The Bunsen-Tagung 2027 "Light-Driven Reactions at Nanoscale Materials" will take place from April 5 - April 7, 2027 in Potsdam.

The University of Potsdam is cordially inviting you to the Bunsen-Tagung 2027 on „Light-Driven Reactions at Nanoscale Materials“.

The sustainable production and processing of chemicals represents a major global challenge of our time. A promising strategy is the conversion of light into chemical energy to activate and break or form chemical bonds.
Nanomaterials such as plasmonic and semiconducting nanoparticles are promising materials for applications as photocatalyst as they

(i) effectively absorb light within a broad spectral range,
(ii) transfer charges to drive redox processes and
(iii) are able to generate heat on the nanoscale to accelerate chemical transformations,

all while allowing spatio-temporal control over the reaction processes.
In this way it is, for example, possible to generate green hydrogen, to transform CO₂ into valuable feedstock, to decompose environmental pollutants and to create solar fuels and specialty chemicals.

Nevertheless, the elementary processes – starting from nanoparticle excitation to generation of reactive electrons to energy dissipation and chemical transformation - need to be understood in detail to fully harness the potential of photochemical processes at nanoscale materials. At the same time, it is necessary to optimize the specific materials as well as the efficiency and control of the overall processes. We aim at bringing together researchers working on experimental and theoretical aspects of “Light-Driven Reactions at Nanoscale Materials” by covering various types of photoactive nanomaterials as well as processes from ultrashort to synthetically relevant timescales.

Chairs
Prof. Dr. Ilko Bald (U Potsdam)
Prof. Dr. Henrike Müller-Werkmeister (U Potsdam/TU Graz)
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schlücker (U Duisburg-Essen)