Seminar „Nanoengineering at the Energy-Materials-Water Nexus“ by AvH Awardee Prof. Gang Chen

Prof. Gang Chen, Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, USA, will deliver a seminar at the TUM Institute for Advanced Study.

• Seminar title:      Nanoengineering at the Energy-Materials-Water Nexus
• Seminar Time:   11.30–12.30 p.m., 17 June
• Social lunch:      12.30 -13:30 p.m., 17 June
• Venue:                 Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Garching, TUM (Lichtenbergstraße 2a, 85748 Garching)
• Registration:       Free to attend, but please register via communications@ias.tum.de for lunch. 

Prof. Chen has been awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Award and is visiting us this year in the June-July period. His research interests center on nanotechnology and energy engineering.

Abstract:

This talk highlights several examples from the speaker’s research at the energy–materials–water nexus, illustrating how fundamental understandings can open pathways to transformative technologies. Beginning with the wave nature of light, the talk will show that near-field radiative heat transfer can exceed Planck’s blackbody limit by several orders of magnitude. It will then turn to electron and phonon transport in solids, demonstrating that their mean free path distributions can differ dramatically in crystalline materials and that exploiting these differences through nanostructuring has enabled the development of some of the world’s highest-performance thermoelectric materials for direct heat-to-electricity conversion. The talk will further discuss the discovery that cubic boron arsenide possesses both exceptionally high thermal conductivity and record-high bipolar electron and hole mobilities, enabled by advances in first-principles simulations, making it an outstanding semiconductor material. Inspired by insights from the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam Tsingou problem and anomalous phonon transport in one-dimensional systems, we have also shown that polymers can be engineered to achieve thermal conductivities exceeding those of most metals. Finally, the presentation will address water and phase-change phenomena, focusing on the previously missing link in liquid–vapor transport across evaporating interfaces and proposing a new mechanism called the photomolecular effect as a potential explanation for reported super-thermal solar-interfacial evaporation, pointing to new opportunities at the intersection of energy, materials, and water. 

About the Speaker: 

Gang Chen is the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for former Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He received an ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, an ASME Frank Kreith Award in Energy, a Nukiyama Memorial Award by the Japan Heat Transfer Society, a World Technology Network Award in Energy, an Eringen medal from the Society of Engineering Science, an Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellences in Mentoring and Advising from MIT, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, an Steven Chu Medal from Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering, and an American Courage Award from Asian American Advancing Justice. He is a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Physical Society, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He received an honorary Doctor of Science from University of Hong Kong. He is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science, an academician of the Academia Sinica, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a member of US National Academy of Sciences.

 

The event is open to all researchers at TUM. For catering planning, please register for the event by sending an email to communications@ias.tum.de by June 12 (noon) at the latest.