Flame Assisted Fabrication of Nano-materials with Applications to Energy

Joaquin Camacho, San Diego State University
October 12, 2016, 11:00am - 12:00pm, EBUII 479

ABSTRACT:

Ever since the commercial introduction of Sony’s lithium ion batteries in 1991, the performance and cost of rechargeable batteries and ultracapacitors has improved. However, progression from the current $400 / kWh per lithium ion battery pack is hindered by stubborn raw material and equipment costs. This means that the greatest opportunity for improving lithium ion battery and other technologies is to transform the manufacturing process. In this talk, the advantages of flame-assisted fabrication methods will be discussed. The current batch-based manufacturing process for batteries is relatively inefficient and flame-assisted approaches have the potential to transition manufacturing to a superior steady-state process. Examples of conductive carbon and metal oxide nanoparticle synthesis in flames will be presented along with applications of these materials to fabrication of optimized ultracapacitor electrodes. Finally, a proposed fabrication process based on flame assisted synthesis will be introduced.

BIO:

Dr. Camacho is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State University. Prior to joining SDSU, he was a postdoctoral scholar in the NanoEnergy Lab at Stanford University working on theory, process design and renewable energy applications of flame synthesized metal oxide nanoparticles. He is an alumnus of UCSD where he obtained a BS in Chemical Engineering and participated in undergraduate research under Prof. Kal Seshadri. For his PhD research, Dr. Camacho designed fundamental soot formation and nanoparticle catalysis experiments in the Combustion Kinetics Laboratory at the University of Southern California. He is an active member of the Combustion Institute and International Sooting Flame Workshop. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Paper Award at the International Symposium in Combustion.