Penn State University
Energy and Mineral Engineering
Penn State University Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering

EME Faculty

Professor Jeffrey R. S. Brownson

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson

Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
 
office:     212 Hosler Building / 224 MRL Building
phone:     814-865-8473
email:     nanomech@psu.edu
fax:     814-865-3248

View Brownson Group Website


Bio


Biographical Sketch

Dr. Brownson joined the faculty of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME) in the summer of 2007. He offers a unique background as a materials scientist for solar energy conversion systems, having completed his degrees in geoscience, materials science, and environmental chemistry. Following his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin—Madison ("Photoreactive anatase consolidation: UV hardening and surface chemistry of alcohol-modified TiO2 films."), Dr. Brownson pursued postdoctoral research in photovoltaic thin film materials in France at the CNRS Institut de Chimie et Matériaux de Paris-Est, returning to Wisconsin to develop nanostructured metal oxide films for sensitized photovoltaic cells.


Dr. Brownson has recently emerged from his two-year term as the faculty director and PI for Natural Fusion, the Penn State solar house enterprise in research/education/outreach, participating in the DOE-sponsored Solar Decathlon 2009 in Washington, D.C. The Natural Fusion Team successfully earned Third Place in both Engineering and Lighting Design competitions, and the Natural Fusion home is about to be set on the Bayer MaterialScience campus just outside of Pittsburgh.


Jeffrey revels in the exchange between the sciences, society, and the arts, and now serves as the program officer for the upcoming on-line degree, Bachelor of Arts in Energy & Sustainability Policy, housed in the Department of EME in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.


Educational Background

Ph.D. (Environmental Chemistry & Technology), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2005

M.S. (Geology), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001

B.S. (Geology), University of North Dakota, 1999



Active Research Projects


The Brownson Research Team is housed at the Materials Research Laboratory at the University Park campus, and currently focuses on photovoltaic materials and systems design. Our research and educational philosophy is to foster a unique integration of expertise within the field of solar energy conversion. Our research deals with: synthesis and characterization of inorganic photovoltaic materials, considering sustainable materials design for energy conversion; System-Integrative Photovoltaics (SIPV); and system scale transient energy simulations for buildings and for network (electrical grid) deployment of solar technologies.



Current Projects


Metal chalcogenide thin film materials for PV devices:

Current materials research is focused on synthesis and characterization of tin monosulfide (SnS), and cadmium telluride; both promising light absorbing materials for thin-film solar cells due to its favorable light absorption properties, stable nature and the inexpensive availability of the raw materials.

Researchers: Mr. Ramprasad Chandrasekharan (Ph.D. student); Mesude Bayrakci (Ph.D. candidate); Ms. Katherine Nicol (undergrad: Energy Eng./ChemE); and Ms. Danielle Norcini (undergrad: Physics).


Computational simulation and testing of System Integrative Photovoltaics (SIPV):

Rather than replacing one element in a home with PV and sacrificing performance in both components, we focus our integration of PV into a wall or roof system, we arrive at interesting synergies that maximize performance of all the system components. Our research into the thermal benefits of Green Roof Integrative PV (GRIPV) is a complement with the Natural Fusion project at Penn State. Our simulation and testing recently has added characterization and modeling of ultracapacitor performance as power conditioning elements in PV systems.

Researchers: Mr. Lucas Witmer (M.S. candidate), Mr. Charith Taminneedi (M.S. candidate)


Analysis of economic strategies for deployment of small photovoltaic systems in Africa:

We are also exploring innovative integration of PV systems as remote power supply for rural homes and developments in parts of Africa. it is economically beneficial to sell to the grid.

Researcher: Mr. Oladipo A. Ositelu (M.S. candidate)


Natural Fusion 2009 (www.naturalfusion.org):

The Solar Decathlon is a biannual international competition for university students and faculty to design, build, and operate a home powered by the sun. The Natural Fusion project for 2007-2009 (now completed) united design and engineering, and energy demands are balanced against our solar resource. We will soon continue to address a contemporary problem that is important to researchers, society, and industry, in collaboration with the new owner of the home, Bayer MaterialScience.

Researchers: Mr. Lucas Witmer (M.S. candidate), Mr. Jeff Rayl (undergrad: Electrical Engineering)



Selected Publications


  1. S. Blumsack, J. R. S. Brownson, L. Witmer, Efficiency, Economic and Environmental Assessment of Ground-Source Heat Pumps in Central Pennsylvania 2009, Proc. 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa HI.
  2. Brownson, J. R. S., Lévy-Clément, C. Electrodeposition of nanostructured cobalt hydroxide and cobalt layered double hydroxide thin films. Electrochim. Acta 2009, 54(26), 6637.
  3. Hara, Y., Brownson, J., Anderson, M. Solvothermal Fabrication of ZnO nanorods using ethanolic quantum dot precursors. Phy. Stat. Sol. (a) 2009, 206(4), 711.
  4. Brownson, J. R. S., Lévy-Clément, C. Electrodeposition of a- and ß-Cobalt Hydroxides Thin Films via Dilute Nitrate Solution Reduction. Phys. Stat. Sol. (b), 2008, 245(9), 1785..
  5. Brownson, J. R. S., Georges, C., Larramona, G., Jacob, A., Delatouche, B., Lévy-Clément, C. Chemistry of tin monosulfide (d-SnS) electrodeposition: Effects of pH and temperature with tartaric acid. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2007, 155(1), D40.
  6. Brownson, J. R. S., Georges, C., Lévy-Clément, C. Synthesis of a d-SnS polymorph by electrodeposition. Chem. Materials, 2006 18(26), 6397.
  7. Brownson, J. R. S., Tejedor-Tejedor, M. I., Anderson, M. A. FTIR study of methanol and ethanol interactions with anatase surfaces with respect to UV irradiation. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2006 110(25), 12494.
  8. Brownson, J. R. S., Tejedor-Tejedor, M. I., Anderson, M. A. Photoreactive anatase consolidation characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. Chem. Materials, 2005, 17(25), 6304.


Recent Activities and Awards


Activities


Invited Talks:


Presentations:



Recent Synergistic Activities:


Director, Natural Fusion project: Supervising research/education/outreach for the Pennsylvania State University faculty/student/industry team in Solar Decathlon 2009. Involving seven colleges and three industrial partners. November 2007-January 2010.


Lead Instructor: Exploring Renewable Energy Technologies and the Materials that Make it Happen. Science Workshop for Educators. NASA's Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. June 2008, 2009.


Transdisciplinary Course Development: Living with Sustainable Energy in a Global Society. Leading collaboration with engineering, science, design and policy faculty and students for a yearlong course sequence that included summer voyage to experience sustainable energy in Germany and France. July 2008-Dec 2009.


Awards/Honors/Recognitions



Teaching


Work with Students:

In my mentoring and coursework, I emphasize the overlap between materials science and environmental science and engineering. Science and engineering at EME is learned within the larger context (and limitations) of the natural environment of Earth and the Sun. There is a possibility for important interdisciplinary feedback between energy and materials research and environmental technology. I welcome and strongly encourage undergraduate independent studies in my laboratory, and also support strong writing skills for recording field and laboratory research notes and for communicating final reports of the caliber expected in industry. My hope is to encourage a love of learning while introducing the opportunity for engineers to develop profitable technological advances that are sustainable and adaptable to rapidly changing engineering demands.


Annually Offered Courses:

EGEE 437: Design of Solar Energy Conversion Systems (Spring)

EGEE 455: Materials for Energy Applications (Fall)


Courses Taught in the Past:

EGEE 597D: Advanced Photovoltaics (graduate) (Fall 2009)

EM SC 474W: Living with Sustainable Energy in a Global Society (Spring-Sum-Fall 2009)

EM SC 420: Energy and Modern Society (Fall 2008)

EGEE 101: Energy and the Environment (Fall 2007)



Other Interests


Context of Solar Energy Conversion Systems: In periods when fuels were effectively accessible (inexpensive and unconstrained), the solar energy conversion approach for lighting, sensible or latent heat changes, or for electricity generation, was deemed diffuse and insufficient to perform work in society. However, for those periods where fuels have become constrained and expensive (inaccessible or high risk), innovation has turned to solar technology solutions. In fact, one finds solar energy conversion science and engineering has been known and practiced for well over two thousand years. Technologies using solar energy conversion systems have often developed as a specific response to economic or fuel constraints (e.g. wood shortages in Greece and Rome in the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE, coal shortages in 18th century France, and fuel constraints in rural America pre-1920s) [1]. Devices for the solar heating of fluids and solids have been vetted for hundreds of years. Yet the modern field of solar energy conversion systems is still in its infancy for the many global societies of the developed world.


Solar energy conversion systems call upon researchers to simultaneously assess distribution, scales of use, systems design, predictive economic models for the fluctuating solar resource, and storage plans to address transient cycles. The spectrum of the solar resource is broad, and allows for parallel paths for heating, cooling, and electrical power conversion (i.e., solar cogeneration). The field of solar energy conversion systems is ripe for a transformative new interpretation that will feed innovative minds and sustain the excitement encountered daily in my own students of engineering, science, economics, and architecture for a new green energy economy.


[1] A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology (K. Butti and J. Perlin; 1980)

Research Interests


Teaching


EGEE 437 - Design of Solar Energy Conversion Systems (3)


EGEE 455 - Materials for Energy Applications (3)