MATSCI 156/256 : Solar Cells, Fuel Cells and Batteries
Operating principles and applications of emerging technological solutions to the energy demands of the world. The scale of global energy usage and requirements for possible solutions. Basic physics and chemistry of solar cells, fuel cells, and batteries. Performance issues, including economics, from the ideal device to the installed system. The promise of materials research for providing next generation solutions.
This class is now available to be taken as an online course at http://solar.class.stanford.edu
The science of synthesis of nanometer scale materials. Examples including solution phase synthesis of nanoparticles, the vapor-liquid-solid approach to growing nanowires, formation of mesoporous materials from block-copolymer solutions, and formation of photonic crystals. Relationship of the synthesis phenomena to the materials science driving forces and kinetic mechanisms. Materials science concepts including capillarity, Gibbs free energy. phase diagrams, and driving forces. The elementary principals of x-ray, vibrational, and electron waves in solids. Basic wave behavior including Fourier analysis, interference, diffraction, and polarization. Examples of wave systems, including electromagnetic waves from Maxwell’s equations. Diffracted intensity in reciprocal space and experimental techniques such as electron and x-ray diffraction. Lattice vibrations in solids, including vibrational modes, dispersion relationship, density of states, and thermal properties. Free electron model. Basic quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics including Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics.MATSCI 155: Nanomaterials
MATSCI 195/205: Waves and Diffractions in Solids