Annual Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lecture - Porous Carbons as Sustainable Energy Materials

Title: Porous carbons as sustainable energy materials

The talk will explore the conversion of biomass and other waste carbonaceous matter to porous carbons with optimised properties for use in energy storage applications, and specifically the storage of CO 2 , hydrogen or methane. The talk will describe how study of a wide range of biomass and non-biomass precursors has enabled the preparation of porous carbons with optimised properties for specific energy storage applications in a predictable and targeted manner.

Biography: Robert Mokaya received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Nairobi in 1988 after which he spent a year working for Unilever in Kenya. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1992. In 1992, he was elected to a Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge and in 1996 was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship. He joined the School of Chemistry in Nottingham as a lecturer in Materials Chemistry in 2000, was promoted to Reader in 2005, and to Professor of Materials Chemistry in 2008. He is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder (2017-2022) and is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at the University of Nottingham. In 2022, Robert was awarded an OBE for Services to the Chemical Sciences. Robert plays a leading role in promoting EDI in higher education. He is a role model and mentor to Black academics and students, was a founding member of the RSC Pan Africa Chemistry Network and has worked with African researchers on various projects around sustainable energy. Robert’s research interest is on the design, synthesis and characterisation of new forms of sustainable porous materials and the study of their structure-property relations. The research involves exploring fundamentally new synthesis methods that are simpler, cheaper, and more efficient and offer valorisation routes to materials with optimised properties for targeted sustainable energy applications.

Programme for the visit to York: If you would like to meet with Robert during the visit please contact John Slattery.