Detail:

Abstract:
　　A secure and sustainable energy future that is not based on a fossil fuel based infrastructure requires the design of new materials for efficient energy conversion, transport, and storage. Indeed, materials development is a rate limiting step in many potential new energy conversion strategies, impacting the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells, the storage capacity and power density of batteries for automobile applications, the synthesis of liquid fuels, and the catalysis and durability of energy conversion in fuel cells.
　　Advanced carbon materials inspired and transformed from natural resources into electrodes for solar cells, batteries, supercapacitors or fuel cells underpin our lifestyles today and are making the needed transition into a low carbon economy.
In this talk I will present our recent advances in the design, characterization and application of bioinspired carbon materials in various renewable energy technologies with focus on electrodes in supercapacitors and proton electrolyte conductive fuel cells.

Biosketch:
　　Magdalena Titirici graduated from University of Bucharest in 2000 with a BSc in Chemistry. She obtained her PhD at the University of Dortmund, Germany in 2005. In 2013 Magda became an Associate Professor in Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London. She was promoted to a full Professorship in Sustainable Materials Chemistry in 2014. Since 2015 she is the Director of Research for the Centre for Functional Nanomaterials. Prof. Titirici is the author of around highly cited 120 publications (h-index 47-Web of Science in the field of sustainable materials and green nanochemistry, several book chapters and one edited book. Her research interests include porous materials, hydrothermal carbonisation, innovative utilisation of biomass, CO2 sequestration, electrocatalysis in fuel cells as well as energy storage in secondary batteries and supercapacitors.