AC Kolloquium - Prof. Dr. Adam Slabon

Inorganic Materials as Driving Force for the Circular Economy

Replacing crude oil as the primary industrial source of carbon-based chemicals has become crucial for both environmental and resource sustainability reasons. In this scenario, wood arises as an excellent candidate, whilst depolymerization approaches have emerged as promising strategies to unlock the biomass potential as a resource in the production of high-value organic chemicals. However, similar to CO2 reduction and solar fuels4, this requires the discovery of novel electrochemically-active materials and/or chemical processes based on renewable energy in order to drive sustainable technologies. In this talk, I will highlight the importance of materials and process design on chosen examples. With respect to the circular economy, I will also discuss the critical role of materials for hydrogen storage and sustainable recycling strategies for Li-ion batteries, covering both academic research and industrial progress.