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Convening Academic, Government, and Industry Leaders at Georgia Tech to Accelerate Energy Materials Research
The Georgia Tech Energy Materials Day brought together representatives from academia, government, and industry to accelerate energy materials research. It also provided an opportunity for key stakeholders to interact with Georgia Tech researchers in this important area.
The event was hosted by the Strategic Energy Institute, the Institute for Materials, and the Advanced Battery Center at Georgia Tech. There were sessions built around three significant thrusts examining energy materials research and applications.
Keynote Speaker
Danielle W. Merfeld
As Global Chief Technology Officer, Merfeld leads Qcells’ research and development for advanced solar products and complete energy solutions. She is focused on accelerating the company’s efforts to enhance technology capability as it embarks on building the United States’ first fully integrated solar supply chain.
Prior to this role, Merfeld led technical efforts in GE Renewable Energy to develop differentiated products and services across the broadest renewable energy portfolio in the industry, including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, batteries, hydro and grid solutions. She has been a consistent champion for sustainability and diversity and is a regular lecturer on Energy Transition topics.
Merfeld was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University. Merfeld leads the National Academy of Engineering’s Energy Working Group and serves on the NAE President’s Business Advisory Committee. She also is on the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Council, and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech.
Session Topics
Battery Materials and Technologies
As society electrifies, batteries and energy storage technologies are becoming increasingly important. This session focused on new battery materials and the technologies being developed at Georgia Tech and elsewhere in academia and industry.
Photovoltaics and the Grid
Vertically integrated photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing is making a huge comeback in the U.S. Most of the active materials used in a PV cell that end up being used in a solar panel are fabricated outside the U.S. In this session, we aimed to bring together academia, industry, national laboratories, and government to discuss the future of silicon, cadmium telluride, and halide perovskite solar cell technologies. We also discussed what the grid will look like to accommodate solar as a major player in the energy space.
Materials for Carbon-Neutral Fuel Production
Industrial decarbonization will require the use of alternative fuels that can replace fossil-based fuels. Carbon neutral or zero-carbon fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, and abundant biofuels coupled with carbon capture are primed to meet these needs. This session highlighted the ongoing work to develop new materials, processes, and systems to produce and utilize carbon-neutral fuels.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Institute for Materials
Strategic Energy Institute
Advanced Battery Center
Local Hotels
Parking
The Energy Materials Day will be held at the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall.
If you are walking / drop-off, please use the address, Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall, 460 4th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30332.
If you are taking the campus transportation Stinger route, the Gold Route operates on an east-west route through the heart of Georgia Tech’s campus, providing service from the Midtown MARTA Station to the Transit Hub and Student Center.
If you are coming by a personal vehicle, the closest parking is adjacent to the Exhibition hall - W2 parking - GPS address is 355 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA.
