[5/28] The 36th “AIMR Tea Time Talk”

04/16/2021

Speaker

Prof. Magda Titirici
(Imperial College London, Department of Chemical Engineering / PI of AIMR)

Title

Black is the new Green: Sustainable Carbon Materials for Transition to Net Zero

Date

May 28 (Fri.), 2021 17:00-18:00 on Japan Time (9:00-10:00 on British Summer Time)

Venue

Online (Zoom)

Abstract

Materials sustainability is particularly important when building future energy storage and conversion technologies. Such energy technologies are crucial to ensure the transition towards a zero emissions society but are relying heavily on materials. We must address the fine balance between the development of emerging energy technologies and the materials we use to build them. Today, scarce metals are the most important components of energy storage and conversion systems. Cobalt and graphite are in the cathodes and anodes of Li-ion batteries. With the accelerated development of Li-ion battery technologies, there is a huge demand not only for Cobalt and graphite but also for Li itself, which is geographically confined to Bolivia Chile and Argentina. Hence, we need innovative energy storage technologies beyond Li. Iridium and Platinum are the catalysts of choice for H2 production from water and its utilization in fuel cells to generate clean electricity. The current available supply for these metals cannot sustain the expansion of such technologies at a global scale. We need alternative electrocatalysts and sources for H2 production and H2 use in fuel cells. Gallium, Tellurium, Indium are used in solar cells and photocatalytic systems for solar fuel production. These materials are scarce, and alternatives must be sought for the next generation of solar panels and photocatalytic systems.

In this talk I will present some of our innovations in the design of sustainable materials alternatives to be efficiently utilized in energy storage and conversion technologies. Examples will range from efficient and sustainable batteries beyond Li to alternative catalysts to Pt for fuel cell’s cathodes as well as alternative biowaste sources to water for the production of affordable and clean H2. A new family of photoactive nanomaterials made from biomass, i.e carbon dots, will also be discussed for potential use in solar H2 production.

Prof. Magda Titirici is a Professor of Sustainable Energy Materials at Imperial College London in the Department of Chemical Engineering where she is also the Director of Research.
Her research interests are in the area of sustainable materials for energy storage and conversion technologies with focus on batteries beyond Li, electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions as well as biomass electrolysis.
Prof. Titirici has published over 250 papers in this area cited over 27.000 times and has many awards from Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Materials and Mines, etc. She is an associate editor for J. Mater. Chem A with RSC and greatly collaborates with Wiley where she sits in many editorial boards (i.e, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Sustainability and Energy research, ChemSusChem and many mores). She is also passionate about outreach and a big promoter of equality and diversity in science and engineering working on many projects with Royal Society of Chemistry for a more diverse scientific community worldwide.
In April 2021, Prof. Titirici joined AIMR as Principal Investigator.

About Tea Time Talk

AIMR’s Tea Time Talk is a kind of seminar aiming to promote exchange between world’s eminent researchers and young researchers at AIMR, held in a relaxed atmosphere at AIMR’s Friday Tea Time. The following researchers from around the world have given talks at this event so far, and participants have enjoyed discussion over a cup of tea.

36th May 28, 2021 Prof. Magda Titirici (Imperial College London, U.K.)
35th Mar. 26, 2021 Prof. Yaroslav Blanter (Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology)
34th Oct. 23, 2020 Dr. Kazuhito Tsukagoshi (PI:WPI-MANA, NIMS & AIMR)
33rd July 17, 2020 Prof. Kaoru Tamada (IMCE, Kyushu University & AIMR)
32nd Jan. 17, 2020 Prof. Miho Yamauchi (I2CNER / Kyushu University & AIMR)
31st Jan. 17, 2020 Prof. Mickaël Lallart (INSA Lyon, Université de Lyon)
30th Oct. 25, 2019 Assoc. Prof. Frédéric Gillot (Department of Solid Mechanics, Mechanical Eng. and Civil Eng., École Centrale de Lyon)
29th July 12, 2019 Prof. Qian Niu (Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin)
28th May 17, 2019 Prof. Damien Fabrègue (INSA Lyon, France / ELyT MaX Lab at Tohoku University)
27th Dec. 14, 2018 Prof. Yukitoshi Motome (Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo, Japan)
26th July 13, 2018 Dr. Shimpei Ono (Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan)
25th May 11, 2018 Dr. Pierre-Antoine Geslin (Mateis lab, INSA Lyon/CNRS / ELyTMaX Lab at Tohoku University / Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University)
24th Apr. 27, 2018 Prof. Masaru Tsukada (AIMR, Tohoku University)
23rd Dec. 8, 2017 Prof. Jean-Yves Cavaillé (INSA Lyon, France / ELyT MaX Lab at Tohoku University)
22nd July 28, 2017 Prof. Nicolas Mary (INSA Lyon, France / ELyT MaX Lab at Tohoku University)
21st July 21, 2017 Prof. Gael Sebald (INSA Lyon, France / ELyT MaX at Tohoku University)
20th July 7, 2017 Prof. Arun Bansil (Northeastern University)
19th June 30, 2017 Dr. Takeshi Nakanishi (AIST-Tohoku U Mathematics for Advanced Materials Open Innovation Laboratory (MathAM-OIL))
18th June 23, 2017 Prof. Denis Arčon (Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia)
17th Apr. 28, 2017 Prof. Ayumi Hirano (AIMR, Tohoku University)
16th Nov. 29, 2016 Dr. David Guy Austing (National Research Council Canada, Canada)
15th Sept. 30, 2016 Prof. C. Suryanarayana (University of Central Florida, U.S.A.)
14th June 17, 2016 Prof. Tomoteru Fukumura (AIMR, Tohoku University)
13th May 13, 2016 Prof. Jean-Yves Cavaillé (ELyT MaX (Joint Lab at Tohoku University), University of Lyon, France)
12th June 26, 2015 Dr. B. Muralidharan (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India)
11th June 27, 2014 Prof. Michael B. Santos (The University of Oklahoma, U.S.A.)
10th Nov. 19, 2013 Dr. Pawel Hawrylak (National Research Council Canada, Canada)
9th Oct. 1, 2013 Dr. Yuan T. Lee (Nobel laureate in Chemistry, Academia Sinica of Taiwan)
8th June 28, 2013 Dr. Bjorn Mysen (Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, U.S.A.)
7th Apr. 12, 2013 Prof. Yiming Li (National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan)
6th Jan. 18, 2013 Prof. Tomasz Dietl (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)
5th Aug. 31, 2012 Prof. John H. Perepezko (University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A.)
4th Aug. 17,2012 Prof. Alain Reza Yavari (Grenoble Institute of Technology, France)
3rd Aug. 10, 2012 Prof. Alan Lindsay Greer (University of Cambridge, U.K.)
2nd July 6, 2012 Prof. Winfried Teizer (Texas A&M University, U.S.A.)
1st May 25, 2012 Prof. Thomas P. Russell (The University of Massachusetts Amherst, U.S.A.)

Contact

International Affairs Center (IAC), AIMR

Address : 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577
Tel : +81-22-217-5971
E-mail : iac@grp.tohoku.ac.jp