Nanotechnology for a Net-zero future

University of Sydney

Nanotechnology for a Net-zero future: Addressing grand challenges at nanoscale

Administration Building (F23)

This event is organised by the University of Sydney Nano Institute. Our speakers will discuss the opportunities for multidisciplinary research enabled by advances in nanoscience to work towards a net zero future. This session will focus on the new generation of building envelopes that restore our ecosystem to advances in nanomaterial and chemical processes and the exploitation of sunlight to manufacture renewable fuels, the presentations will be followed by panel discussion. Chair:<ul><li>Chair: Dr Aysu Kuru, Lecturer in Architectural Science, University of Sydney.</li></ul>Presenters:<ul><li>A/Prof Arianna Brambilla (University of Sydney, School of Architecture, Design and Planning)</li><li> Dr Fengwang Li (University of Sydney, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)</li></ul>Panel:<ul><li>Prof Anita Ho-Baillie (University of Sydney, School of Physics)</li><li>Prof Deanna D'Alessandro (University of Sydney, School of Chemistry)</li><li>A/Prof Nicholas Lawson (University of Sydney, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering)</li><li>Dr Aysu Kuru (University of Sydney, School of Architecture, Design and Planning)</li></ul>Solar Fuels:To-date, 70% of global energy demand is met through burning fossil fuels. To redress this balance, a key challenge is to produce fuels or other types of energy carriers that are carbon neutral in both their production and use. The sun is the earth's most abundant, renewable energy resource. While electricity from solar cells is now economically competitive and is deployed rapidly in Australia and across the globe, the challenge of utilising sunlight is its intermittency as well as geographical and seasonal heterogeneity. Economically viable, scalable technologies for large-scale, long-term (i.e., seasonal) storage and dispatch of solar energy need to be developed to balance energy supply and demand, and to secure energy independence.Solar Fuels has been identified to address this challenge by creating science and technology that capture and 'bottle' sunlight in the form of energy-rich, renewable fuels. Taking inspiration from natural photosynthesis, we can use sunlight to drive the production of next-gen 'solar fuels' (e.g., hydrogen, synthetic hydrocarbons, ammonia) from abundant feedstocks, e.g., water, CO2, and nitrogen.Eco-Active Building Envelopes:The construction sector is amongst the world's largest consumers of resources and raw materials, and a major producer of waste accounting for more than 30% of the total solid waste globally. In the current scenario of climate emergency and rapid population growth, the transition to more sustainable models of development becomes imperative for the preservation of our ecosystem and the well-being of future generations. Circular Economy represents an opportunity to rethink construction, moving away from linear models (take-make-dispose) of production and consumption towards the adoption of circular approaches where materials resources are preserved through maintenance and repair, reuse, remanufacture and recycling. Despite the growing awareness of recent years, the path ahead is still largely untracked, and broad systemic uptake of circular models presents several challenges due to the fragmentation and complexity of our industry. A change in design culture is key to enabling systemic sectoral transformation by reassessing value definition and reconfiguring collaboration models in construction.Over the past decades, the construction sector has made substantial progress and devoted great effort to achieving global sustainability targets and more responsible consumption and production models (SDG12). However, virtuous attempts and initiatives to facilitate the built environment circular transition are still scattered and isolated or focus on rather narrow enquiries failing to capture the whole complexity of the business.P﻿LEASE NOTE: In person registrations are limited to 40, and once the venue capacity has been reached, delegates are invited to r<a href="https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtceGrrDIqEtAdJaCsTzAPGey1G9rngsEF" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">egister here for the webinar. </a>

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Nanotechnology for a Net-zero future

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