercapacitors in vehicle applications (for cold starting assistance and hybrid fuel-cell capacitor car load levelling), power line backup, and energy storage for intermittent power sources (i.e., solar panels or windmill turbines).  Dr. Andreas and her research team aim to discover and overcome the causes of supercapacitor SD and study the factors which change the rate of this discharge.  Her talk was entitled “Pore Effects, such as Charge Redistribution, on the Self-Discharge of Supercapacitor Electrodes”

Prof. Daniel Belanger (Université du Québec à Montréal) – Supercapacitors combine the advantages of both dielectric capacitors, which can deliver high power within very small period and rechargeable batteries which store high energy. Dr. Belanger and his research team are involved in studying Active electrode materials for electrochemical supercapacitors, including low-cost metal oxides such as MnO₂ and Fe₃O₄, and as well as derivatized carbon.  His talk was entitled “Functionalized Carbons for Application in Electrochemical Capacitors”

Central to all invited speakers’ research is the development and characterization of materials for alternative energy technologies including fuel cells, rechargeable batteries, and supercapacitors.  As well as the oral sessions the symposium included a lively, well-attended poster session, where over 30 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows presented their recent research findings, including a broad spectrum of research themes related to fundamental research in the energy field.