Science Floats Glass To Gain New Insight

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN are hoping to gain a greater insight into the nature of glass using a new $1.65 million Neutron Electrostatic Levitation Chamber (NESL). Using the NESL, scientists are hoping to float liquids and study them, unmixed with the environment, in order to understand glass. It sounds somewhat trite, but this is actually a really interesting experiment. Glass is not so much a product or item as it is a state of being--it's a part of the solid, gas, liquid set. Team leader and physicist Kenneth Kelton explains,

We've used glasses since 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, but we still don’t understand the process – how it goes from a liquid to a glass. It's one of the most interesting dynamical processes anywhere around. If we look at the difference in structure from a liquid to a glass, we can see a difference, but it's very subtle. The question is, What's different?

In order to figure out what makes glass different from liquid, Kelton and his team are going to float liquid forms of several materials, such as titanium, zirconium, nickel, platinum and their alloys. Hopefully in time, we will see some solid results from the study!

General Electric to compete with Bloom Energy?

General Electric (GE), perhaps jealous of all the buzz surrounding the Bloom Box, has recently patented a "core-shell ceramic particulate" and its manufacturing process. What this means, basically, is that GE now has a patented method to prepare a sort of yttria-stabilized zirconia that can be used in a solid oxide fuel cell, which is what the Bloom Box is comprised of.

These yttria-stabilized zirconia are a sort of porous ceramic. Porous ceramics are of scientific and technological interest because of their ability to interact with atoms, ions, and molecules not only at the solid surfaces, but also throughout the bulk of the material. They have a greater surface area than similarly-sized solids. Porosity, by virtue of implying a larger surface area, gives a material an advantage in processes like ion exchange, adsorption, sensing, and catalysis. ration, catalysis, detection, and sensor applications. Porous ceramics also have the advantages of ceramic material. Ceramics have great thermal and chemical stability, solid erosion resistance, and high pressure stability.

This GE patent could mean nothing, or it could mean that the industrial giant is going to throw its full weight behind Bloom Box-like technology. After all, during the now famous 60 Minutes profile of the Bloom Box, Green Tech Media's Michael Kanellos appeared and said that there's a 20% chance we'll have a fuel cell box in our basements within ten years, but "it's going to say 'GE.'" Again, our takeaway is is that solid oxide fuel cell technology is great news for the planet, and great news for technical ceramics manufacturers.

Technical Ceramics in the Bloom Box?

We recently wrote about piezoelectric ceramics in energy harvesting applications, but technical ceramics are being used in an even more exciting (to some) energy application: the Bloom Box. Hailed as a "power plant in a box," the Bloom Box, from Bloom Energy, is basically a refrigerator-sized box that houses a group of fuel cells, which use oxygen, fuel, and heat to create electricity with virtually no emissions. The Bloom Box was invented by K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy. It was originally envisioned as a device to manufacture oxygen on Mars; when the manned Mars trip was scrapped by NASA, Sridhar refocused his efforts, resulting in the Bloom Box (technically the Bloom Energy Server).

So how do technical ceramics play a role in the Bloom Energy Server? Well, it is comprised of solid oxide fuel cells, and the fuel cells are made from technical ceramics. Each Bloom Energy server uses thin white ceramic plates, which are made from sintered modified zirconia. These plates, which are known as ceramic fast ion conductor plates, are then coated with a green ink or a black ink in order to create the anode and cathode portions of the fuel cell. The third part of the fuel cell, the electrolyte, is speculated to be comprised of yttria-stabilized zirconia. Technical ceramics play a huge role in the Bloom Energy Server!

Why is the Bloom Energy Server so ballyhooed? About twenty well-known companies--including Google, FedEx, Walmart, Staples, and eBay--have already integrated it into their power chain. About nine months ago, eBay installed five Bloom Boxes at its San Jose, CA campus; the company has claimed energy-related savings of more than $100,000 in that period. There are concerns over the technology, still. The technology is prohibitively expensive: Each unit costs between $700,000 and $800,000. Sridhar has said he wants to get get costs down to about $2,000 per unit--eventually. They may also have problems providing around-the-clock, 24/7 use. The technology, however, is still in a relatively early stage. The fact that it's out in the real world, offering real world energy savings, is a pretty spectacular notion. If the Bloom Box can scale down to consumer and third world applications, it may well promote and offer new avenues of growth for the technical ceramics industry along the way.