Clean Tech, Clean Air, Bright Future

Semiconductor manufacturing powers everything from the biggest supercomputers to the coffee machine on your countertop and provides thousands of jobs here in Oregon and throughout the world. But the technology that transforms our lives comes with a hidden cost. All manner of toxic and greenhouse gasses used in the fab need to be treated and contained to prevent their release to the environment. Join us while we take a look behind the curtain and see the hidden chemistry keeping our environment and communities clean and safe while enabling the most advanced industry in the world.

My talk will discuss new approaches to capturing and storing solar energy through artificial photosynthesis. Plants capture solar energy through photosynthesis; in the lab we study ways to use solar energy to create energy-rich small molecules such as hydrogen gas and hydrogen peroxide. Chemists have an important role in developing new materials to meet future energy demands. I will present on the photochemical reactions for hydrogen peroxide production and the role of reactive oxygen species in these reactions.