Different geophysical and social
pressures are providing a shift from conventional fossil fuels to renewable and
sustainable energy sources. We must create the materials that will support
emergent energy technologies. Solar energy is a top priority of the department,
and we are devoting extensive resources to developing photovoltaic cells that
are both more efficient and less costly than current technology. We also have
extensive research around next-generation battery technology. Materials
performance lies at the heart of the development and optimization of green
energy technologies and computational methods now plays a major role in
modeling and predicting the properties of complex materials. The global market
for supercapacitor is expected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2014 to $2.0 billion
in 2015 at a year-on-year (YOY) growth rate of 9.2%. In addition, the market is
expected to grow at a five-year CAGR (2015 to 2020) of 19.1%, to reach $4.8
billion in 2020. The competition in the global super capacitor market is
intense within a few large players, such as, AVX Corp., Axion Power
International, Inc., Beijing HCC Energy Tech. Co., Ltd., CAP-XX, Elna Co. Ltd.,
Elton, Graphene Laboratories INC., Jianghai Capacitor Co., Ltd, Jiangsu
Shuangdeng Group Co., Ltd., Jinzhou Kaimei Power Co., Ltd, KEMET, LS MTRON,
Maxwell Technologies INC., Nesscap Energy Inc., Nippon Chemi-Con Corp.,
Panasonic Co., Ltd., Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Co., Ltd., Skeleton
Technologies, Supreme Power Systems Co., Ltd., XG Sciences
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Solar energy materials
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Nuclear energy materials
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Insulation materials
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Bio-based energy harvesting
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Supercapacitors
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High temperature superconductors
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Photocatalysis
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Piezeoeletric materials
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Energy Harvesting Materials
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Energy storage materials
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Emerging materials and devices
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Electrochemical energy storage and conversion
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Organic and inorganic solar cells
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Earthquake materials and design