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MAT_SCI 195: Materials for the Energy Solution


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Prerequisites

This course is open to all undergraduates. Priority is given to Frosh/Soph level students and especially those interested in majoring in Materials Science and Engineering or related fields. There are no course prerequisites. Contact the instructor for more information or questions about the course.

Description

Demand for energy materials has never been higher. Billions of batteries and solar cells are needed over the next decade to power the renewable energy transition in electricity generation, transportation, and several other sectors. But how do we actually create these batteries and solar cells? What are they made of? How do we test them? And how do we design them to make them better?

This course introduces students to modern battery and solar cell technologies and the role that materials scientists and engineers take in addressing global challenges in energy and sustainability. Students will learn about the materials and processing techniques used to make batteries and solar cells and the important properties that enable their widespread use. Through hands-on laboratory sessions, students will also learn how to build their own devices, test and analyze their performance, and characterize important battery and solar cell features. Finally, students will complete design projects aimed at tuning battery or solar cell materials to optimize their properties and performance.

Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify technologically-relevant materials used in batteries and solar cells and explain how their structure impacts their function (structure-property relationships)

  2. Fabricate their own devices and perform electrical, optical, and electrochemical testing to analyze battery and solar cell performance (processing-performance relationships)

  3. Describe how materials characterization is used to examine energy materials

  4. Utilize experimental, teamwork, and organizational skills to solve engineering problems