Mission:
The US-Australia Sustainable Energy Initiative Pty Ltd (UASEI) incorporates the Sustainable Energy Initiative, Pty Ltd (SEI), Australia, and the Center for Defect Engineering of Energy Materials (CDEEM) at the University of Florida. It forms the critical mass of expertise and infrastructure in energy materials for energy conversion systems required for sustainable transportation, such as photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) for hydrogen generation by solar water splitting, solar cells for water and air purification, and fuel cells, as well as education programs on sustainable energy. The mission of UASEI is to support the community in the development of energy technologies that are environmentally clean and the introduction of the related educational programs.
R&D Strategy:
The UASEI aims to develop energy materials for the hydrogen economy [1], including hydrogen generation by solar water splitting [2, 3] and fuel cells [4], as well as alternative processing technologies for reduction of air and water pollution [2]. The R&D strategy is based on a novel kind of engineering, surface defect engineering (SDE), that allows processing of energy materials with enhanced performance by imposition of segregation-induced quasi-isolate surface structure (QISS) with controlled semiconducting properties [5-7]. The processing is based on the high-temperature electron probe (HTEP), an instrument that can guide SDE [5]. The UASEI objective is to develop new generations of energy conversion systems that allow reduction of global warming as well as education programs in sustainable energy [8].
Objectives:
The transition towards global sustainability requires global efforts to address key objectives, and the UASEI will develop joint programs on both fundamental and applied aspects. It will focus on application of surface defect engineering (SDE) to develop new generations of energy conversion systems with enhanced energy conversion efficiency.
Societal Benefits:
The joint efforts will enhance production of solar hydrogen fuel as well as reduction of the detrimental impact of air pollution and global warming on the environment.
Partnership with Industry and Philanthropic Organizations:
The UASEI calls for partnership with industrial and philanthropic organizations interested in protection of the environment through the development of novel and more efficient energy conversion systems.
Contact:
Dr. SA Sherif, Director of CDEEM and Primary Editor of the Handbook for Hydrogen Energy (sasherif@ufl.edu)
Dr. D. StC. Black, Deputy Director, Former Secretary General of the International Council of Science (D.Black@unsw.edu.au)
Dr. J. Nowotny, Deputy Director (J.Nowotny@uws.edu.au)
Dr. W.M. Sigmund, Deputy Director (Sigmundmse@gmail.com)