Nanotechnology Crossing Borders Event

In the process of increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, most building components require optimization to minimize interaction with the outside environment. Buildings are made air-tight, and the insulation of walls, roofs, and floors is further increased to realize a static indoor climate. The part of the building skin for which interaction with the outside is still desired, are windows. For windows, capturing natural light and solar heat is desired to a certain extent. In many climate regions a building’s demands on sunlight and solar heat transmission change during the day and between the seasons, which can be accommodated by so-called smart windows. In this session, we focus on the development of materials for smart windows, and their functional performance. Furthermore, we address the potential for re-using window glass at the end of the window’s life time, and the corresponding technical and materials challenges.

Critical materials are resources which we need to produce key technologies for the energy transition such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electrolysers. Examples of such materials are lithium used for the production of Li-ion batteries and iridium and platinum for electrolysers to produce green hydrogen. In this session, we focus on the recycling of such materials at the end of life of corresponding devices and the replacement of such materials by earth-abundant alternatives.

Nanomaterials are materials of a size between 1 and 100 nm. Based on their small size and large specific surface area, they have unique properties for a wide variety of application areas ranging from medical diagnostics to sensing, energy conversion, energy storage and catalysis. This year’s Nanotechnology Crossing Borders symposium focuses on two application areas of nanomaterials: circular energy efficient windows and critical materials.