<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><div><b>Mechanical Engineering Department Seminar</b><br><b></b></div><div><b>Nanomaterials Manufacturing for Mechanical and Energy Applications</b></div><div><br></div><div>Prof. Z. F. Ren<br>Department of Physics</div><div>Boston College<br><br>Thursday, May 21, 2009<br><br>3-4 PM<br><br>Room 3-370<br><br><br>Abstract<br>Nanomaterials have many potential applications in mechanical and energy systems due to their special structural and physical properties. Such applications often require large scale materials manufacturing at a low cost. In this talk, I will discuss three topical areas where nanomaterials can be manufactured at large scale and their potential applications: 1) manufacturing of carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials and their mechanical properties, 2) a new nanoscale design for potentially high efficiency solar photovoltaic cells, and 3) high performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials for solid-state energy conversion between heat and electricity. In area 1, I will describe our discovery of growing aligned carbon nanotube arrays, controlling their diameter, length, orientation, location, and site density; and our in-situ TEM study of the mechanical deformation and superplasticity of CNTs. The oriented CNTs led to a novel concept of nano coax for high efficiency solar energy conversion by making the photon and carrier travel perpendicularly. Such a device configuration promises high efficiency. Finally, I will demonstrate our recent success on large scale manufacturing of nanostructured thermoelectric materials with improved thermoelectric figure of merit via a nanocomposite approach, and elaborate the potential of using these enhanced materials for energy conversion between heat and electricity.<br></div><div>Refreshments will be served before the seminar.</div></div></span></div><br></body></html>