[E&E seminars] Lecture by Professor Daniel G. Nocera-9/15

[Karen Gibson]

Please join us for a special lecture by Dan Nocera entitled "Powering  
the Planet: The Challenge for MIT and Science in the 21st Century" on  
Monday, September 15th, in 10-250, at 5 pm.


"Powering the Planet: The Challenge for MIT and Science in the 21st  
Century"

Monday, September 15, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. in 10-250
Daniel G. Nocera
Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy
Professor of Chemistry

The large scale deployment of solar energy requires its storage for  
when the sun doesn't shine. The combination of water and light from  
the sun can be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can  
then be combined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to give back water and  
energy. In the overall cycle, sunlight is converted to useful energy.  
But here is the catch. A response to this grand challenge of using  
water and sunlight to make a clean and sustainable fuel to power the  
planet demands the discovery of new materials and new reaction  
chemistries. This talk will present some of the basic science that is  
needed to emulate photosynthesis outside of the leaf, and then  
discovery will be presented that enables artificial photosynthesis to  
be realized. And this is just one approach that is ongoing at the  
frontier of solar research at MIT. A group of MIT faculty is committed  
to developing the science and engineering needed to enable solar  
energy to be implemented in under 10 years. The efforts of these  
groups will also be presented.

http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/faculty/nocera.html

Light refreshments will be served at 4.30 pm outside the lecture hall.



More info: sfowler at mit.edu


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