Assistant Professor Shawn Litster focuses on the development of future electrochemical technologies for energy conversion and stor- age, such as hydrogen fuel cells and batter- ies. Because of their high efficiencies and low


emissions, fuel cells and batteries are promising for many large-scale energy applications, such as transportation and renewable energy storage. Litster’s research focuses on the transport phenomena in the porous electrodes of these devices. A key emphasis of his work is to improve the understanding of existing mass transport resistances that hinder reactant delivery, as well as the development of electrode micro-structures with improved transport properties. Litster was recently honored with a $400,000 Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation to support his fuel cell and lithium-ion battery research. (Learn more on page 8.)


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In his innovative research, Adjunct Faculty John Wiss targets the use of alternative fuels in a distributed power setting for buildings. By using a distributed system of energy gen- eration, and utilizing heat developed in the energy generation process, Wiss seeks


to turn buildings into “power plants” capable of meeting their own energy needs. Working with colleagues in the Department of Architecture, Wiss has helped create an experimental Combined Heat & Power system in the Margaret Morrison Carnegie building on the Carnegie Mellon campus. This suc- cessful “building as power plant” prototype has dem- onstrated an overall thermal utilization of up to 80 percent,


depending on load configuration and levels. Wiss credits the late Professor David Archer, doctoral student Frederik Betz, Professor Allen Robinson, and Robinson’s students Tim Gordon and Marissa Miracolo for their critical contributions to this project.


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Assistant Professor Jonathan Malen stud- ies the potential of new hybrid materials to transport energy. He measures the thermo- power of individual organic-inorganic junc- tions in materials, then seeks to manipulate their energy land-


scapes via chemistry. In doing so, Malen uses a technique that he pioneered called Frequency Domain Thermoreflectance (FDTR) that quantifies thermal transport rates. This cost- effective method of optically characterizing thermal properties offers great ease of set- up and analysis, as well as an accuracy and range similar to conventional techniques. Malen has received a three- year, $360,000 Young Investigator Award from the U.S. Air Force to fund his energy-related work. (See page 8.)


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Energy at the nanoscale is the research focus of Assistant Professor Sheng Shen. His interests lie in nanoscale engineering, thermal science, photonics, and materials science. Shen’s current areas of concentration are energy transfer and conversion at the nano-


scale, as well as nanophotonics and renewable energy technologies. Because the characteristic dimensions of nanostructures are often comparable with the wavelength or the mean free path of energy carriers such as photons, phonons, and electrons, the energy transport properties of nanostructures can differ greatly from their bulk counter- parts. Shen explores new ways to engineer material prop- erties, in order to increase their energy density or energy conversion efficiencies. He is already realizing success. Recently, he demonstrated nanoscale thermal radiation exceeding Planck’s Law by three orders of magnitude, as well as a thermal conductivity of polymer nanofibers that is 300 times higher than that of bulk polymers.•


CARNEGIE MECH


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