Chemistry/Biology: Artificial Photosynthesis – Interfacing Biology & Synthetic Materials For Sustainable Chemistry With Professor Julea Butt From University of East Anglia

Register here

There is huge potential for using sunlight, our most abundant and inexpensive energy source, as an economical clean energy supply to drive the sustainable production of chemicals. Natural photosynthesis in green plants provides a blueprint for such processes by using water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and complex organic chemicals with good selectivity. However, yields of single products are low and much of the solar spectrum is wasted. Synthetic materials can capture more of the energy in sunlight but they catalyse only the simplest of chemical reactions, for example, the reduction of water to form hydrogen gas – a useful fuel.

This webinar will explore how the limitations of using purely natural and purely synthetic materials for light-driven chemicals production may be overcome by combining biological and synthetic components to achieve artificial photosynthesis. Redox chemistry, catalysis and properties of transition metals will be considered together with natural photosynthesis as inspiration for research into artificial photosynthesis,

The webinar will be led by Julea Butt, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Her research team study the redox chemistry of biology and use their discoveries to inspire the development of sustainable electronic materials and artificial photosynthesis.

Lecturer Profile: Professor Julea Butt

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Key Stage 5 students (and equivalent) studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Biology, Chemistry and related STEM disciplines. Student groups as well as students and teachers joining individually are very welcome.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the topic in advance and questions they have. Students can also think about questions about studying at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the speaker via typed comments and questions and/or via a microphone. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below:

Register here