Full of energy: Intergenerational dialogue among elite scientists

• 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting from 30 June to 5 July 2013
• 35 Laureates and more than 600 young scientists from close to 80 countries
• One topic: Future models of energy conversion and storage

Ch. Flemming/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

You could call it an energy summit of a very special kind when 35 Nobel Laureates congregate at Lake Constance for the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in the first week of July. Why? Because the generation, conversion and storage of energy is one of the most important fields of research in chemistry, the discipline for this year’s meeting. ‘‘It’s fascinating to learn from nature such things as how our existing ways of using solar energy can be improved,’’ says 25-year-old chemist David Bialas, doctoral student at the University of Würzburg. David is one of more than 600 young scientists from approximately 80 countries participating in the meeting from 30 June to 5 July. They represent the next generation of leading scientists and researchers. ‘‘I am impressed by the expertise, the inquisitiveness and the energy of the young participants. The meeting offers them a unique opportunity for the intercultural and intergenerational exchange of knowledge and ideas, and for networking,’’ declares the German Chemistry Nobel Laureate Hartmut Michel, speaking about his 16th attendance at a Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. This year’s lectures and discussions will also focus on such topics as biochemical processes and structures and Green Chemistry.

David Bialas is studying organic solar cells for his PhD. In these cells silicon, the classic semiconductor, is replaced by cheaper organic materials. Their efficiency is still relatively low, but in as little as ten years solar cells of this kind could be covering entire buildings in transparent, rollable sheets that would catch more than enough sun to supply the building with power. Bialas is looking forward to meeting in Lindau the 1992 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Rudolph Marcus, who will be reporting on his work with solar cells at the California Institute of Technology. ‘‘Marcus has revolutionised the work with electron transfer processes. His findings are vital to my own research,’’ says Bialas. Electron transfer processes are what underlie photosynthesis in plants, for example. The energy from the sunlight is transferred by electrons at lightning-fast speed. While it is true that natural photosynthesis cannot yet be replicated artificially, it does serve as a model for the optimum utilisation of solar energy and as inspiration for the development of innovative solar cells.

The mechanisms and methods by which available energy like sunlight can be converted into electricity with greater efficiency -- and then stored -- in the future are due to be debated in the Lindau Meeting’s panel discussion on ‘‘Chemical Energy Storage and Conversion’’. Graham de Ruiter, a post-doc at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, can’t wait for the debate, given that it will focus in part on his own fields of research, surface chemistry and catalysis. Among the experts in these disciplines are the Chemistry Nobel Laureates Gerhard Ertl (Germany, 2007), Robert Grubbs (USA, 2005) and Richard Schrock (USA, 2005). They will be taking part in the discussion together with Laureates Walter Kohn (USA, 1998) and Hartmut Michel (Germany, 1988). The panel will have a proven photosynthesis expert onboard in Hartmut Michel, who is outspoken in his opposition to biofuels for combustion-engine vehicles, campaigning instead for electricity harvested from solar cells to be used in the batteries of electric cars.

Developing batteries with sizeable storage capacity is a key challenge for the field of electrochemistry. The development of new materials is of considerable importance here. One of the promising chemical energy-storage media is hydrogen: a substantial portion of the energy needed to produce it by electrolysis of water can be regained when it is converted back into water inside fuel cells. Renewable energy for the electrolysis can already be drawn from solar cells with an efficiency significantly in excess of ten percent. However, it would be much cheaper if sunlight itself could split water directly and effectively. Photocatalytic water splitting currently has an efficiency of just under one percent. This is what makes it a big topic for the future for many of the young scientists coming to Lindau: ‘‘I’m investigating iron oxide photoelectrodes for splitting water,’’ reports 31-year-old Hen Dotan, an Israeli post-doc at the Technion in Haifa. ‘‘This is a research field that promises to open up practicable ways of converting and storing solar energy. It’s one of the keys to sustainable development.’’

Since 1951, the annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have offered scientists a globally- respected forum for exchange and networking. The intergenerational dialogue between Nobel Laureates and young scientists provides significant impulses and new ideas for international collaboration in science and research.

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