Materials for energy conservation and storage

Abstract

Some areas of energy use where improved materials could lead to energy savings are surveyed. Current energy use patterns and their likely evolution to the end of the century are also reviewed so that particular applications may be seen in perspective against overall energy consumption and other energy conservation measures. Energy conservation is viewed both from the point of view of energy inputs to materials and how process improvements might permit savings, and also by considering general modes of energy use—transport and combustion in particular—and assessing some general ways in which conservation could be achieved. Areas such as improved engine-management of internal combustion engined vehicles and improved batteries for electric vehicles, where progress depends very much on materials developments, are surveyed in more detail. The need for improved sensors to measure exhaust gas composition in vehicles is one particular aspect of a general need for improved monitoring to permit better quality control and hence optimal fuel input for industrial processes requiring heat. Energy storage procedures are surveyed, together with a discussion of electricity generating methods and future electricity use. Attention is given to current fuel cell programmes, which offer the potential of increased conversion efficiency of fossil fuel to electricity compared with conventional power stations but where materials problems are critical in determining commercial success, to heat storage materials, and to water electrolysis and hydrogen production as a means of energy storage. The utilisation of electrochemical processes in solids or at surfaces or interfaces is a general theme underlying many of the technologies discussed.