The 2008 Liversidge Lecture

"Molecular materials - from clean energy storage to shrinking
crystals"

Cameron Kepert, Professor of Chemistry & Federation Fellow, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney

Wednesday 3 December 2008, 6.30 for 7 pm
Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road

ABSTRACT

Once thought of as little more than symmetrical arrangements of discrete molecules, molecular materials have recently emerged as very much more than the sum of their individual parts. This lecture will describe how these materials are having considerable impact in two highly topical areas.

Hydrogen Storage. In the proposed hydrogen economy, hydrogen gas replaces fossil fuels as energy carrier within a potentially greenhouse-free energy cycle. One of the principal challenges in the adoption of this cycle is the design of efficient methods to store hydrogen - a notoriously volatile gas. It has been recently shown that molecular materials are excellent candidates in this area due to their very high surface areas and functional surfaces. Efforts to optimise the hydrogen storage capabilities of such materials will be described and a comparison with other materials given.

Negative Thermal Expansion (NTE, i.e., contraction with heating). The expansion of matter with increasing temperature is the cause of numerous technological problems. Once thought to be an immutable law of nature, it has been shown in the past decade that materials can be made that actually shrink upon warming. In addition to addressing the research behind this discovery, a brief description will be given of commercialisation efforts in this area.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Professor Cameron Kepert completed his first degree at The University of Western Australia before undertaking a PhD at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, University of London. In 1995 he moved to the University of Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow, where he commenced research into molecular framework materials. He was appointed to the University of Sydney in 1999 and currently holds the position of ARC Federation Fellow. He is the recipient of the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year, the AAS Le Févre Memorial Prize, the RSNSW Edgeworth David Medal, and the RACI Rennie Medal.