"Global energy needs will double by 2050 and triple by 2100," said Michael R. Wasielewski, Northwestern chemistry professor and director of the new center. "An increase in the use of solar energy is essential for meeting this need in an environmentally responsible manner."

Researchers at the ANSER Center will come from both Argonne and Northwestern, and will examine new economical ways to use sunlight to produce clean fuels, such as hydrogen, from water and to produce electricity directly from low-cost photovoltaic and thermoelectric systems.

"The scientific challenges to achieving these goals are complex and cross-disciplinary, requiring an integrated systems approach," said George Crabtree, director of Argonne's Materials Science Division and deputy director of the ANSER Center.

"Argonne and Northwestern each have a long history of accomplishment in solar energy research, as well as a culture of interactive team approaches to problem-solving. Add the world-class complementary expertise and facilities, and the result should be real breakthroughs in understanding fundamental solar energy conversion mechanisms and the ability to dramatically improve the efficiency of converting solar energy to fuels and electricity."

Another goal is to educate a science and engineering workforce able to solve cross-disciplinary energy problems through educational opportunities available through the collaboration.

Key scientific challenges that will be addressed through the ANSER Center are:

+ Coupling light energy to catalysts to produce clean fuel;
+ Developing interfaces between different materials to greatly increase the performance of organic photovoltaics;
+ Developing nanoscale electrode architectures within solar cells to increase their performance;
+ Developing new materials to directly convert solar heat to electricity with high efficiency.

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Related Links
Argonne National Laboratories
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com