Speakers
Embedded Files
Bio
Klaus Kümmerer is professor of Sustainable Chemistry and Material Resources at the public Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany) He was also Director of the Research and Education Hub of the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) in Bonn. He studied chemistry at Universities of Würzburg and Tübingen, where he too earned his PhD, was then head of the chemistry department of the Institute of Applied Ecology in Freiburg (Germany), and joined 2 years later University Hospital of Freiburg as a senior researcher becoming later on associate professor and started his work on pharmaceuticals in the environment.
His research and teaching are focused on Green Chemistry, Sustainable Chemistry, Green Pharmacy, Sustainable Pharmacy and Material Resources. He demonstrated successfully that chemicals and even active pharmaceutical ingredients can be designed from the very beginning fulfilling needed pharmaceutical properties and at the same time environmentally degrading after excretion by patients (“benign by design”). In the next step he expanded the already existing approach of sustainable chemistry to allow chemistry and its product to contribute in a sustainable manner to sustainable development goals.
Klaus is founding editor (2016) and editor-in-chief of several journals and he organized and chaired many national and international conferences. Klaus Kümmerer serves and served in national and international committees. Recently, he was appointed by the European Commission as member of the European Commission’s High-Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
In 2022 he was ranked 13th out of a total of 104,983 scientists worldwide in the field of environmental sciences according to the Stanford University Ranking, 1st place in Germany. He received several national and international awards for his interdisciplinary work, for example the prestigious Wöhler Award for Sustainable Chemistry by Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) in 2023. In 2024 he has been decorated with the Verdienstkreuz am Bande der Bundesrepublik Deutschland („Bundesverdienstkreuz“, Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Feral Republic of Germany), the highest recognition in Germany for service to society awarded by the President of Germany.
Abstract
From Green Chemistry to Sustainable Chemistry
Chemistry is indispensable for a high standard of living and health but has historically caused environmental pollution. Early industrial efforts for pollution prevention emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, various approaches led to legislation and were summarized in the 12 principles of Green Chemistry (GC) in 1998. Circular economy was introduced in the 1980s, and circular chemistry followed in 2019 to address pollution and resource scarcity. However, limitations of these concepts have been noted, and many products—such as personal care products, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and detergents—cannot be recycled. Instead, they must be designed for complete and fast mineralization (GC Principle #10, “benign by design”) to align with sustainability goals. Chemical products must therefore be designed for circularity before synthesis. Additionally, reducing substance, material, and product flows in size, dynamics, and complexity is crucial. This has led to Sustainable Chemistry (SC), which prioritizes service and function, considers non-material alternatives, and integrates systems thinking, ethics, and social aspects throughout product life cycles. In essence, “benign by design” must be applied across SC, CE, and GC in research, education, and industry to ensure chemistry’s sustainable contribution to global challenges.
Bio
Saiful is Professor of Materials Modelling at the University of Oxford. He grew up in London and obtained his Chemistry degree and PhD from University College London. He then worked at the Eastman Kodak Labs in New York, and the Universities of Surrey and Bath. His research focuses on understanding and developing new materials for lithium and sodium batteries, solid-state batteries and perovskite solar cells. Saiful has received several awards including the 2022 Royal Society Hughes Medal for energy research, 2020 ACS Award in Energy Chemistry and 2017 RSC Award in Materials Chemistry. He presented the 2016 BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the theme of energy which included a lemon battery world record. He is a Patron of Humanists UK, and when not exploring energy materials, he enjoys family breaks (as a dad of two), films and indie music.
Abstract
From Lithium Batteries to Perovskite Solar Cells: Atomic-Scale Insights into Energy Materials
Further breakthroughs in lithium-ion batteries and perovskite solar cells require advances in new materials and underpinning science. Indeed, greater understanding and insights into these energy-related materials require atomic-scale characterization of their structural, transport and redox behaviour. In this context, combined modelling-experimental work is now a powerful approach for investigating these properties at the atomistic level. This presentation will describe such studies in two principal areas of energy materials: (i) ion conduction and redox mechanisms in lithium battery materials; (ii) transport and passivation effects in halide perovskites for solar cells.
Page updated
Report abuse