Professor Richard Walton, from the University of Warwick, will give the Conference: Discovery of New Inorganic Materials for Applications in Energy and Sustainability on March 31st at 10 a.m. The activity, which integrates the FUNDEP/IEAT Chair Program, will take place in Seminar Room 1010 at the School of Engineering.

The conference will be held in English, with no simultaneous translation. A certificate of attendance will be issued to those who register through the Sistema Gestão de Eventos and confirm their presence on the day of the event.

About the Conference 

Contemporary applications related to the storage, conversion and transport of energy rely on the optimization of functional materials to allow efficient devices to be developed that offer cost-effective and environmentally conscious use of resources. Likewise, the utilization of natural resources demands innovative materials chemistry to minimize pollution and waste.

During the conference, Professor Walton will describe his work targeting the synthesis of new inorganic materials for various practical applications. At the first part, he will focus on solution-based synthesis methods that permit the formation of novel crystalline forms of materials, new compositions and the discovery of new crystal structures such as oxide materials, including precious-metal oxides for electrocatalysis and niobium oxides for lithium storage applications. Then, he will illustrate the case of hybrid materials, with the chemistry of metal-organic frameworks showing how solution-stable materials can be produced for acid-, redox- and electro-catalysis applications. These are applied in the conversion of biomass-derived chemicals to useful products. “In all cases I will emphasize how a combination of advanced analytical techniques is needed to build a complete model of atomic-scale and to understand the reactivity of functional materials” – highlights Professor Walton.

Short course on new inorganic materials

Between March 27th and 31st, Professor Richard Walton will teach a short course on the topic of Energy Materials: Rechargeable Battery Materials, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Materials for Electrocatalysis and Porous Materials (MOFs) for Hydrogen Storage. The course will take place in Seminar Room 1, Room 120, Department of Chemistry – UFMG and will have a total of 15 hours (1 credit). Registration can be made in the Graduate Program in Chemistry at UFMG until March 10th. UFMG Undergraduate and Postgraduate students from the Exact Sciences and Engineering can participate. The course will be given in English, with no simultaneous translation.

The Chairman

Richard is Professor of Chemistry, Director of the Warwick X-ray Diffraction Research Technology Platform, and Chair of Chemistry Research Committee. His research interests are in solid-state chemistry, spanning the synthesis and characterization of inorganic materials including porous materials, transition-metal oxides and metal-organic frameworks, and industrial applications in heterogeneous catalysis and energy, via various collaborations.