TcSUH
Bi-Weekly Seminar
Oxygen Diffusion and Surface Exchange in Mixed Conducting Metal Oxides
Date: Friday September 28, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
The performance of many energy conversion and storage devices depend on the properties of mixed electronic-ionic conducting materials. Mixed or ambipolar conductors simultaneously transport ions and electrons and provide the critical interface between chemical and electrical energy in devices such as fuel cells and batteries. Enhancements in storage capacity, reversibility, power density and life all require new materials and a better understanding of the fundamentals of ambipolar conductivity. In this presentation, I will describe some recent results for a remarkable new class of oxygen ion mixed conductors with potential applications in fuel cells and ion transport membranes.
We have shown that mixed-conducting non-stoichiometric perovskite oxides with ordered A site cations have remarkably high oxygen ion conductivity and surface reaction rates for oxygen exchange relative to conventional materials. Subsequent to our own studies, two other groups have demonstrated comparably high oxygen diffusion in similar compounds confirming that this class of compounds represents a significant enhancement in the achievable rates of oxygen diffusion in mixed conducting oxides.
In PrBaCo2O5+x (PBCO), a representative example of this class of compounds, the barium and praseodymium cations are located in planes that alternate along the c axis; oxygen vacancies occur only in the ab plane containing the Pr3+ cations. The oxygen diffusion coefficient measured in PrBaCo2O5+x as a function of temperature surpasses the diffusion coefficients of the compounds La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-x and La2NiO4+x which are among the highest of the known mixed conducting oxides.
The surface exchange coefficient for oxygen exchange has been measured on thin films of PrBaCo2O5+x by electrical conductivity relaxation and by oxygen-isotope exchange and depth profiling. Microstructural studies indicate that the PBCO films, prepared by pulsed laser deposition, have excellent single-crystal quality and epitaxial nature. The measurements reveal that the PBCO films have high electronic conductivity and more rapid surface exchange kinetics than those of other perovskites.
Reasons for the high oxide ion diffusion and surface exchange coefficients and the relation to the high electronic conductivity and diffusion pathways will be discussed together with the potential use of the compounds as electrodes for oxygen reduction in fuel cells and as membranes for oxygen separation.
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Bi-Weekly Seminar
Finding the Key to the High Tc Puzzle
by: Prof. Young Kim
Date: Friday September 14, 2007
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
The high-Tc puzzle remains unsolved despite extensive experimental collection of the puzzle pieces over the past two decades. Granted, this could be due to the complexity of the problem, but it could also be very likely that some key building blocks might have been overlooked as they were hidden behind various experiments on different high temperature superconducting materials and, therefore, too subtle to be recognized. In order to solve this puzzle, we have re-searched the key pieces in hand and put them together to bring about a coherent picture that captures the essential physics of high Tc superconductivity.
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Bi-Weekly Seminar
Quench Propagation Analysis in MgB2 Superconducting Magnets
by: Matteo Alessandrini
Date: Friday August 17, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
Reliability and durability of high temperature superconducting magnets depends on our knowledge of their behavior during a quench. Simulation of quench propagation and voltage growth along composite MgB2 superconducting wires are presented by taking into account sharing current and temperature dependence of heat capacity, thermal conductivity and resistivity. A description will be given of our recently developed testing facility for quench propagation studies in MgB2 superconducting magnets. Finally some of the latest results on large bore solenoids will be presented and discussed.
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Bi-Weekly Seminar
Single Molecule Studies of Disease-Related Biological Processes
by: Christy Landes
Date: Friday August 03, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
Biological processes are often heterogeneous. Single molecule spectroscopy allows us to distinguish between multiple pathways in disease progression or drug/pathogen interactions. Thus, it is possible to identify, for example, which steps are most amenable to drug therapy. The experimental technique is especially powerful when combined with simulations in which we model processes such as protein-nucleic acid binding. I will discuss the recent progress in our group using single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (SMFRET) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to study retroviral chaperone steps and model macular degeneration inhibitor
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Bi-Weekly Seminar
Optical and Electronic Properties of Zn4Sb3 Thermoelectrics
by: Dr. Alexander P. Litvinchuk
Date: Friday July 20, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
We will report on an experimental study of optical and electronic properties of Zn4Sb3, an excellent thermoelectric material, across the structural ß-α transition using optical techniques. The phase transition from highly disordered high temperature ß phase into low symmetry ordered &alpha phase is shown to be accompanied by an increase of thermoelectric power and electrical conductivity, and also significant rise in the free charge carrier density. Concomitant with these electronic changes is an unexpected increase in the carrier scattering rate, which exhibits features of localization.
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