Chemistry at Oxford: Research contributions past and present, and future plans

Talk title: Towards the sustainable synthesis of fuels and chemicals – Prof James Durrant. Summary: A key challenge for net zero is the sustainable synthesis of molecular fuels and chemicals. These include fuels for transportation where batteries do not provide sufficient range – e.g.: sustainable aviation fuels, fuels for shipping, green hydrogen, green ammonia for fertilisers, and sustainable molecular feed-stocks for the chemical industry. Whilst bio-derived fuels and chemicals offer a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, the availability of agricultural land and competition with food production limits their scalability. There is therefore increasing energy to harnessing renewable energy sources, in particular solar and wind, to drive the conversion of CO2, N2 and water into sustainable fuels and chemicals. This talk introduces some of these challenges, and how chemists are starting to address them.
Talk title: Materials Chemistry Challenges for Next-Generation Photovoltaics – Prof Robert L Z Hoye. Summary: Photovoltaics are one of the key renewable energy technologies. Not only important for decarbonising energy generation in the utility sector, they can enable a wide range of applications requiring autonomous, mobile energy supplies. This talk covers the role of materials chemistry within this interdisciplinary challenge and discusses the importance of innovating with materials used for photovoltaics in terms of exceeding the efficiency limit of current industrial single-junction devices, as well as applications in sustainably powering autonomous electronics for the Internet of Things and edge computing. Synergies in the materials for photovoltaics with photoelectrochemistry, and the opportunities in bringing together these two fields will also be discussed.
Talk title: Key Challenges facing Organic Semiconductors for Electricity-Light Interconversion – Dr Daniel G Congrave. Summary: Organic electronic materials, based on ideally renewable and non-toxic carbon-rich molecules have the potential to change the way we live by complimenting and advancing technologies across applications, owing to an unparalleled combination of easily adjustable properties and diverse process-ability. This is exemplified by the commercialisation of the organic light emitting diode (OLED) in the high value-displays of over 50% of modern smartphones, and also in some larger screens. However, energy efficiency and device stability problems persist in commercial OLED displays, and it has not yet been possible to advance other promising organic technologies such as organic solar cells (OSC) and OLED lighting to the point of commercialisation. This talk discusses the origin of these challenges and recent promising strategies toward solving them.