The Royal Society of NSW is delighted that one of its Fellows, Professor Thomas Maschmeyer FRSN FAA FTSE from the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, has been awarded the 2020 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation. The Council of the Society warmly congratulates Professor Maschmeyer on this achievement, and this recognition of the impact of his outstanding research.

The award recognises Thomas Maschmeyer for his work that has commercialised fundamental research in fields that address environmental problems: plastic-waste recycling and safe, scalable storage for renewable energy. Professor Maschmeyer is a catalytic chemist who, over the past two decades, has invented a new, efficient way to convert renewable and plastic-waste inputs into their constituent chemical materials for reuse, and has reimagined zinc-bromide chemistry to develop a completely new solar-energy battery technology.

Each of these inventions is poised to transform how we address two of humanity’s most pressing challenges – the need for more efficient commercial waste recycling and boosting the performance of renewable energy storage. Two companies that he has founded to develop his world-beating technologies, Licella and Gelion, have already attracted more than $120 million of investment and have created more than 70 jobs in Australia.

More on the outstanding achievements of Professor Macshmeyer can be found on the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation website and  the University of Sydney website.