Written and edited by world experts, the series and professional reference titles that fall into our energy and environment collection tackle some of the most important and rapidly growing fields of chemistry affecting our world and its resources, from carbon capture and storage to CO2 switchable materials.
But have you ever wanted to know a bit more about who writes them?
Introducing Philip Jessop
Co-author of CO2 Switchable Materials
Tell us about your book
Consider a light bulb. You can switch it on when you want light, and you can switch it off to save energy. That switchability allows the light bulb to be greener and yet still do its job. Stimuli-responsive materials are just like that – materials that can switch back and forth between two versions of themselves and that capacity makes them easier and often greener to use. The trigger that causes the change could be light, voltage, acids, bases, temperature, or CO2. Previous books about stimuli-responsive materials have ignored CO2, but it’s cheap, nontoxic, nonflammable, easy to remove from the system and it’s a recycled waste material.
What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your subject area?
My biggest hope is that these materials will solve one of the big roadblocks for sustainable chemistry: water removal. So many methods for converting biomass into fuels or chemicals have water removal as the biggest energy cost. Reducing that is crucial to getting lots of biomass-derived products into the marketplace. Can CO2-switchable materials help? I believe so! But it will take lots of creativity and research followed by life cycle assessments to find out the answer.
What are the biggest challenges research concepts face to be applied at an industrial scale?
I used to think that it was risk-aversion. But now, after some experience in commercialisation, I’ve realised that the problem is money. Getting a new technology into the marketplace is insanely expensive! At the early stage, when lots of risk remains, investors are reluctant to invest, but someone has to pay to build and run that pilot plant. Once the pilot plant is built and run, and the technology is proven at a significant scale, then investors feel more comfortable funding further steps.
What was the biggest challenge you faced when writing your book?
Time! Writing the book was a delight. I’m a storyteller at heart - that’s why I enjoy being a teacher. But, while the writing wasn’t a problem, finding the time to do the writing was. My collaborator and friend Prof. Michael Cunningham and I are both busy, like most professors – teaching, research, service, travel, refereeing, editing, mentoring, it’s all worthwhile but there are only so many hours in the day.
Core disciplines, related fields, emerging topics
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