PHY-30039 - Module Specification
School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

The increasing demand for energy and the impact that conventional energy technologies (mostly based on fossil fuel) has in the environment have led to an urgent need for the development of efficient ways of capturing, storing and transforming energy in a more renewable and sustainable way. Most of the limitations in the current renewable technologies are due to limitations in the materials used (either related to high cost, low abundance or low efficiency). In this module we will discuss the roles that discovering, designing and engineering materials have in the development of efficient devices for renewable and sustainable energy applications.

The module aims to discuss recent advances and challenges on the development of material roadmaps for sustainable and renewable energy applications, such as a roadmap on advanced materials for batteries (https://energy.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-12/vol-3-008-2.pdf) and materials for energy transition roadmaps (https://www.royce.ac.uk/materials-for-the-energy-transition/).

Intended Learning Outcomes

Describe and explain the challenges facing renewable and sustainable energy, in particular with respect to limitations in the materials used.: 1,2,3
Describe and explain the importance of materials screening, design and engineering in the development of efficient technologies for renewable and sustainable capture, storage and transformation of energy.: 1,2,3
Communicate effectively the key fundamental physical properties of the most promising materials for a variety of renewable energy technologies.: 1,2,3
Locate, evaluate and extract information from the literature related to materials for renewable energy.: 1
Evaluate and provide critical and constructive feedback on peers work.: 2
Perform calculations and solve problems involving the physical properties of materials for renewable energy.: 3

Study hours

Active learning hours:
20 x 1-hour of delivered content
1 x 1-hour presentation supervision meeting
1 x 2-hour workshop on oral presentation, Q&A session and critical feedback
Independent study hours:
5 hours for oral presentation session (variable depending on the number of students)
52 hours of research, literature reading and coursework preparation
10 hours of talk preparation
2 hours preparation of critical feedback
58 hours of private study

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment