3D – Printed Stacked Nanolayers for Zero-Emission Energy Generation Devices

The proposed dissertation aims to develop a novel screening method to find efficient fuel cells that rely on cheap materials. The cooperative research work with Karlsruher Institut Fuer Technlogie (KIT) will allow the 3D printing of ~40 000 nanostacks per glass slide with freely chosen sequential arrangements of printed nanolayers made of nanoparticles or organic materials. KU Leuven's role in this innovative work is to develop 3D structures that will accept the printed layers and functionalize them into the efficient intended devices. In this way, these stacked nanolayers will be a starting point to develop improved versions of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), batteries, diodes, and fuel cells. Accomplishing this goal, the acquired experience will be applied in future directions such as a custom-designed CMOS chip that allows the screening of the complex functionalities by simply printing nanostacks onto designated areas on the chip. In addition, this advance in materials research will enable the development of another state of the art electronic devices for energy harvesting (such as triboelectric nanogenerators) and various sensing applications (mass sensing, accelerometers, neural interfaces, etc.).