The generation, conservation, and distribution of energy, is one of the most daunting challenges facing the world today. The United States is the 2nd largest consumer of energy, with average per-capita consumption being about 334 million BTUs per person. Materials play a critical role in the design and development of next generation fuel cells, batteries, super-capacitors, solar devices, gas generators and nuclear reactors, and in power distribution grids. Research in the so-called “Energy” materials is being actively pursued by MSE faculty for many of these applications. The focus spans from developing new materials for electrodes used for energy storage and conversion, characterizing and modeling interactions across various interfaces, and generating the fundamental understanding of the effects of structure and defects on transport and electrical properties.

The faculty listed below, have identified their primary research in the area of Energy as the grand challenge being addressed in their work.