Technical Symposium TS
The United Nations (UN) have defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to pave the way for a future, which is worth living for everyone. This mindset is emphasized at ICMCTF with the overarching theme ‘Surface Engineering for Sustainable Development.’ While sustainability aspects are more than welcome in all contributions from academic progress to industrial processes, the focused Topical Symposium on Sustainable Surface Engineering manifests the fact that state-of-the-art research and development in surface engineering must also account for sustainability. Individual topical sessions on batteries and hydrogen applications, catalysis and energy conversion as well as circular strategies for surface engineering are in line with SDG 7 ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’, SDG 12 ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ as well as SDG 13 ‘Climate Action.
TS1. Coatings for Batteries and Hydrogen Applications
The future of energy is driven by the overall goal to provide green and sustainable energy for all industrial sectors. All mobile and stationary applications will be affected by these changes. The achievement of these goals relies on green and sustainable energy generation, but also on the ability to store this energy. Once electricity is generated with regenerative technologies it can be stored in batteries or transported using hydrogen as a carrier to its final destination and transferred to electricity again, when needed. Electrochemical cells are key elements in hydrogen production and storage of generated electricity in batteries. Surface coatings and surface functionalization in these cells provide key properties to enable and drive necessary reactions. Electrode surfaces must provide high electric conductivities and withstand harsh electrochemically corrosive environments. On the other hand, membrane assemblies must be functionalized and act as carriers for catalysts. In solid-state batteries coatings are needed for interface design between electrodes and electrolytes. Moreover, coating processes are needed for the application of active materials. Future technical and economic success in hydrogen generation and electricity storage is mainly driven by the developments related to these electrochemical cells. This topical session focuses on coatings and surface functionalization in electrochemical cells used in hydrogen applications, e.g. electrolysis, fuel cells, and in electricity storage, e.g. Li-batteries, solid state batteries, flow batteries.
TS1 Invited Speakers:
- Yong-Song Chen, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
- Sheng-Wei Lee, National Central University, Taiwan, “Intermediate-Temperature Proton-Conducting Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers for Clean Energy”
- Mehmet Öte, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, Germany, “Coating Innovations for Green Energy: Enabling Hydrogen Technologies”
TS2: (Photo)electrocatalysis and Solar/Thermal Conversion
Energy conversion constitutes a fundamental challenge of today’s society. As thermal energy and CO2 are continuously lost and produced, respectively, developing materials, devices, and methods to reuse them is essential for a more sustainable future. This session is particularly dedicated to the materials and devices developed for solar thermal conversion, thermoelectrical and (photo)electrochemical energy conversion, covering both theoretical and experimental work on the design, processing, characterization, and performance of these technologies. By combining efforts in thermoelectrical, (photo)electrochemical, and solar thermal conversion technologies, this session aims to highlight the latest advancements and research, contributing to the development of more efficient and sustainable energy conversion solutions. We welcome contributions on the following:
- Inorganic and organic-based thin film thermoelectrics
- Thin films that can absorb and convert sunlight into heat
- Characterization of thermal properties in thin films
- Development and testing of thermoelectric and solar thermal devices and technologies
- Material replacement of critical elements in thermoelectrics and spectrally selective absorbers, thermal emitters, solar thermophotovoltaics
- Integration of photothermal and radiative cooling processes to enhance energy efficiency for residential heating and cooling and industrial process heat
- Solar thermal technology in water desalination, purification, and wastewater treatment
- Design and synthesis of novel catalysts (CO2RR; HER, OER, NH3)
- Vapor-based synthesis of catalytic 2D materials and nano-objects
- Material replacement of critical elements in catalysts
- Approaches of nanoscale design, synthesis, and functionalization
- Characterization of (photo) electrochemical activity (including in operando)
- Theoretical approaches for modeling catalytic processes
- Mechanisms of photo/electrocatalysis
TS2 Invited Speakers:
- Emma Björk, Linköping University, Sweden, “Transition Metal-Based Electrocatalysts for Sustainable Oxygen Reactions in Green Energy Applications”
- André Pereira, University of Porto, Portugal, “Flexible Thermoelectrics: Transforming Wearables, Space Exploration, and IoT”
TS3: Circular Strategies for Surface Engineering
The concept of a circular economy is a key element towards reaching the sustainable development goals (SDG) from the United Nations (UN) and comprises incentives to reuse existing products, instead of disposal and relying on the continuous global production for replacement. ‘The goods of today are the resources of tomorrow at yesterday’s resource prices’. Thus, natural resources can be used more efficiently, and also new markets will evolve in a circular economy. In the last decades, the research and development within surface engineering has been focused mainly on the enhancement of surface properties by design of multifunctional coatings and surfaces, while the sustainability of such processes and products is usually neglected. However, the approach of a circular economy for surface engineering requires innovative rethinking along the lines of ‘reduce, reuse, repair and recycle’. These strategies exhibit both ecologic as well as economic incentives, which means that the significant lowering of greenhouse gas emissions during production is closely connected to business models for the future. Sustainability measures have been widely implemented and exploited for immediate actions to enhance the longevity of products and materials within industrial surface engineering in the last years. On the other hand, insights and knowledge from basic academic research offer additional opportunities to enhance the sustainability of surface engineering products. Hence, this topical session provides a bridging platform for exchange on circular economy strategies for surface engineering between industry and academia. This exchange will benefit from innovative contributions on e.g. approaches for life cycle analyses, reduction of energy and material input, reusage of biproducts as well as repair and recycling of materials.
TS3 Invited Speakers:
- Albano Cavaleiro, University of Coimbra, Portugal, “Low Friction Sputtering Coatings, A Sustainable Option to Reduce Energy Consumption and Harmful Lubricant Usage”
- Tim Fisher, University of California Los Angeles, USA, “Scalable Direct Solar Synthesis of High-Yield Flake Graphite and Hydrogen”