ENGS 136 Electrochemical Energy Materials

Electrochemical energy materials and devices are playing a vital role in our technology driven society, and are in massive and rapidly growing demand for applications ranging from portable electronics to electric cars, from grid-scale energy storage to defense purposes. This course will give an introduction to the materials developments and characterizations in diverse electrochemical devices, with a focus on various electrode materials and technologies. Topics include, for example, basic principles of electrochemistry; introduction of a series of electrochemical energy storage devices; materials in emerging new battery technologies; photoelectrochemistry and photovoltaic devices. This course focuses on understanding materials science and challenges in modern electrochemical devices. For example, how to engineer the structures and properties of materials to maximize their electrochemical performances? How to characterize structures and compositions of electrochemical materials? The course also includes guest lectures to introduce a variety of energy materials for broad applications, such as solar cells and electrochemical sensing. (It is assumed that students do not have background in electrochemistry.)

Prerequisite

ENGS 24 or permission of instructor