Speaker: Prof Lilac Amirav, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Seminar Title: Towards Solar Factories

Moderator: Dr Yoni Nazarathy, University of Queensland

Format: The talk is for a general audience, runs for 15 to 20 mins, and is followed by an interactive question-and-answer session.

About the talk:

The search for clean and renewable energy sources is indispensable in the face of a looming energy crisis and environmental problems such as global warming. I will describe how ‘sculpting’ photocatalysts at the nanoscale could benefit numerous light-triggered chemical reactions of environmental significance. The talk will focus on unique innovative nanoscale particles and assemblies, which harness nano phenomena for improved activity. I will explore this topic from fundamental design rules of the individual building blocks and the complete system, as well as considerations toward large-scale production under the vision of solar factories.

About the speaker:

Prof Lilac Amirav received her Bachelor degree in chemistry from Tel Aviv University, and her Ph.D. from the Technion - Israel Institute of technology, working with Prof. Efrat Lifshitz. She was a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. Paul Alivisatos at UC Berkeley. In October 2011 she joined the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion as an Assistant Professor. She is also affiliated with The Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) and the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP), and an active member of the I-CORE - Israel Solar Fuels Consortium.