Abstract
Meeting our future global energy needs in an environmentally responsible way is one of the greatest challenges in the twenty first century. The discovery of new functional materials is critical to developing the needed disruptive technologies for energy conversion, delivery, storage, and use. Remarkable advances in theory and high-throughput materials synthesis and characterization are enabling new materials discovery where theory can directly guide experimental materials development. This seminar will focus on materials by design research from the Next Generation for Materials by Design (CNGMD) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) where we tightly couple theory, experiment and characterization to discover and understand new inorganic semiconductor materials for photovoltaic absorbers, transparent conductors, and photoelectrochemical water splitting. An overview of NREL’s extensive R&D program in photovoltaics to meet the US Department of Energy Sunshot goals will also be presented along with challenges to address the development of the needed terawatts of global solar energy.
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Brief Bio
Dr. William Tumas is the Associate Laboratory Director for Materials and Chemical Science and Technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which carries out fundamental and applied R&D for renewable energy and energy efficiency including solar energy conversion for electricity and fuels, materials discovery and development for renewable energy technologies, energy storage, hydrogen production and storage, and fuel cells. Bill is also the Director of the Center for the Next Generation of Materials by Energy Frontier Research Center and led the Center for Inverse Design EFRC. Prior to joining NREL in 2009, Bill held a number of leadership positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 17 years including the Program Director for Applied Energy Programs, program manager and group leader of inorganic chemistry. He started his career at Dupont Central Research after postdoctoral research at Caltech. He received a Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University and a B.A in Chemistry from Ithaca College. His research activities have included materials by design, solar energy conversion, chemical hydrogen storage, catalysis, supercritical fluids and alternate reaction media, green chemistry, and waste treatment technology development and assessment.
