Ceramics and glasses for energy, environment and transport.
This research line is focused on the design, development and characterisation of ceramic and glassy materials in topics related to energy, environment and transport applications. These are the principal areas in which numerous projects have been carried out in the last decade in relation with ceramic, glass and energy industrial sectors and other final users of these materials. Activities related with materials working under stringent conditions, such as high loads, high temperatures, corrosive atmospheres, friction and wearing are developed and applied to technological systems such as gas turbines, engines, spatial vehicles, fusion reactors, etc. Another key issue is the development of materials and components for energy devices as fuel cells (PEMFC, SOFC, IT-SOFC), Li-batteries, photovoltaic solar systems and nuclear plants. These subjects come together with protective and environmentally friendly anticorrosive coatings, mesostructure coatings with photocatalytic activity for abatement of water or gas pollutants and solar cells, ceramic gas-separation membranes or nano glass-ceramics with photonic applications.
One main objective is the increase of the efficiency of systems with a simultaneous reduction of their environmental impact, for example by increasing process temperatures in turbines and engines and/or reducing the weight of components and heat losses. Energy saving is a related and key target considered which is tackled by different approaches, from industrial glass furnaces and processes to solar and heat control in buildings and transport.