Sustainability
Sustainability Report for Future Energy and Innovation Laboratory: Innovations Across Four Domains
1. Sustainability in 3D Printing
Our approach to 3D printing emphasizes waste reduction, cost efficiency, and eco-friendliness:
- Efficient Printing: Using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) with high material yield to reduce waste.
- Eco-friendly Materials: Employing biodegradable filaments and non-hazardous carbon and graphene. We avoid hazardous chemicals with traditional metal carbides.
- Recycling & Upcycling: Re-extruding waste into new filaments and converting carbon waste into functional products like fog collectors and battery electrodes.
- Energy Efficiency: Optimizing designs and protocols to reduce energy use and excess materials.
2. Sustainability in Energy Generation
Our research targets zero-emission energy solutions, focusing on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs):
- Sustainable Materials: Utilizing non-toxic options like aluminum, copper, carbon, wood, and eco-friendly polymers.
- Eco-friendly Fabrication: Integrating 3D printing to minimize waste.
- Innovative Applications: Developing TENG devices for small-scale power generation, wearables, smart home tiles, and clean hydrogen production through water splitting.
3. Sustainability in Energy Storage
Exploring alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, we focus on abundant elements like sodium, potassium, and zinc:
- Zinc-ion Batteries: Developing safe, recyclable aqueous zinc-ion batteries with densities up to 100 Wh/kg.
- Eco-friendly Materials: Utilizing non-toxic cathodes and biodegradable gel electrolytes.
- Innovative Manufacturing: Employing 3D printing and laser processing with recyclable materials to reduce environmental impact.
4. Sustainability in Micro/Nanorobotics
Our nanorobotics efforts integrate biodegradable, eco-friendly materials:
- Biodegradable Construction: Using polymers and algae-based biohybrids for reduced toxicity.
- Sustainable Manufacturing: Employing 3D printing and on-demand electrodeposition for low waste.
- Energy Harvesting: Powering robots through ambient sources like light and magnetic fields.
- Sustainable Applications: Enhancing medical precision and minimizing pharmaceutical waste, with environmental uses like pollutant and microplastic removal.
Summary
The Future Energy & Innovation Lab advances sustainability by integrating eco-friendly materials and efficient manufacturing across 3D printing, energy generation, storage, and nanorobotics. Our initiatives support a sustainable future through resource efficiency and clean technology development.