Daniel R. Blasini, Ph. D.
Johns Manville Technical Center
Abstract:
We live in a
world in crisis, specifically one at the edge of an energy crisis. As
the price of crude oil and oil based fuels continues to rise, there is a
clear need for the development of renewable and cleaner technologies
that help us move away from our oil addiction. Improvement in the
efficiencies of present technologies will also alleviate the energy
issue. However, in order to develop and improve existing “green”
technologies, a thorough understanding of the variables that affect
their performance is strongly desirable. In general, comprehension of
structure/composition/properties relationships could aid researchers on
the design of more efficient systems. Two examples of such systems are
direct fuel cells (DFC) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).
Typically, the main challenge encountered during the study of these
systems is that some of their key components cannot be characterized via
traditional laboratory-based analytical methods. During my dissertation
research I had the opportunity to develop protocols for the
characterization of such components, particularly new DFC
electrocatalysts and thin films on OELD. Grazing incidence scattering
techniques at the CHESS-G2 station proved to be extremely valuable in
their characterization. During this talk I will highlight the
accomplishments and challenges encountered during their study, emphasis
will be given to the OELD work. I will also describe my involvement on
the construction and commissioning of instrumentation for G-Line and the
G2 station. I will attempt to grasp how our experiments grew hand in
hand with the station’s capabilities and instrumentation.
2008 Run
Nov 19th - Dec 22nd
