• 9h30 Reception
• 10h00 Dr. Filip Buyse - Welcome
• 10h15 Prof. Dr. Eric Scerri, University of California - Celebrating the sesquicentennial of the periodic table: The past and the present
• 11h15 Prof. Dr. Sammy Verbruggen, Universiteit Antwerpen - Photocatalysis: Using sunlight to clean the air
• 11h45 Dr. Jan Tytgat, Umicore - Trends in Li-ion batteries chemistry
• 12h30 Drink & Networking

This activity is recognized as training. A certificate of attendance can be provided after participation.

 

 

Check this link for details on how to reach the campus.

 

 

 

Dr. Scerri’s talk will discuss the central role that the periodic table plays in education as well as research in science. It will include a brief historical tour of important steps in the evolution of the periodic table beginning with the recognition of triads of elements and Prout’s hypothesis, progressing through the early attempts to develop a consistent periodic system. The work of Dmitri Mendeleev who published the first fully successful periodic table 150 years ago, in 1869, will be highlighted, including his predictions of new elements. The historical survey will continue with some discoveries that initially threatened to destroy the periodic system but which were successfully overcome (the noble gases and isotopes). In the 20th century several discoveries in physics such as X-rays, radioactivity and the electron all had a profound impact of our understanding of the reason d’être of the periodic table culminating in the development of quantum mechanics. The lecture will examine the extent to which this theory explains the periodic table. Finally we will consider whether there may exist one optimal form of the periodic table and some of the candidate tables that have been proposed to play this role.

 

 

 

Robert Orben, an American comedy writer once said: “There’s so much pollution in the air now, that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all”. Unfortunately, some truth can be found in his playful words. As an illustration: The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that in 2012 one out of eight deaths worldwide can be linked to air pollution. Also, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has published data on the statistical life expectancy reduction due to high levels of airborne pollutants. In their 2012 air quality report it is stated that human life expectancy is reduced by more than eight months on average and by more than two years in the most polluted cities and regions.

A number of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has been proposed to serve as viable air cleaning technologies. AOPs are chemical oxidation reactions that exploit the high reactivity of oxygen (more specifically hydroxyl (•OH)) radicals. Air-based AOPs include ozonation, often combined withH₂O₂, a catalyst or UV irradiation, and photocatalytic oxidation. Photocatalytic oxidation offers the advantage that there is no need for additional chemicals such as H₂O₂ and there are basically no waste streams; It only requires a catalyst and light. During this lecture the audience will be introduced to the basic principles, benefits, drawbacks and solutions of heterogeneous photocatalysis. Starting from the fundamental background, the application potential of photocatalytic technology in view of improved air quality will be illustrated by means of various practical case studies.

 

 

The lecture will explain the trends in Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles, focusing on the chemical composition and market size evolutions. Will there be enough raw materials for the transition to e-mobility? The impacts on raw materials sourcing and recycling will be discussed. Doing more with less will be part of the solution.

 

 

 

 

Eric Scerri received all his degrees in the UK before going to the US in 1995 as a Caltech postdoctoral fellow. For the past 20 years he has been a lecturer at UCLA where he teaches general chemistry as well as courses in History and Philosophy of Science. He is also the founding editor of the journal Foundations of Chemistry and the author of several books with Oxford University Press including The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance (2007), A Very Short Introduction to the Periodic Table (2011) A Tale of Seven Elements (2013) and A Tale of Seven Scientists and A New Philosophy of Science (2016). Scerri is the acknowledged world’s expert on historical and philosophical aspects of the periodic table of the elements. See his website at www.ericscerri.com