The Remsen Award was established in 1946 by the Maryland Section of the ACS to memorialize the career of Ira Remsen, the first Professor of Chemistry and second president of the Johns Hopkins University.  Remsen Memorial Lecturers are chemists of outstanding achievement, in keeping with Ira Remsen's long and devoted career as an exponent of the highest standards in chemistry.  This year's Remsen Award goes to Dr. Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Before the evening award lecture, an afternoon symposium arranged by Dr. Nocera will be held and includes Christopher J. Chang (University of California, Berkeley), Michelle C. Chang (University of California, Berkeley), Matthew W. Kanan (Stanford University), Tyrel McQueen (Johns Hopkins University), Bart Bartlett (University of Michigan), Joel Rosenthal (University of Delaware), and Shih-Yuan Liu (University of Oregon). For more information, see the program schedule.

Details:                            Thursday, May 31, 2012   

Symposium by faculty arranged by Dr. Nocera	1:00 pm- 5:00 pm (ITE/LH5)
Remsen Award Dinner	5:30 pm-7:00 pm (UC312)
Remsen Award Presentation and Lecture	7:30 pm-9:00 pm (ITE/LH5)

Remsen Award Lecture:

The Artificial Leaf

Daniel G. Nocera

 

It has been said for an ideal solar fuels process that the system requirements are:

   Earth-abundant materials

   No wires

   Direct solar-to fuels process.

Two earth abundant catalysts have been discovered that promote the oxygen evolving reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolving reaction (HER). The ability to operate these catalysts under benign conditions (in water at pH 7 and under 1 atm) has enabled the construction of the artificial leaf, which consists of a silicon wafer, coated with the respective OER and HER catalysts. By immersing the artificial leaf in water and holding it up to sunlight causes efficient water splitting; and all of this is done with no wires. The system surpasses the prescription from the community because it also does not rely on a membrane. By constructing a simple, stand-alone device composed of earth-abundant materials, the artificial leaf provides a means for an inexpensive and distributed direct solar-to-fuels conversion process with low-cost systems engineering and manufacturing requirements. The science behind the catalysts and the artificial leaf will be presented.