Basic Energy Sciences

Harriet KungDirector, Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy

Board on Physics and AstronomyKeck Center of the National Academies

April 29, 2010

Basic Energy Sciences

2

The Scientific Challenges: Synthesize, atom by atom, new forms of

matter with tailored properties, including nano-scale objects with capabilities rivaling those of living things

Direct and control matter and energy flow in materials and chemical assemblies over multiple length and time scales

Explore materials & chemical functionalities and their connections to atomic, molecular, and electronic structures

Explore basic research to achieve transformational discoveries for energy technologies

The Program:Materials sciences & engineering—exploring macroscopic and microscopic material behaviors and their connections to various energy technologiesChemical sciences, geosciences, and energy biosciences—exploring the fundamental aspects of chemical reactivity and energy transduction over wide ranges of scale and complexity and their applications to energy technologiesScientific User Facilities—supporting the largest collection of facilities for electron, x-ray, and neutron scattering in the world

Understanding, predicting, and ultimately controlling matter and energy flow at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels

Strategic Planning Update

Program Highlights

Budget: Past, Present, and Future

What’s New

3

Science for National Needs

Science for Discovery

BES Strategic Planning Activities

National Scientific User Facilities, the 21st century Tools of Science & Technology

Systems

Complex

4

Transforming the Discovery Process

• Over the past 2 decades, the U.S. has developed and deployed the world’s most powerful collection of research facilities for materials and chemical sciences– World-leading x-ray and neutron sources– Nanoscale science centers– High-performance computers

• For the first time in history, we are able to synthesize, characterize, and model materials and chemical behavior at the length scale where this behavior is controlled

• This transformational leap conveys a significant competitive advantage

5

Computational Materials Science and Chemistry:Creating a New Paradigm of Materials Innovation Infrastructure

6

Integration of synthesis, processing, characterization, theory, and simulation and modeling.

Achieving/strengthening predictive capability in foundational challenge areas.

Developing validated computational approaches that span vast differences in time and length scales.

Experimental validation and quantification of uncertainty in simulation and modeling.

Robust and sustainable computational infrastructure, including software and applications.

Efficient transfer and incorporation of simulation-based engineering and science in industry.

“We are at the threshold of a new era where predictive modeling will transform our ability to design new materials and chemical processes, thereby enabling rational discovery strategies for systems that were not tractable a few years ago.”

Science for Energy Technology:Strengthening the Link Between Basic Research And Industry

7

Two kinds of science contributions:

1. “Supernovas” – breakthroughs that change technical landscape

• High temperature superconductivity in 1986

2. Understanding and ultimately controlling existing phenomena

• Complex materials and chemistry at the nanoscale• Mechanisms of “droop” in high current solid state

lighting• Development of carbon sequestration plumes• Conversion among photons, electrons and chemical

bonds

SciTech focused on near-term industry impact• Emphasize sustained building of scientific knowledge

base underlying technology, like Moore’s Law: series of incremental breakthroughs changes the game

9 Panels; 29 Priority Research Directions

EFRC Update

Energy Innovation Hub -- JCAP

Scientific User Facilities Update

LCLS early science User stats & industry usage

8

Program Highlights

Energy Frontier Research Centers46 EFRCs were launched in late FY 2009; $777M for 5 Years

Within <20 months of operations, EFRCs have made significant impacts on a wide array of science areas, including: Radiation-resistant materials Nano-wire battery Droop in solid-state lighting Light-harvesting antenna

EFRC awards provide the recipients with $2-5 million/year over a five-year award period to pursue collaborative basic research that addresses both energy challenges and science grand challenges

860 Senior Investigators1300 Students, Postdocs, & Technical Staff120 Institutions

World’s smallest battery placed inside an electron microscope yields images of electrochemistry at atomic scales

New insight into electrochemical processes at the nanoscale:

Nanowires can sustain large stresses (>10 GPa) caused by Li+ transport without breaking—good candidate for battery

Elongation and twisting of nanowires during charging may lead to a short circuit and failure of the battery, a key factor to consider during design

Research at SNL supported by the Center for Science of Precision Multifunctional Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (an EFRC led by University of Maryland) and in collaboration with PNNL and university contributors

EFRC Research Reveals Unusual Nanowire Behavior in Battery

Jian Yu Huang, et al., Science 330, 1515 (2010)

10

Science for Our Nation’s Energy Future will:

Explore the challenges and opportunities in applying America’s extraordinary scientific and technical resources to critical energy needs

Highlight early successes of the Office of Science Energy Frontier Research Centers

Promote collaboration across the national energy enterprise

Expected Participants include: Leaders from science, industry and government from

the US and abroad Students, young researchers, and senior investigators Members of the media and the general public

May 25 – 27, 2011, Washington, D.C.

11

12

Life at the Frontiers of Energy Research Video Contest

Excited About Excitons (MIT)For outstanding portrayal of young scientists

Heart of the Solution - Energy Frontiers (U. Michigan)For exemplary explanation of the role of an Energy Frontier Research Center

Light Matters (Caltech)For striking photography and visual impact

Carbon in Underland (UC Berkeley)For entertaining animation and engaging explanations of carbon sequestration

Battle against phonons (MIT)Special Award: Best with popcorn

http://www.energyfrontier.us/videos.

Panel of judges:

Paula Apsell, Senior Executive Producer, NOVAWilliam Phillips, NISTIvan Amato, Author & senior communications

officer Pew Health Group of the Pew Charitable Trusts

Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub: Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP)

The design of highly efficient, non‐biological, molecular‐level “machines” that generate fuels directly from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide is the challenge. Basic research has provided an understanding of the complex photochemistry of the

natural photosynthetic system and the use of inorganic photo‐catalytic methods to split water or reduce carbon dioxide – key steps in photosynthesis. JCAP Mission: To demonstrate a scalable, manufacturable solar-fuels

generator using Earth-abundant elements, that, with no wires, robustly produces fuel from the sun 10 times more efficiently than (current) crops. JCAP R&D focuses on:

Accelerating the rate of catalyst discovery for solar fuel reactions Discovering earth-abundant, robust, inorganic light absorbers with optimal band gap Providing system integration and scale-up

Begun in FY 2010, JCAP serves as an integrative focal point for the solar fuels R&D community – formal collaborations have been established with 20 Energy Frontier Research Centers.

Natural photosynthesis Artificial photosynthesis

JCAP as an Integrative Hub

JCAP R&D will focus on: Robustness of components Accelerating the rate of catalyst discovery for solar

fuel reactions Discovering earth-abundant, robust, inorganic light

absorbers with optimal band gap System integration, benchmarking, and scale-up

JCAP’s role as a solar fuels Hub: Incorporating the latest discoveries

from the community (EFRCs, single-PI or small-group research)

Providing metrics and benchmarking to the community

A DOE Energy Innovation Hub

Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryThe World’s First Hard X-ray Laser

Within 6 months of completion, LCLS is being used to study a wide array of science topics, including: Hollow atoms Magnetic materials Structure of biomolecules in nano-

crystals Single shot images of viruses and

whole cells

LCLS instruments provide new approach to x-ray bioimaging: Liquid or aerosol injection Very low noise, high-frame-rate CCD

detectors Integrated computing infrastructure to

manage gigabytes of data per day

15

LCLS Results: Femtosecond X-ray Protein Nanocrystallography

Photosystem I plays key role in photosynthesis.

Difficult to crystallize and use standard x-ray crystallography to obtain structure.

Single shot images from LCLS of nanocrystals used to build up full 3-D diffraction pattern.

Low resolution (~9 Å) shows structural details (e.g., helix density).

Single shot diffraction pattern

Combined 3D diffraction pattern

Reconstructed 3-D Structure

Chapman, H. N., et al. Nature, Feb 3rd, 2011.

16

More than 300 companies from various sectors of the manufacturing, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries conducted research at BES scientific user facilities. Over 30 companies were Fortune 500 companies.

BES User Facilities Hosted Over 13,000 Users in FY 2010

17

0

2,500

5,000

7,500

10,000

12,500

15,000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Num

ber o

f Use

rs

Fiscal Year

CFN CNMCINT MFCNMS SHaRENCEM EMCLujan HFIRSNS HFBRLCLS APSALS SSRLNSLS

Fortune 500 Users of BES Scientific Facilities

18

BES Budget: Past, Present, and Future

19

History of BES Request vs. Appropriation

20

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

(As

Appr

opria

ted

Dol

lars

in B

illio

ns)

Fiscal Year

Request

Appropriation

FY 2009 excludes funding from the Recovery Act.

In FY 2007 and FY 2008, appropriations were significantly below requests. FY 2009 & FY 2010 appropriations resumed the doubling track.

FY 11 CR

History of the Energy and Water Development Appropriation

-100

-75

-50

-25

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

1110090807060504030201009998979695949392919089888786858483828180797877

Day

s B

eyon

d St

art o

f Fis

cal Y

ear

Fiscal Year

FY 2011 – a new record!

The budget uncertainty associated a significant delay in the appropriation creates havoc with agency planning.

22

FY 2012 BES Budget Request

FY 2012 Request:$ 1,985M

Facilities Ops

825.4

MSE Research

355.6

CSGB Research

317.2Light

Sources426.9

Neutron Sources

276.9

NSRC 121.6Hub 58.3

EFRC100

SBIR & GPP 45.3

MIE 97

SUF Research27.1

Construction& OPC

159.1

Research programs Energy Innovation Hubs Energy Frontier Research Centers Core Research: increases in basic research

for energy; materials by design; nanoelectronics; methane hydrates

Scientific user facilities operations Synchrotron light sources Neutron scattering facilities Nanoscale Science Research Centers Instrumentation for clean energy

Construction and instrumentation National Synchrotron Light Source-II and instrumentation (NEXT) Spallation Neutron Source instruments & power upgrade Advanced Photon Source upgrade Linac Coherent Light Source-II TEAM-II

Research to establish materials design rules to launch an era of predictive modeling, changing the paradigm of materials discovery from serendipity to rational design.

Discovery of new materials has been the engine driving science frontiers and fueling technology innovations. The U.S. has the world’s most powerful suite of tools for materials synthesis, characterization, and computation.

Materials by Design

Test

Synthesis: Rational molecular-scale design guided by simulation. Characterization and Testing: Verify & validate computational designs and software, including in situ measurements using x-ray, neutron, microscopy, and nanoscience facilities. Theory/Simulation: New methods and algorithms for complex, multi-scale systems. Development of software and toolkits through a networked, broad community. Emphasis areas include: catalysis, light-weight materials, and materials for energy applications including radiation-resistant materials, carbon capture, batteries, liquid fuels, and photocatalysis.

23

Non-carbon Sources (Dollars in thousands)Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics + 8,000Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems + 8,000Materials under Extreme Environments +15,000

Carbon Capture and SequestrationCarbon Capture + 8,000Carbon Sequestration + 8,000

Transportation and Fuel SwitchingEnergy Systems Simulation - Combustion + 15,000Batteries and Energy Storage Hub + 34,020

Transmission and Energy StorageElectric Power Grid–Enabling Materials Sciences + 4,000Power Electronics + 3,500Batteries and Energy Storage Hub (same as above)

EfficiencyAdvanced Solid-state Lighting + 8,000Energy Efficiency – Enabling Materials Sciences + 4,000

FY12 Budget Request: Science for Energy

Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, 2009 (based on data from DOE/EIA-0384(2008), June 2009).

FY 12 Budget Request: A National Strategy for a New Energy Economy

Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics

Advanced Nuclear Energy Materials under Extreme

Environments

Carbon CaptureCarbon Sequestration

Energy Systems Simulation - Combustion

Batteries and Energy Storage Hub

Electric Power Grid Power Electronics Batteries and Energy

Storage Hub Advanced Solid-state

Lighting Energy Efficiency –

Enabling Materials Sciences