Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative
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CHALLENGES AT THE FRONTIERS OF MATTER AND ENERGY: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science A Report from the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee A Report PB a On the Cover Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite materials have changed the way we think about solar cells. These materials were first used in solar cells in 2009 with an efficiency of 3.8%, and rapidly reached efficiencies of 20.1% in 2014, just five years later. The most common material is CH3NH3PbI3, which is made from cheap and abundant starting materials and manufactured by simple solution processing or scalable vapor phase deposition. Inexpensive hybrid perovskites have the potential to replace expensive single crystal silicon as the dominant solar cell material. Science Magazine chose organic-inorganic perovskites as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of 2013 (“Newcomer Juices Up the Race to Harness Sunlight,” Science 342, 1438 (2013)). They symbolize the importance of new materials discovery to advancing the frontiers of science and technology. (Cover image adapted from Noel et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 7, 3061 (2014).) Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science A REPORT FROM THE BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Chair: John C. Hemminger (University of California, Irvine) U.S. Department of Energy | November 2015 Prepared by the BESAC Subcommittee on Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy Executive Committee: John Sarrao, Chair (Los Alamos National Laboratory) George Crabtree (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Illinois at Chicago) Graham Fleming (University of California, Berkeley) John C. Hemminger (University of California, Irvine) Mark Ratner (Northwestern University) B i Committee Members BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR: John C. Hemminger (University of California, Irvine) Simon Bare (UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company) William Barletta (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Gordon Brown (Stanford University) Sylvia Ceyer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Yet-Ming Chiang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Beatriz Roldan Cuenya (Ruhr-University Bochum) Frank DiSalvo (Cornell University) Persis Drell (Stanford University) Roger French (Case Western Reserve University) Bruce Gates (University of California, Davis) Ernie Hall (GE Global Research, emeritus) Sharon Hammes-Schiffer (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) Bruce Kay (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Max Lagally (University of Wisconsin, Madison) C. William McCurdy, Jr. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Davis) Monica Olvera de la Cruz (Northwestern University) Mark Ratner (Northwestern University) Anthony Rollett (Carnegie Mellon University) Gary Rubloff (University of Maryland) Maria Santore (University of Massachusetts, Amherst ) Matthew Tirrell (University of Chicago) Douglas Tobias (University of California, Irvine) John Tranquada (Brookhaven National Laboratory) DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICER: Harriet Kung (U.S. Department of Energy, Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences) COMMITTEE MANAGER: Katie Runkles (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences) B i Subcommittee on Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: John Sarrao, Chair (Los Alamos National Laboratory) George Crabtree (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Illinois at Chicago) Graham Fleming (University of California, Berkeley) John C. Hemminger (University of California, Irvine)* Mark Ratner (Northwestern University)** SUBCOMMITTEE: Nora Berrah (University of Connecticut) Gordon Brown (Stanford University)** Susan Coppersmith (University of Wisconsin, Madison) Don DePaolo (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley) Roger French (Case Western Reserve University)** Cynthia Friend (Harvard University) Ian Foster (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago) Sharon Glotzer (University of Michigan) Bruce Kay (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)** Jennifer Lewis (Harvard University) Emilio Mendez (Brookhaven National Laboratory) Margaret Murnane (University of Colorado, Boulder) Monica Olvera de la Cruz (Northwestern University)** Juan de Pablo (University of Chicago) Tijana Rajh (Argonne National Laboratory) Anthony Rollett (Carnegie Mellon University)** James Sethian (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley) Matthew Tirrell (University of Chicago)** William Tumas (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) SCIENCE WRITER: Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) * BESAC Chair ** BESAC Member ii iii Table of Contents Executive Summary...........................................................................v Chapter 1: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants—Five New Transformative Opportunities for Energy Science . 1 Chapter 2: Mastering Hierarchical Architectures and Beyond-Equilibrium Matter......................7 Chapter 3: Beyond Ideal Materials and Systems: Understanding the Critical Roles of Heterogeneity, Interfaces, and Disorder......................................................15 Chapter 4: Harnessing Coherence in Light and Matter ...........................................21 Chapter 5: Revolutionary Advances in Models, Mathematics, Algorithms, Data, and Computing........27 Chapter 6: Exploiting Transformative Advances in Imaging Capabilities across Multiple Scales ........33 Chapter 7: Enabling Success................................................................. 39 Appendix: Grand Challenges: Then and Now ...................................................43 References ................................................................................ 59 ii iii iv PB Executive Summary executivesummary Our progression from the Stone Age to the advanced our understanding of how nature Bronze Age to the Iron Age reflects the works, they have impacted myriad energy increasing ability of humans to manipulate technologies. In addition, our capabilities the building blocks of nature–atoms and for probing and controlling matter have the molecules they form through the leapt forward. For example, today we have sharing or exchanging of electrons. In a thousand times more computational 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy’s power than was available in 2007. Whereas Office of Science charged a panel of in 2007, 100-teraflop supercomputers— ranking experts with identifying key meaning machines capable of performing questions challenging our ability to control 100 trillion floating-point calculations per matter and energy, the basic currency second—were the gold standard, today we of science, technology, and society. The are on the verge of 100-petaflop machines panel’s conclusions were presented in a (a petaflop is one quadrillion floating-point landmark report titled “Directing Matter calculations per second). Furthermore, and Energy: Five Challenges for Science the Office of Science envisions exascale and the Imagination.” The major contention computing (a million trillion floating- of that report was that in meeting its five point calculations per second) within the “Grand Challenges,” humankind would next decade. This enormous growth in enter a new “Control Age” in which the computational power, coupled with major atomic and molecular interactions that advances in other fields, such as the determine material properties and the development of coherent light sources outcomes of chemical processes could and increased imaging resolution, is be controlled on a molecule-by-molecule accelerating the pace of materials and or atom-by-atom basis, or even at the chemical sciences research. In 2007, quantum level of electrons. Controlling the Linac Coherent Light Source and the matter and energy at the molecular, National Synchrotron Light Source II were atomic, and quantum levels could spark visions on paper; today, they are operating revolutionary changes in technologies that national user facilities bringing new, unique would help us meet some of humanity’s capabilities to materials and chemistry most pressing needs, including the need research. In consideration of this changed for renewable, clean, and affordable landscape, the Office of Science charged energy. the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) with assessing the While fully meeting these five Grand progress that has been made on all five Challenges is still years down the road, Grand Challenge fronts and identifying significant advances have been made. what new knowledge opportunities exist to As described throughout this report, advance energy science. scientific breakthroughs have not only PB v Executive Summary FIVE TRANSFORMATIVE CO2, splitting water, and fixing nitrogen), of materials and chemical reactions OPPORTUNITIES FOR storing, and use of energy to create new such as superconductivity and efficient DISCOVERY SCIENCE materials, manufacturing processes, and photosynthesis. In recent years, enormous technologies—the lifeblood of human progress has been made in recognizing, As a result of this effort, it has become societies and economic growth. manipulating, and exploiting quantum clear that the progress made to date coherence. This progress has already on the five Grand Challenges has elucidated the role that symmetry plays created a springboard for seizing five Beyond Ideal Materials and Systems: in protecting coherence in key materials, new Transformative Opportunities that Understanding the Critical Roles taught us how to use light to manipulate