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Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels

Gordon Research Conference

Frontiers in Photon-Driven Fuel Production

February 4 - 9, 2024

Chairs Jillian L. Dempsey and Can Li

Vice Chairs Vincent Artero and Francesca Maria Toma

Contact Chairs

Ventura Beach Marriott

2055 Harbor Boulevard

Ventura, California, United States

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes a diverse range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.

Capture, conversion, and storage of solar energy in the form of chemical feedstocks has enormous potential to revolutionize the energy sector. Achievements in artificial photosynthesis will disrupt our global energy portfolio and reduce our dependence on fossil fuel resources, and in turn, mitigate CO2 emissions. Great progress has been made in this field since the first Gordon Research Conference in this series “Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels” in 2007, both in fundamental and applied research, but the potential of artificial photosynthesis is far from realized. The 2024 GRC will explore recent frontier advances in this field, with a focus on key scientific issues related to efficient solar to chemical energy conversion. The state of the art in designing efficient light absorbers, catalysts, integrated systems, will be featured, along with advances in mechanistic understanding of the science behind all these components.

The conference will provide a venue for both emerging and established investigators to explore these themes in a collegial and engaging scientific environment. Participants, including students and postdocs, are encouraged to present their results in poster sessions, with some posters selected for short talks. This conference, with programmed discussion sessions and informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, provides a unique international forum in which the academic and industrial scientists can exchange ideas to advance the field of renewable energy.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	Solar Fuels Systems Discussion Leader: CX Xiang (California Institute of Technology, United States)
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:10 pm	Kara Bren (University of Rochester, United States) "Bio-Nano Systems for Solar Hydrogen Production"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm	Hailiang Wang (Yale University, United States) "Cobalt Phthalocyanine Based Hybrid Material Systems for Solar Fuel Production"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm	Kevin Sivula (EPFL, Switzerland) "Photoelectrode Membrane Assemblies with Transparent Conductive Gas Diffusion Layers for Solar H₂ Production"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Photon Capture & Charge Separation Discussion Leader: Jorge Colón (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico)
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:35 am	Mita Dasog (Dalhousie University, Canada) "Optimizing Structure and Surface Chemistry of Mesoporous Silicon Photocatalysts for Solar Fuels Production"
9:35 am - 9:50 am	Discussion
9:50 am - 10:20 am	James Cahoon (Department of Chemistry, UNC Chapel Hill, United States) "From Nanowire to Bulk: Designing Silicon Interfaces for Solar-driven Catalysis"
10:20 am - 10:35 am	Discussion
10:35 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am	Emily Warren (NREL, United States) "Applying Advanced Photovoltaic Architectures to Solar Fuels Systems"
11:30 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm	Fengtao Fan (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) "Spatiotemporal Imaging of Charge Transfer in Photocatalyst Particles"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm	The GRC Power Hour™ The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address diversity and inclusion in the scientific workplace by providing a safe environment for informal and meaningful conversations amongst colleagues of all career stages. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities, including ethnicity, race and/or gender identity by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring. Organizer: Nancy Gray (Gordon Research Conferences, United States)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Advances in Spectroscopy Discussion Leader: Ryan Hadt (California Institute of Technology, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:00 pm	David Grills (Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States) "Infrared Spectroelectrochemistry of CO₂ Reduction Catalysts Integrated on Silicon Surfaces"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:35 pm	James Durrant (Imperial College London, United Kingdom) "Operando Optical Spectroscopic Analyses of (Photo)Electrochemical Water Oxidation Kinetics"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:10 pm	Justin Sambur (Colorado State University, United States) "2D Semiconductor Photocatalysts for Solar Fuels Generation"
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm	Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	General Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Integration of Catalysts & Light Absorbers for Fuel Production Discussion Leader: Nathan Neale (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, United States)
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:35 am	Michael Rose (University of Texas at Austin, United States) "Bending Bands & Hybridizing Interfaces to Benefit Photoelectrochemical Function on Silicon"
9:35 am - 9:50 am	Discussion
9:50 am - 10:20 am	Susumu Saito (Integrated Research Consortium on Chemical Sciences (IRCCS), Nagoya University, Japan) "Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction Using Tailored Molecular Catalysts: From 5d to 3d Block Elements"
10:20 am - 10:35 am	Discussion
10:35 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am	Claudia Turro (The Ohio State University, United States) "Panchromatic Dirhodium(II,II) Complexes as Sensitizers and Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Production"
11:30 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm	Sascha Ott (Uppsala University, Sweden) "From Surface to Bulk: Mediated Electron Hopping Transport to Catalysts in the Interior of MOFs"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Membrane Science Discussion Leader: Steven Holdcroft (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:00 pm	Alex Cowan (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom) "Bipolar Membrane Electrolyzers for CO₂ Reduction"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:35 pm	Shannon Boettcher (University of Oregon, United States) "Water-Dissociation Catalysis Near the Reversible Limit in Bipolar Membranes: From Fundamentals to Applications in Carbon Capture and Utilization"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:10 pm	Shane Ardo (University of California, Irvine, United States) "Photoinduced Protonic Power: Why must electrons have all the fun?"
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm	Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	General Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Fuel Production in Interfacial Microenvironments Discussion Leader: Eva Nichols (University of British Columbia, Canada)
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:35 am	Sara Thoi (Johns Hopkins University, United States) "Designing Microenvironments for Electrochemical Activation of Carbon Dioxide"
9:35 am - 9:50 am	Discussion
9:50 am - 10:00 am	Short Talk Selected from Poster Abstracts
10:00 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Short Talk Selected from Poster Abstracts
10:15 am - 10:20 am	Discussion
10:20 am - 10:50 am	Coffee Break
10:50 am - 11:20 am	Sharon Hammes-Schiffer (Princeton University, United States) "Interfacial Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer"
11:20 am - 11:35 am	Discussion
11:35 am - 12:05 pm	Zhichuan J. Xu (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) "Title TBD"
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm	Discussion
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm	General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Cascade Transformations to Achieve Energy Dense Fuels Discussion Leader: Kate Waldie (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:00 pm	Javier Concepcion (Brookhaven National Lab, United States) "Towards Liquid Solar Fuels: From CO and Formate to Methanol"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:35 pm	Joel Ager (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States) "Photoelectrocatalytic Cascades for CO₂ Reduction to Liquid Fuels: the Crucial Role of Microenvironments and Mass Transport"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:10 pm	Daniel Nocera (Harvard University, United States) "The Bionic Leaf: Distributed and Renewable Fischer Tropsch and Haber Bosch Cycles at High Energy Efficiencies and Large Carbon Savings"
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm	Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	General Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Dates and Venue; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Operando Studies Discussion Leader: Walter Drisdell (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States)
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:35 am	Amy Cordones-Hahn (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, United States) "Time-Resolved x-ray Spectroscopy for Tracking Charge Separation During Photocatalysis"
9:35 am - 9:50 am	Discussion
9:50 am - 10:20 am	Shu Hu (Yale University, United States) "Digital-Twin Approach for Probing Photocatalysis under Reactive Flow"
10:20 am - 10:35 am	Discussion
10:35 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am	Greta Ricarda Patzke (University of Zurich, Switzerland) "Design and Mechanistic Understanding of Water Splitting Catalysts: From Synthetic Optimization to Operando Studies"
11:30 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm	Wilson Smith (University of Colorado Boulder and National Renewable Energy Lab, United States) "Operando Measurments of Reaction Activity and Selectivity Along Electrochemical Reactors"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	International Consortia to Accelerate Solar Fuels Innovation Discussion Leader: Hongxian Han (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:05 pm	Ann Magnuson (Uppsala University, Sweden) "SUNERGY: Minding the gap Between the Train of Thought and the Collaboration Platform"
8:05 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:50 pm	Philippe Schild (European Commission - DG R&I, Belgium) "Mission Innovation Community on Sunlight to X: How a Structured International Collaboration Network can help Accelerating Scientific and Technology Development"
8:50 pm - 9:05 pm	Discussion
9:05 pm - 9:25 pm	General Discussion
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Closing Remarks
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure

Contributors

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science under Award Number(s) DE-SC0024229. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

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Conference History Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels (GRS)

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