Efficiently utilization of Kingdom’s Industrial Waste (Sulfur) for Energy Storage Devices

Waste to industrial applications

Overview

The worldwide demand of energy was predicted to increase up to 44% from 2013 to 2035. Rapid depletion of fossil fuel and potential threats to environment insist for innovations and inventions in materials technology for improved and cost effective energy conversion and storage devices to power progressively diverse range of applications such as portable electronics, electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrid EVs (HEVs). Unfortunately we have a limited choice of materials and moreover, bulk materials have already acquired their inherent limits in performance which renders the situation much more challenging for future developments. During the last decade, various approaches have been investigated to maximize the performance of materials, including the downsizing of materials, development of composite structures and the exploitation of vertical arrays of nanowires or nanotubes for improving the surface area, reactivity, conductivity and stability of materials. However, these approaches resulted in marginal improvement in device performances indicating the trade-offs between material properties i.e. enhancement in one property of material appeared at the expense of the other. It is now desirable that materials structure and design should be optimized to achieve a balance between different materials properties for maximum device performances.

Our Research

At SET center, we are developing low-cost, high-performance functional materials using kingdoms industrial waste for large-scale, affordable storage devices for portable electronics, vehicle electrification, smart grid as well as the broad-scale deployment of alternative energy resources such as solar and wind.

Technology Impact

• Efficiently utilize the sulfur produced as one of the major industrial wastes in the Hydrocarbon based industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Developing novel and facile synthesis route for the synthesis of functional nanomaterials and their composites for energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries.

Funding Agency: KACST(Availale Funding 0.7 Million SAR)

Prototype: Electrochemical Energy Storage Device.

Current Applications: Hydrocarbon industries, Renewable energy projects.

Future Applications: Grid, Transportation and telecommunication network markets.

Industrial scope: Hydrocarbon, Electronics, Transportation.

Patent: In process.

Publications: In process.