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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Next Climate-Sustainability Lecture: Chemistry and Solar Energy Technology
The Climate-Sustainability Lecture Series, hosted by the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, will discuss “Powering the Planet: The Role Chemistry Plays in Solar Energy Technology”. This event is free and all NSU members are welcome to attend. The event will be held in the Mailman-Hollywood Building, 2nd floor auditorium.
The speaker will be Amy M. Scott, Ph.D., assistant professor, University of Miami, Department of Chemistry. Scott is leading a research group at the University of Miami that is working on photoactive liquid crystals, artificial photosynthesis, and multiple charge and energy pathways in quantum dots-assemblies for biosensing.
Scott received her doctoral degree from Northwestern University. Before joining the University of Miami faculty, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, followed by work at Columbia University as the Dreyfus Environmental Chemistry Fellow.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, global energy demands are projected to double by 2050, and solar energy has the greatest potential as the most benign and universal resource for generating electricity. However, harnessing the solar energy efficiently and converting it into useful forms of power that are compatible with our current infrastructure remains an elusive goal.
Today’s solar energy utilization relies on silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) technology, which converts photon energy to electrical energy. The efficiency of these devices remains low (< 30%), and the cost of processing silicon and installing solar panels in homes makes PV uneconomical compared to the current price of electricity.
Research efforts to develop new inorganic and organic materials for thin film PV to replace silicon are currently underway. Organic materials are particularly interesting from the standpoint of developing simple, cheap materials that can be easily tailored for future PV devices. The future of solar energy utilization relies on developing solar paints for vehicles, solar shingles for rooftops, and spray-on solar ink for small-device applications. Continued fundamental research is needed for decreasing cost and improving efficiency for next-generation devices.