Juan Duque discusses Lab-funded solar energy research on radio

Nanotubes integral to developing next-generation solar cells

Juan Duque

Feb. 18, 2010—Juan Duque, a postdoc with the Lab's Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy group, spoke about his solar energy research involving nanotubes on local radio station KRSN 1490 AM Wednesday. The research is funded through LANL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program.

Research on solar energy

Duque shared with listeners that the best piece of professional advice he ever got came from his dad. "As long as you do what inspires you, what makes you happy . . . you will contribute to society," Duque said his father told him. And the young researcher's way of making the world a better place is through exploring renewable energy sources.

Duque said that by working at Los Alamos on a solar energy project that hopefully will lead to the development of next-generation solar cells, which will decrease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels, he's exactly where he wants to be, doing what he wants to do. "One of the main reasons why I decided to come to the Lab was because of its mission, which is strongly oriented toward energy," he noted.

Soaps and salts

Duque's current work builds on research he conducted as a doctoral student in chemical engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and involves understanding and manipulating the properties of nanomaterials, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nanotubes, discovered in the 1990s, are extremely small materials—100,000 make up the diameter of a human hair—that, depending on their diameter, absorb light from different parts of the spectrum and emit it. Commercially available nanotubes, such as the ones Duque and his group use, consist of metallic and semiconductor tubes of different diameters that tend to aggregate into bundles. The challenge is to separate the various types and diameters, and this can be done, Duque said, by using surfactants, such as household soaps and detergents, and salts.

Although the project is still in its initial phase, Duque said he's pleased with the progress that's been made. "We're doing very, very well," he said, adding that his group has already identified the different types of tubes and analyzed how these react to surfactants and salts.

It's an important first step to securing efficient and reliable energy resources in times when global energy costs and demand are rising rapidly, he said.

Listen to the entire interview here.