event
Thursday 03 May 2012: FMG Seminar: New Dimensions in Energy Materials
Professor Duncan H. Gregory (University of Glasgow) -
Harrison 170 (3D Visualisation Suite) 14:00-15:00
With the steady depletion of fossil fuels, concerns over climate change and other environmental issues and the need for secure sources of fuel supply, the need to explore alternative sources of energy is becoming more urgent. This situation presents a fundamental challenge for chemistry and for materials chemistry especially, since not only are means to produce hydrogen sustainably required, but also we will require new materials to convert and store this energy effectively. One can thus consider storing electrical energy directly (for example in batteries) or indirectly using an energy vector – such as hydrogen – which can be used in a conversion device such as a fuel cell.
Our research at Glasgow is concerned with many of these aspects at the interface of materials chemistry and energy. This talk will consider how, for example, one might design and produce new materials that can store hydrogen for use with fuel cells (for energy conversion) and have high ionic conductivity and high lithium storage capacity for use as electrodes in secondary batteries (for energy storage). In fact, some materials with the same origin can serve both these purposes. Additionally, this talk will consider other types of energy conversion and storage materials and how one might employ nano-design strategies in developing new sustainable energy materials.
