Benefits in Energy Budget

Abstract Nanomaterials in the 1–100 nm size range have extraordinary potential for applications within a wide variety of existing and emerging technologies. Such applications depend primarily on the existence of quantum confinement effects, which allow the optical and electronic properties of a material to be tuned with size, on the unusually high chemical reactivity of nanomaterials, and on their high ratio of surface area to volume. Among the applications of nanomaterials are the development of sustainable energy sources and their potential impact on the global energy budget. Applications of nanomaterials in the field of energy are discussed, including fuel cell catalyst supports, where carbon nanotubes show tremendous promise; hydrogen storage, where carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials may be useful; photovoltaic solar cells, where quantum confinement can be employed to tune the absorption wavelength of nanomaterials and nanostructured titania solar cells have been demonstrated with high efficiency; and lithium ion battery anodes, where several nanomaterials, including metal and Si nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes, have been demonstrated to have extraordinarily high Li storage capacity.