Future Energy Needs and Consequences

From a Physical Sciences Perspective

The sun is the largest exploitable

resource:
1 hour of sun to earth = all of mankinds yearly energy:
Basic Science: How to capture and store?

Photosynthesis

Artificial photosyntesis

Uses of Solar Fuels

Hydrogen and carbon-based feedstocks are widely

used in industry.

Fertilizers

Pharmaceuticals

Plastics

Synthetic fuels

Challenges in large-scale production

of solar fuels

Efficient, so that they harness as much of the sunlight hitting them as

possible to produce fuels.

Durable, so that they can convert a lot of energy in their lifetime relative to
the energy required to install them.

Cost effective, so that solar fuels are commercially viable.

All working together

Integrating the different processes and materials involved, from capturing

and channeling sunlight through to producing a chemical fuel;

Identifying inexpensive catalysts to drive different aspects of the process

Developing ways to avoid the system degrading quickly because of exposure

to sunlight.

Resistivity

Supercondutivity

Kelvin (1902)

Matthiessen
(1864)
Dewar (1904)

Temperature

Discovery of Superconductivity
H. Kamerlingh Onnes
Mercury has passed into a new state, which on account of its extraordinary
electrical properties may be called the superconducting state

1911: Liquid Helium (B.P.: 4.2K)

1911: Observed that electrical resistance R(T)

of mercury vanished below Tc=4.2K

Tc Superconducting critical
temperature

1913: Nobel Prize in Physics

Origin of superconductivity

Metal:

Periodic arrangement (lattice) of positively charged ions Gas of mobile

negatively charged changed conduction electrons.

e-

Normal State: Scattering of electrons by:

Thermal motion of ions

Impurities

Other electrons

Phonon

Superconducting state:

Electrons with opposite momentum P and spin S are paired (P ,-P )

Electron pairs move in concert through lattice

eCooper pair model

Superconducting materials: Maximum

Value of Tc versus time

A superconductor is a perfect diamagnet. Superconducting material expels

magnetic flux from the interior.

Superconducting Aplications

The grand challenge with

superconductors

Superconductor state only happens at very low temperature

The mechanism for the materials are not well-known yet

Non-superconductor Nano-vortices within superconductors (quantum

vortex)

Energy considerations

IPhone uses more energy than your refrigerator

More E to stream a video than to manufacture and ship a CD

10% of E consumption is on wireless

Waste is unavoidable

No foreseeable ceiling for use of E for devices

The Problem With the Actual Technology

The actual technology already has problems with its compounds that do lose
energy in its operation.

Magnetoresistence

Electrical heating

Mechanical deformations by heating

New technologies

Plasma

Optical fiber (uses photons/computers uses electrons)

Excitons

Homemade Sun

The Tokamak Reactor

Is based in the principle of magnetic confined

Inside of it we have temperatures of about 150 million of Celsius degrees

Forming a hot plasma

Has superconducting coils surrounded the tokamak

The issue here is how we can confine it

The conclusion

We actually have a big amount of technologies that would be a solution for

our energy necessities, but actually need more research in this fields.

Talking about synthetic photosynthesis we need more research and start to

use prototypes than allows improve this technology.

About superconductors we need to understand in a better way the physics of

these things.

The nanomaterial actually are very used maybe we thing another ways for use
this materials for avoid our energy wastes.