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SUMMARY:Going green with black:  On Biomass\, Carbon and Clean Energy - Pr
 ofessor Magdalena Titirici (Imperial College London\, Department of Chemic
 al Engineering)
DTSTART:20190214T140000Z
DTEND:20190214T150000Z
UID:TALK120097@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lingtao Kong
DESCRIPTION:One of the grand challenges facing humanity today is access to
  sustainable materials and chemicals which are at the heart of sustainable
  technologies. The production of materials\, chemicals and fuels from abun
 dant and renewable resources will eliminate our dependence on petroleum/cr
 itical metal-based supplies and will provide access to a new economy based
  on available reserves.\n\nCarbon is the most versatile element known. It 
 combines with other (carbon) atoms giving rise to new carbon materials wit
 h astonishing properties. The versatility and potential of carbon has attr
 acted top recognition in the last decade for the work in fullerenes (1996 
 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)\, CNTs (2008 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience) and gra
 pheme (2010 Nobel Prize in Physics). However\, the mystery and wonder of c
 arbon offers more to discover. \n\nWhile carbon is widespread on Earth\, i
 t has been mainly synthesized from fossil fuel-based precursors with sophi
 sticated and energy consuming methodologies that generate toxic gases and 
 chemicals. The preparation of carbon materials from renewable resources is
  a key research challenge in terms of sustainability\, climate change and 
 economics. Since the beginning Nature created carbon from biomass. \n\nWe 
 have demonstrated that it is possible to mimicking the natural process of 
 carbon formation and prepare carbon nanomaterials from biomass using mild 
 hydrothermal processes. Along with amorphous carbon materials (denoted HTC
 )\, this procedure also enables biomass transformation into useful chemica
 ls such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) or levulinic acid (LA). Recentl
 y\, we have discovered a third product of Hydrothermal Carbonisation - a c
 rystalline form of carbon - arising at the interface between the amorphous
  HTC microspheres and the aqueous phase containing the biomass-derived che
 micals.\n\nIn this talk I will present some of the fundamentals governing 
 the production of carbon nanomaterials and chemicals. We will also discuss
  the application of HTC materials in electrocatalytic reactions such as Ox
 ygen Reduction Reaction and Oxygen Evolution Reaction.\n\nFinally\, some o
 f the photo-physics governing the optoelectronic properties of the new fam
 ily of fluorescent hydrothermal carbon nanocrystals and their applications
  as sensitizers in solar cells will be presented. 
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Ro
 ad
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