Dallas Section Meeting

TOPIC: Carbon composites for energy storage

Energy storage is needed for alternative energy including wind, solar, electric vehicles etc. Advances in battery and supercapacitor technology is critical. Electrochemical capacitors (EC), especially electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) based on carbon, store charge through the electrostatic adsorption and desorption of ions at the electrode and electrolyte interface. EDLCs have significantly more power than batteries but less energy. Pseudocapacitors (PC) store charge through a redox reaction that takes place at the electrode-electrolyte interface resulting in higher energy. However, most pseudocapacitive materials such as metal oxides have low conductivity. Hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs) combine non-Faradaic and Faradaic charge storage to increase both energy and power density. The synthesis of novel, templated carbon composite electrodes and their electrochemical performance will be described.

SPEAKER: Kenneth Balkus, Professor, University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Kenneth Balkus graduated from WPI in 1982 with a BS degree in chemistry. He then earned a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1986 under the direction of Russ Drago. His graduate studies focused on catalysis and oxygen binding. After a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Pennsylvania in the area of organometallic chemistry, Dr. Balkus joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is also affiliated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He rose through the ranks and was promoted to Full Professor in 1997. Most recently he completed a term as Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He has also served as editor for two journals. Dr. Balkus has been recognized with numerous awards including an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He was also a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and Senior member of the AIChE. Dr. Balkus has published more than 350 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. His research has focused on porous materials with applications in areas such as catalysis, membranes, energy storage and drug delivery. Much of this work has resulted in patented technology. Dr. Balkus is a co-inventor on 45 patents issued or pending, many of which have been licensed. In particular, Dr. Balkus is co-founder of DB Therapeutics, a company developing cancer therapies based on radiotherapeutic bandages invented in his lab.