CREATE Monthly PI Seminar Series (Mar 2016)

Event Date: 04 Mar 2016 03:00 AM - 04 Mar 2016 05:00 AM

Event Venue: CREATE Theatrette, CREATE Tower (Level 2)

The March edition of the CREATE Monthly PI seminar will feature Prof Arno Schlueter (SEC FCL) and Prof Chen Xiaodong (NEW).

Prof Arno Schlueter (SEC FCL)
Multi-scale energy systems for low carbon cities
Abstract: The construction and operation of Buildings contributes significantly to global primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, 75% of global primary energy is consumed in urban areas. As urbanisation leads to continuous growth of cities especially in South-East Asia, they become the centrepiece of our future energy systems. Current strategies to improve energy efficiency and to utilize renewable energy sources are often limited to the building scale. Expanding the boundaries to the district and urban scale expands the options and increases the flexibility to find optimal solutions, which is especially relevant in dense urban settings. As buildings become active agents in the urban fabric, they contribute to comfort and well being of inhabitants in the inside and outside. Aggregations of buildings form ‘prosumer’ networks that cost-efficiently exploit and share local renewable sources. The members, shape and size of such networks are dependent on urban program and morphology, thus re-introducing the notion of spatiality in energy systems. The talk will present current research in Switzerland and Singapore on both building and urban scale towards synergetic approaches of energy systems, architecture and urban design.

Prof Chen Xiaodong (NEW)
Rational materials design for ultrafast charging lithium ion batteries
Abstract: Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are important electrochemical energy storage devices for consumer electronics and emerging electrical/hybrid vehicles.  However, one of the formidable challenges is to develop ultrafast charging LIBs with the rate capability at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the currently commercialized LIBs.  In this talk, I will present the state-of-the-art developments of ultrafast charging LIBs based on the rational design of inorganic nanogels.  First of all, fundamental electrochemistry and related ionic/electronic conduction theories identify that the rate capability of LIBs is kinetically limited by sluggish solid-state diffusion process in electrode materials.  Then, several aspects on the intrinsic materials, materials engineering and processing, and electrode materials architecture design towards maximizing both ionic and electronic conductivity in electrode with short diffusion length are deliberated.  Finally, the future trends and perspectives for the ultrafast rechargeable LIBs are discussed.  Continued rapid progress in this area is essential and urgent to endow LIBs with ultrafast charging capability to meet huge demands in the near future.

Networking lunch will commence after the seminars. See you there!