Moving away from fossil fuels and towards alternative resources is crucial for both decarbonising society and improving equitable access to energy. But other methods for creating and storing energy – including solar cells, batteries and hydrogen power – often lack the long-term efficiency and stability needed to compete with oil and gas. To make them viable at scale, we first need to understand where the materials underpinning them fall short. It’s this challenge that Dr. Harvey Guthrey at the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) has taken on.
Harvey started out studying physics, and an undergraduate internship in electron microscopy drew him to materials science. “I was sold as soon as I could see columns of atoms,” he says. His graduate work on solar cell materials set the direction he’s followed since.
Now, Harvey’s research team at DIFFER is measuring materials to test whether, and how well, they’ll work as part of an energy technology. This measurement occurs through comprehensive characterisation workflows, which Harvey likens to the tests a doctor runs on a sick patient before prescribing medicine. “Maybe a device doesn’t have the perfect output, so we look at the material that makes up the device, all the way down to the atomic-scale structure and its chemistry,” he says. “We need to get the complete picture of what’s going on to design the cure.”
The processes at play in the energy systems DIFFER studies are extraordinarily complex, and during them, materials can change and degrade. So, in the same way investigators would prioritise checking a plane’s black box in the aftermath of a crash to find out what went wrong, we need to record changes in these materials while they work – not just before and after. “Otherwise, you might be missing some critical piece that’s holding you back,” explains Harvey.
The in-depth nature of these measurements means they generate vast, complex datasets. These can be difficult and time-consuming for researchers to make sense of on their own. “Humans have limitations – maybe a computer can see something we don’t,” says Harvey. “Using AI to the fullest is going to really change the paradigm in the next phase of scientific research.” AI’s role in these measurements involves interpreting them, identifying outliers and unexpected results, and guiding the next round. This fits into the larger use of AI at DIFFER, which includes a self-driving laboratory programme for materials discovery and optimization, and a specialist software team developing the tools and algorithms that make this work possible.
Harvey hopes that his research team will devise new and more all-encompassing techniques for gathering information about energy materials. Standardising these multi-scale, multi-property measurements is also a key part of the puzzle. “If you generate confidence in those advanced measurements, that’s what leads to industry adoption. That’s how you really make an impact on the climate issues we’re facing,” says Harvey.
With the tagline “science for future energy”, DIFFER’s focus on research that can make a dent in humanity’s biggest challenges is part of what drew Harvey to the institute. “When you have that kind of atmosphere, it really helps move the needle forward, as opposed to a single researcher or a single team trying to attack the problem by themselves,” he says. He describes DIFFER’s openness as running “bottom to top and top to bottom: everybody’s ideas are heard.”
Outside the lab, Harvey’s move from the US has come with its own perks. “I’m really enjoying not having an automobile,” he says of life in Eindhoven, where he cycles or walks almost everywhere. “It’s a beautiful city, lots of greenery – a very pleasant environment.”
But what he finds most rewarding about being at DIFFER is the chance to pass on his expertise. “I’ve been lucky throughout my career in that I had some really great mentors and environments that helped me grow as a researcher. Now I can do that for the next generation, and help them really make an impact with these technologies,” he says.
This story was originally published on Academic Positions.
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