Finding worth in waste

Plastics are ubiquitous in our environment and lives, to great benefit of our health, quality of life, productivity and energy use. But these same plastics have significant implications on our environment and its sustainability. Ideally, our plastics would be robust and easy to break down in the natural environment, but most are challenging to degrade. The challenges arise as these plastics are complex macromolecules, rather than simple small molecules. We'll explore the different forms and functions of plastics and link them to their molecular structure.

Thermoelectric materials can be used to generate electricity from waste heat. Despite the obvious interest of this technology it is not yet widely applied due to cost and efficiency limitations. In this presentation I will give an overview of current chemical strategies used to guide discovery and improvement of thermoelectric materials. This will highlight EPSRC funded research on half-Heusler materials in the Energy Materials Group at Heriot Watt university. I will also assess the prospects of thermoelectric generators for large scale application.