Harnessing Carbon Materials for a Better Society

Despite widespread recognition that climate change impacts are increasing with time, mitigation strategies to meaningfully reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are lacking. Storage of carbon in the geosphere remains technically challenged and non-fossil fuel power generation is not yet in place. One approach which is attracting interest is the sequestration of carbon in the built environment, via widespread deployment of low-carbon building materials. Estimates suggest that Gt of carbon each year may be ‘managed’ this way. The potential options available and how much carbon might be ‘permanently’ stored by this approach is discussed.

Fullerene molecules, or buckyballs, are emerging as key components for bio-applications. In this talk, I will update our work on using fullerenes and their derivatives for developing bio-nanomaterials. I'll focus on combining buckyballs and hydrocarbons to create supramolecular hydrogels with interesting properties. Hydrogels are vital in applications like cellular scaffolding in regenerative medicine, tissue replacements, and wound dressings. Our goal is to make water-soluble, biocompatible structures for real-world bio-applications to improve lives.