Robert Buenker

Title : Inertial clocks and remote non-simultaneity

Abstract:

There has been an increasing need to utilize abundant seawater, via desalination, for a variety of uses, in particular agriculture in the arid regions that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Current desalination technologies provide effective solutions to the increasing water demands but require substantial electric energy, therefore limiting their sustainable use where conventional power infrastructure may not be available. We have applied photothermal (PT) thin films on various substrates for effective desalination using both Fe3O4 and Chlorophyll. Nanoparticles of PT materials are dispersed in thin film coatings for effective evaporation by exposing saltwater in substantially large areas under natural solar light. Upon solar irradiation, the PT thin films will harvest solar light largely in UV and NIR bands and convert it to heat and effectively increasing the temperature of the film leading to high evaporation rate of the seawater. The temperature increase, depending on the photothermal effect of the PT materials, can reach 50-60 0C for effective water evaporation. We report preliminary experimental results on nanoparticle synthesis, thin film deposition, photohermal effect measurement, and evaporation and condensation of a benchtop apparatus. We show that the PT thin films will be most effective in desalination via harvesting solar light, energy free.

Biography:

Prof. Buenker received his Ph. D in Chemistry from Princeton University in 1966. He became Asst. Prof. of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1967 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1973. He received the Senior U.S. Scientist Award of the Humboldt Foundation for research and teaching at the University of Bonn, Germany in 1973-75 and a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship of the European Community at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece in 2003-2004. He became Professor Chemistry at the University of Bonn in 1976 and University of Wuppertal in 1977 until his retirement in 2007. He has over 600 peer-reviewed publications in chemistry and physics.