Structure — property relationships in molecular frameworks for energy conversion and storage

Bettina V. Lotsch, Ph.D.
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

The energy challenge facing our global society is, in its very essence, a materials challenge. This is because primary sources of sustainable energy abound, while their conversion into usable forms of energy such as fuels or electricity is limited by the efficiency of absorbers, catalysts, or simply by the thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical conversions occurring between a given set of materials. Progress in energy science is thus contingent on the discovery of new materials that are able to convert energy with minimal losses and maximum efficiency. At the same time, insights into structure-property relationships are crucial for the rational design of new energy materials.

In this talk, I will discuss two distinct classes of energy materials based on molecular motifs – thiophosphate-based lithium solid electrolytes for all-solid-state batteries and carbon-based molecular frameworks like carbon nitrides and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. I will discuss structure – property – function relationships in these classes of materials and derive design principles and optimization strategies through structure, morphology, and active site engineering.

About the Speaker

Bettina V. Lotsch is Director of the Nanochemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany. She studied Chemistry at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and the University of Oxford and received her Ph.D. from LMU Munich in 2006. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Toronto as a Feodor-Lynen fellow, she was appointed Assistant Professor at LMU Munich in 2009 (tenure 2014) and simultaneously held an independent research group leader position at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research since 2011 before she became Director in 2017.

Her research explores the rational synthesis of new materials by combining the tools of molecular, solid-state and nanochemistry. Focal points include 2D materials and their heterostructures, “smart” photonic crystals for optical sensing, porous frameworks for photocatalysis, solid electrolytes for Li ion batteries, and soft chemistry routes towards new materials.

Bettina was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2014) and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2014. Her work has been recognized by a number of awards, most recently by the EU-40 Materials Prize 2017 of the European Materials Research Society.