Energy-efficient electronics depend on some form of energy storage so that excess energy can be held for future use and not wasted. In fact power storage makes up one of the three main components of energy management for homes as well as vehicles: power generation, power transmission, and power storage. Lynn E. Foster, author of the book Nanotechnology: Science, Innovation, and Opportunity, opined, “If you can solve the problem of local storage, you’ve basically solved the whole problem. That’s because, by definition, the storage you need is local. You’ve got terawatts [equals one trillion watts or one billion kilowatts] of power moving into the grid. The biggest problem with renewable energy in general, and solar and wind in particular, is that they’re episodic and not dispatchable.” This means that the energy supplied on community power grids comes in pulses rather than in a steady stream, and utilities cannot dispense the energy in doses as needed. Foster continued, “You’ve got to have storage. Storing energy in batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, and some chemical systems like hydrogen depends on nanoscale interactions.” Nanoscale is a general term for the size of things that are no bigger than an atom or a molecule—a nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology is the science of working with nanoscale-sized devices.
Nanotechnology’s value to science lies in the observation that matter behaves differently at the nanoscale than it does on a larger scale. The DOE has explained this technology and its value: “All the elementary steps of energy conversion (charge transfer, molecular rearrangement, chemical reactions, etc.) take place on the nanoscale. Thus, the development of new nanoscale materials, as well as the methods to characterize, manipulate and assemble them, creates an entirely new paradigm for developing new and revolutionary energy technologies.” Nanotechnology is still in its
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| Engineers have been using nanotechnology to develop thin layers designed for generating an electrical current and producing light. The next step using nanoscale materials may be to convert solar power directly to light with a solid-state structure such as this one. Engineers also plan to embed tiny solar cells in window glass to produce electricity from sunlight. (Source: Paul Alivisatos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) |
infancy, as scientists discover new behaviors of common materials when at the nanoscale level and find ways of applying this knowledge for practical uses. The following table provides a list of the main opportunities in nanotechnology for producing new energy-generation systems for electronics and other items.
Nanotechnology will likely help in the development of the following two energy conservation objectives: inventing future energy generation devices that perform in ways that current devices cannot, and finding new ways to catalyze reactions to minimize energy input and waste output. At present, ideas for new uses of nanotechnology have developed faster than actual methods have developed.
