University of Maryland Energy Frontier Research Center

**Job Openings**

 

The Challenge

The severity of the world energy shortage demands far more efficient ways to store energy, particularly from renewable sources like solar and wind. With capability for storing much more energy, delivering higher power, and recharging faster, next-generation electrical energy storage (EES) systems will enable new, green solutions to energy storage in smaller, lighter packages.

Our Vision

We believe that nanostructures are the key to next-generation EES. By creating structures at the nanoscale, we can design and exploit the energy storage capacity of optimized nanomaterials while also combining different materials in geometries that speed up movement of charge (electrons and ions) to and from the storage nanomaterials.

Science is Needed

Understanding how to fabricate such nanostructures and make them perform well poses profound new challenges, from the design and construction of nanomaterials as multicomponent structures for rapid charge transfer to the stability of the structures as charge is cycled in and out.

Our Goal

The Energy Frontier Research Center for Science of Precision Multifunctional Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES) will develop the fundamental science required for creating predictable, regular arrays of nanostructures, optimizing their materials and understanding their charge transfer behavior at the nanoscale, and optimizing the design of multifunctional EES nanostructures. The Center?s advances will underpin a nano-enabled next-generation EES technology.