Recently, the understanding of nanotechnology has shown to play a transformative role in providing sustainable clean energy. In this context, we believe that the development of nanotechnological based research will provide technical challenges to meet the energy conversion, storage and conservation in affordable manner with control of nanomaterials, nanostructures and nanoscale phenomena.
The super capacitor, photovoltaic, photochemical, hydrogen storage, thermal storage devices will be discussed which could provide the low cost efficient devices through the application of nanotechnology. The performance demand of super capacitor is improving by fabricating novel nanocomposite electrode by combining with processing techniques, geared towards high surface area and high metallic conductivity. Our graphite-conducting polymer or metal oxide electrodes have shown high power density cost effectively. Novel thermal energy storage materials with high rate heat capacity and compatible with any design are needed for military, commercial and solar energy applications.
We are working on encapsulated Phase Change Material (PCM) for solar thermal energy applications. Recently, we have observed for the first time the photoelectrochemical properties of nanodiamond–ragioregular polyhexylthiophene conjugated polymer nanohybrid which is nearly 8 to 10 fold greater than most common metal oxide-conducting polymer hybrid materials. One of the biggest challenges for the commercial application of hydrogen-based energy is to find a high volumetric and gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity, the ability to be refueled quickly and repetitively and a safe transportation system. Out all the studied materials (metal hydride, carbon nanotubes, conducting polymer, etc.) have shown high hope, so emphasis is made to synthesize high surface area nanocomposite material for hydrogen storage applications.