Atomic Discoveries: Chemistry for a Sustainable Future

Every year, thousands of tonnes of peat are extracted from the Scottish landscape and burnt to create distinctive flavours in the production of Scotch Whisky. However, due to the important role that peatlands play in our fight against climate change, the industry's relationship is going to have to change. Therefore, I am doing research to better understand the chemical origin of these 'peated' flavours so we can hope to improve the efficiency of peat use or identify potentially viable alternatives.

This combined presentation will give both Chemistry and Engineering perspectives on sustainable materials. It will cover synthesising sustainable polymers and controlling their structure at the molecular level, before moving to enhancing the sustainability of large-scale composite materials used in the renewable energy sector. What makes a polymer sustainable? How can we design catalysts to make sustainable materials? How does controlling the structure at the molecular level impact the material properties? How can the sustainability of composite materials be improved?