Page 12 - Book of Invited & Keynotes Talks

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8 Biannual Conference on Chemistry - CHEM 08

A Quest for Sustainable Energy: From Nanoscale Energy
Generators to Green Batteries and Supercapacitors

Maher El-Kady
1,2
1 Research Assistant Professor (Researcher Series), Department of
Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA,
United States

2 Chief Technology Officer, Nanotech Energy, Inc., Chico, CA, United States

ABSTRACT
Batteries run just about everything portable in our lives such as
smartphones, tablets, computers, etc. While we have become accustomed to
the rapid improvement of portable electronics, the slow development of
batteries is holding back technological progress. This has put energy storage
research as one of the most explored areas in chemistry and materials
science. In this talk, I will discuss innovative techniques for the fabrication
of energy-storage devices with new features not possible with current state-
of-the-art technology. Several examples will be given, ranging from smaller
and more powerful batteries to completely flexible and stretchable energy-
storage devices as well as green and biodegradable batteries. Special
emphasis will be placed on supercapacitors that are gradually changing our
lives in many ways; they are also revolutionizing a breadth of industries
including transport, aerospace and consumer electronics. In addition, our
work holds promise for a new generation of pacemakers that could save
millions of lives by monitoring and controlling the heart rhythms of the
patients. While current pacemakers rely on primary batteries for their
power, their limited lifespan make replacement surgery unavoidable,
putting patients at risk of serious and life-threatening infection. The talk will
present ultrathin power sources we have recently developed for harvesting
energy from the human body as a promising approach for implantable
medical devices that may not need to be replaced during the lifetime of the
patient.
The second part of my talk will be dedicated to our recent work on
nanogenerators that convert ambient mechanical energy into electricity,

offering an alternative for sustainably driving portable electronics. Using 3D
extrusion printing, our team developed a prototype nanogenerator to
create electricity when it comes into contact with snow. The device could
potentially be integrated with solar panels to ensure continuous power

BOOK OF INVITED SPEAKERS & KEYNOTES CHEM 08 (2020) Page 12