Experts available for comment on upcoming Nobels

Lithium-ion batteries

If you own any handheld electronic gadget, chances are you own a lithium–ion battery. The $10 billion industry wouldn't be possible without the innovation of a possible candidate for the Nobel prize in chemistry, John Goodenough. He was the first to use lithium cobalt oxide as the cathode material in a lithium battery, which meant that stable materials could be used as the corresponding anode. Even today, most lithium-ion batteries use lithium cobalt oxide. Goodenough has continued working on materials that could be used as cathodes in lithium ion batteries.

Experts available:

• Bruce Dunn, a professional colleague of Goodenough’s on a DOE-funded panel. Dunn’s research includes work on the electrochemistry of new materials that could be used to store electricity.
o Title: Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
o Email: bdunn@ucla.edu
o Phone: 310-825-1519
o Webpage: http://www.seas.ucla.edu/ms/faculty1/dunn.html
o Note: Dunn is available during Pacific Daylight Time business hours.

• Gary Rubloff heads a DOE-funded research project that examines ways nanostructures can be used to store electrical energy. Many of Rubloff’s efforts have focused on improving lithium–ion batteries with nanostructures.
o Title: Minta Martin Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park. Director, Maryland NanoCenter and NEES EFRC.
o Email: rubloff@umd.edu
o Phone: 301-405-3011
o Webpage: http://www.rubloffgroup.umd.edu/

• Sang Bok Lee is deputy director of a DOE-funded research project that examines ways nanostructures can be used to store electrical energy.
o Title: Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park. Deputy Director, NEES EFRC.
o Email: slee@umd.edu
o Phone: 301-405-7906
o Webpage: http://www.chem.umd.edu/sang-bok-lee/

Nanowires

Nanowires are tiny crystalline fibers, typically less than one hundred nanometer across, and thousands of nanometers long. Nanowires are grown starting with a tiny bead of liquid gold or other metal that is placed in a vapor of the nanowire material. The material is attracted to the beads and grows into a long thin spike. Nanowires display an array of physical properties that depend not only on the material but also on their diameter, for example they conduct electricity differently than a large piece of the material they are made with. Peidong Yang a possible candidate for the Nobel prize in physics, has examined many different types of nanowires and their properties, including the ability to conduct a laser beam down its extremely narrow diameter. They can be used in quantum computers, as when two nanowires cross it creates a quantum dot; in flexible solar cells; and in tiny self-contained sensors.

Experts available:
• Oded Rabin studies nanowires and their thermoelectric properties. Rabin worked with Yang and collaborated with him on two papers and a patent.
o Title: Associate professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park.
o Email: oded@umd.edu
o Phone: 301-405-3382
o Webpage: http://www.mse.umd.edu/faculty/rabin
o Note: not available 10-11 am EST October 6

• YuHuang Wang, a materials and physical chemist, and an expert in nanoscience.
o Title: Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park.
o Email: yhw@umd.edu
o Phone: 301-405-3368
o Webpage: http://www.chem.umd.edu/yuhuang-wang/

• Gary Rubloff studies nanowires and their application in batteries.
o Title: Minta Martin professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park. Director, Maryland NanoCenter and NEES EFRC
o Email: rubloff@umd.edu
o Phone: 301-405-3011
o Webpage: http://www.rubloffgroup.umd.edu/