Faraday Discussions Blog

Artificial Photosynthesis: Faraday Discussion 155
5 – 7 September 2011
Edinburgh, UK

Early bird registration and poster abstract deadline – 01 July 2011
Registration deadline – 05 August 2011

Submit a poster abstract for consideration or register for this exciting conference today!

Confirmed speakers

• Graham Fleming, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Sir Richard Friend FRS, University of Cambridge, UK
• Michael Graetzel, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
• Dirk Guldi, University of Erlangen , Germany
• Devens Gust, Arizona State University, USA
• Osamu Ishitani, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
• Tom Mallouk, Pennsylvania State University, USA
• Stefan Matile, University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Garry Rumbles, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA
• Stenbjörn Styring, Uppsala University, Sweden
• Licheng Sun, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

There is a growing conviction that the only real prospect for our long-term energy provision relies on the ability to collect and store sunlight in the form of chemical potential. The need for alternative fuels and reduction of excess carbon dioxide left over from our era of fossil fuel consumption, focuses the attention on the design of effective artificial photosynthetic systems. This is a growing global problem and it will soon become the dominant scientific issue.

Applying new knowledge to old problems: FD155 will focus on possible solutions to long-standing problems in the development of artificial synthesis. This topical and important area of science covers many disciplines. The combination of biology, chemistry, physics and theory makes for an exciting blend of discussion points.

Themes

• Electronic energy transfer
• Fuel production / carbon dioxide reduction
• Oxygen evolution
• Integrated photo-systems
• Electron transfer

Faraday Discussion 151 took place from the 18th to 20th April, here are just a few of the highlights…

The topic of Hydrogen Storage Materials was covered during the most recent Faraday Discussion at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in Didcot, UK. Following a very interesting and insightful introductory lecture by Katsuhiko Hirose, five papers were presented during the first session prompting plenty of lively discussion and debate. The topics covered included: “The role of Ni in increasing the reversibility of the hydrogen release from nanoconfined LiBH4” and “Analysis of hydrogen storage in nanoporous materials for low carbon energy applications” by Petra de Jongh and Tim Mays, respectively.

The Tuesday morning session (chaired by Dag Noreus) provided further discussion. Of particular note was the discussion over Tom Autrey’s paper “Control of hydrogen release and uptake in amine borane molecular complexes: thermodynamics of ammonia borane, ammonium borohydride, and the diammoniate of diborane”. The afternoon session began with notable contributions from Andreas Borgschulte, and plenty of in-depth lively discussion between Tom Autrey and Craig Jensen over Inge Lindemanns paper.

After a gloriously sunny day the conference dinner took place on Tuesday night. The poster prize was awarded to Delphine Thibault for the poster entitled “Hydrogen trapping properties of Zr2Fe alloy in the presence of contaminant gases“.

The Wednesday morning session was chaired by Duncan Gregory. The topics covered in this session had more of an applied twist, including a hydrogen powered canal boat (presented by Alex Bevan) and hydrogen storage for automotive applications (Chris Nuttall). The discussion closed with some concluding remarks by Bill David, highlighting some of the elements from the introductory lecture and what lies ahead for hydrogen storage materials, and acknowledgements were made by the chairman Stewart Parker.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the conference and all who were involved in ensuring that Faraday Discussion 151 proceeded so smoothly. All in all a great success!

Faraday Discussion 151 will be published online this summer. Why not sign up for our free contents e-alerts?

Emma Eley and Erica Wise