The conference, “Advanced Catalysis and Materials for Energy Conversion” (ACAMEC 2023), which was fully organized by students of the IMPRS-RECHARGE program, was held in-person from April 24th-27th. The conference brought together nearly 50 registered participants with a common interest in energy conversion and storage. Through lectures from both academia and industry, as well as on-site lab tours, participants were able to broaden their knowledge and discuss the state-of-the-art in catalysis, energy storage and spectroscopic techniques. The symposium made clear that in order to work towards a greener future, understanding material properties, interactions, and dynamics of catalysts, in addition to knowledge of the evolution of catalytic products, is key.
Over the course of the four days, the symposium included keynote lectures by Walter Leitner (MPI CEC), Kristina Tschulik (RUB), Karsten Reuter (TU Munich & FHI Berlin), Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt (KIT), and Marcella Bonchio (University of Padova). The scientific program also included 5 invited talks by Monica Pérez-Temprano (ICIQ), Patrica Rodríguez-Maciá (University of Oxford), Sven Reichenberger (UDE), Alicia Casitas (Phillips-University Marburg), and Katrin Domke (MPI Polymer & UDE). To bridge the gap between academia and industry three talks were given by Nils Bottke (BASF) and Mingquan Yu (Thyssenkrupp nucera) and Hrishikesh Joshi (Evonik Industries). Additionally, particpants were given the chance to present their scientific research either as a talk or as a poster.
In order to give participants an overview over different spectroscopic techniques that can help understand material properties in order to design more efficient catalyst lab tours were offered in the CEC and KOFO Max-Planck-Institutes. During these tours deeper insights into X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopies, NMR, crystallography, as well as magnetic and Raman spectroscopies were offered. This detailed information was highly appreciated by the participants and prepared them for their own, independent work.
The two poster sessions generated lively scientific discussions between people in their early career and academic veterans.The conference ended with the awarding of the poster and early-career talk to Hannaneh Hosseini (MPI KOFO) and Adil Amin (UDE), respectively.
The students of IMPRS-RECHARGE are very thankful for the challenging and rewarding experience to organize the symposium, and had a great time bonding with all the participants and speakers. Overall, the event was a great success and was very well received.
Conferences fully organized by the students of the IMPRS-RECHARGE are held regularly on a biannual basis.